Jamil Sahid Mohamed Khalil (1936 - 2000) was a Sierra Leonean-Lebanese businessman, diamonds and commodities trader.
[1] He attained prominence in the diamond industry across Africa and Antwerp and became an influential figure in the politics of Sierra Leone through his close association with President Siaka Stevens.
[1] Jamil Sahid Mohamed Khalil built his vast fortune by exporting diamonds to Antwerp during the seventies and eighties.
Jamil found a kindred spirit in President Siaka Stevens who was equally keen to exploit Sierra Leone's gold and diamonds resource for personal gain.
In Sierra Leone's post-colonial era, Siaka Stevens association with Jamil Sahid Mohamed Khalil would have a dramatic effect on government policy.
[3] and turned a blind eye as Jamil become the foremost smuggler of the country's rare gems and minerals, raking in over $300 million.
[4] By 1971 the President had put an end to the De Beers monopoly[6] at the request of Jamil, who had already managed to acquire 12% of the concession.
[4] Between 1968 and 1985 Stevens and Jamil successfully depleted the finances of Sierra Leone until they had rendered one of the world's biggest producers of diamonds and gold the poorest country on earth.
"God go pay him" So great was Jamil's influence that he managed to persuade Stevens's handpicked successor, President Joseph Saidu Momoh, to invite Yasir Arafat for a state visit, at the behest of his personal friend, King Hussein of Jordan.
The purpose of Arafat's visit was to secure a deal with Momoh to run a Palestinian paramilitary training camp on one of the islands off Sierra Leone's coast.