DIRTY DIAMOND INDUSTRY: All That Glitter's Is Not . . .

Diamonds are mined from the earth. For centuries they were found only in India and the jungles of Brasil, but in 1870, miners discovered vast amounts of the compacted carbon near the Orange River in South Africa. Thus, the monopoly De Beers came to be. Since, diamonds have been mined in Siberia and Canada, but truth be told, diamonds are an African resource. And horribly now for decades, diamonds have come from the heart of war-torn nations like Liberia, Congo and Sierra Leone.

It doesn’t take long to find out where the money is going.

Blood diamonds, or more diplomatically named, conflict diamonds, sparked international outrage in the late 1990’s. Essentially, unscrupulous diamond dealers bought rough stones in Africa. They paid thousands of dollars, regardless of where that money was headed. As it turned out, the money, always paid in US $100 bills, funded vicious warlords who committed terrible atrocities. Essentially, diamonds funded war.

Foday Sankoh in Sierra Leone was known for cutting off people’s hands to keep them from voting. Charles Taylor in Liberia traded arms for Sankoh’s diamonds. In a CNN piece entitled “Diamond trade fuels bloody wars,” an Amnesty International staffer said, “It is the poorest country in the world and it is conveivable that the diamond ring being enjoyed by a young woman in the richest part of the world could have resulted in the dismemberment of a young woman in Sierra Leone.”

The story doesn’t stop there. The abhorrent practice funded not only African civil wars, but also Al-Qaeda. In 2003, reports surfaced that when the terrorist group’s funding had been frozen, members laundered $20 million through the African warlords and their trade.

In late 2000, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted Resolution 55/56 concerning “conflict diamonds,” and sent shockwaves through the diamond industry. Diamond merchants replied in kind with the Kimberly Process, a set of standards that would set legitimate diamonds apart from those which fueled wars.

Only, according to Amnesty International, the reforms haven’t gone far enough, and in some cases, are ineffective. The cost of diamonds is high, perhaps higher than is readily digestible.

This week The Inquirer will pursue a number of avenues into the story of blood diamonds. Stay tuned.

(Photo of man from Sierra Leone from flickr.)

Comments

[Ed]

DeBeers cannot say where the diamonds it has or sold came from or that they don't buy conflict diamonds because they don't know. If DeBeers' ads say they don't sell conflict diamonds in advertising they are misleading the public. There's no way for them to know for sure is a diamond is conflict or not since it's impossible to tell where uncut diamonds came from originally. If DeBeers wasn't in the diamond industry prices would be lower. Just like OPEC keeps oil prices up, DeBeers keeps diamond prices up by controlling supply.

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