Angola and Sierra Leone Blood Diamonds Cecil

Angola and Sierra Leone Blood Diamonds

Cecil John Rhodes founded De Beers, a diamond mining and trading corporation back in 1888. It is the world's largest diamond cartel and receives all credit for making the engagement ring "an inseparable part of courtship and married life" (Jay Epstein, p.121). De Beer has shown immense success at controlling the price of diamonds. It achieved this goal by limiting the worldwide supply. It has a strong monopoly in the diamond business and is thus what one may call "the mafia" of the diamond world. It was till the 1980s that De Beers was involved directly in Sierra Leone. De Beers had some concession in offshore diamond mining and it enjoyed an office in Freetown. After that time it was known that De Beers has maintained an indirect relationship rather than a direct one. It then started to purchase offices in other lower diamond producing neighboring countries. Its aim was to sweep up the supplies all across the globe. It started to purchase diamonds from rebel struck areas and war zones. The diamonds produced by Rebel groups in Angola, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo are known more famously as "blood diamonds" or "conflict diamonds." In 2002 the United Nations stated that De Beers was illegally taking advantage of resources in the war zones in Africa. However, "the Department for Trade and Industry said allegations by the United Nations two years ago that the company illegally exploited natural resources in the war-torn African country were unsubstantiated" (Edmund Conway). What the truth is, probably no one will ever know.

Numerous men purchase diamonds worldwide to give it to their loved ones. With De Beers' campaign "Diamonds are forever," and their promotion of a diamond ring to be some sort of an accepted ritual, diamond business has flourished greatly. What a person can never be sure is the fact that the diamond he is purchasing is actually a legal diamond of a blood diamond. This is due to the ease with while illegal diamonds can enter the legal diamond market. Not many people were aware of this fact and today although most are aware of the situation, diamonds are being bought and sold without any verification. Maybe what they do not know is that "whether from the killing fields of Sierra Leone, DRCongo or Angola, every blood-diamond perpetuates a barbaric conflict that, by some counts, has caused 3.7m deaths and displaced 6m Africans" (Greg Campbell, p.62). To get a better insight on what blood diamonds are, it is only appropriate to define them in clear terms. Blood diamonds are basically those diamonds which the rebel groups produce and sell so as to finance their war of terrorism on legitimate democratic governments. The more the conflict stricken areas, the more the blood diamonds hence a higher number of deaths. Are diamonds really worth dying for? While people, women and children, are being killed in such war zones, our men are purchasing diamonds to beautify their women. Their beautification comes at the cost of dead children. "The savagery is not only limited to guerilla warfare. Such is the price of diamonds and the cheapness of human life that only last month, in the DRC's diamond capital, ten street children were doused in petrol and burned to death. Their crime? The theft of some rudimentary mining equipment" (Tom Rawstorne, p.36).

The United Nations attempted to investigate and evaluate the connection between Sierra Leone diamonds and weapons. The resulting report stated a number of steps and initiatives to be taken including some sanctions on the crime infested timber, diamond industry and aircraft registry which is responsible for the supply of arms throughout the continent. Such systems take time to be formulated and enforced. They are hard to control and the ease with which illegal diamonds can seep into the legal line makes it more difficult to control. Even today "The RUF continues to hold the diamond areas. Weapons continue to flow in through Liberia" (Ian Smillie, p.24). It is really important for Sierra Leone to regain the control of diamond mines. For this international support and intervention is necessary. With nations zooming in on war on terror who would then step up and bring this issue in front of the leaders of various nations. With children and women dying in this conflict stricken areas one can wonder why the world is lagging to attend to this problem. Are the lives of these people not important enough?

Another link found with the blood diamonds is that of Al Qaeda. It is said that after the 1998 bombings of the embassies of the United States, Al Qaeda started to transfer their cash into commodities like diamonds because diamonds tend to retain their value rather than lose it. So it is assumed that they purchased quite a share of the blood diamonds. If true, that could have increased the violence in these war stricken areas. The world should realize the value of human life and they should act upon the strictest measures to ensure the prevention of the trade of blood diamonds. De Beers has also made many statements that they are taking all measures to ensure that only legitimate diamonds are sold. If they are sincere and adhering to this then such steps are highly ethical and should be encouraged. However to prevent it completely an international intervention is needed rather than just relying on De Beers.