The Diamond War in Sierra Leone
Sunday, January 30, 2011 by admin
The war in Sierra Leone was fought over control of the diamond mines. It began in March of 1991. More than 50,000 people died in the first six years of fighting. Hospitals were reporting that one hundred people were dying of starvation each day, and there was a mass exodus out of the country with a least 384,000 becoming refugees as they fled the violence to seek safety in neighboring countries. The four million people of Sierra Leone’s population that stayed in the country suffered from hunger, and watched the almost total disintegration of their once proud society. Children younger than eighteen became hardened soldiers. All of this tragedy and death was for shiny rocks.
Conflict or blood diamonds have destroyed thousands of lives. Eventually, the United Nations and the International diamond industry finally stepped up and said, “No More.” They banned the purchase and even the use of “conflict” diamonds which effectively cut off the ability of the rebels to purchase weapons and continue the carnage they were causing in their country. These sanctions on conflict diamonds made all of the combatants open to compromise.
What was called the Kimberly Process was aimed at stopping the use of children as soldiers as well as using civilians as targets. It made it much more difficult for rebels and terrorists to profit from what was causing the destruction of countries such as Sierra Leone and nearby Angola. A United Nations Peace Keeping force was dispatched to Sierra Leone, and despite the fact that some UN soldiers were captured and held by the rebels who demanded a UN withdrawal, eventually the country was largely disarmed. The United Nations Security Council’s ban on the exporting of diamonds had taken the wind out of the conflict. When the sanctions were extended to neighboring Liberia where the rebels were still receiving support and arms, the area began to realize the implications. The so called blood diamond was going to lose any value it might have had, and was not going to be able to finance the conflict and chaos that it had in the past.
President Kabbah of Sierra Leone declared the war in his country officially over on January, 18, 2002. Although the UN troops were not completely withdrawn until 2006, the diamond war had ended.
Conflict or blood diamonds have destroyed thousands of lives. Eventually, the United Nations and the International diamond industry finally stepped up and said, “No More.” They banned the purchase and even the use of “conflict” diamonds which effectively cut off the ability of the rebels to purchase weapons and continue the carnage they were causing in their country. These sanctions on conflict diamonds made all of the combatants open to compromise.
What was called the Kimberly Process was aimed at stopping the use of children as soldiers as well as using civilians as targets. It made it much more difficult for rebels and terrorists to profit from what was causing the destruction of countries such as Sierra Leone and nearby Angola. A United Nations Peace Keeping force was dispatched to Sierra Leone, and despite the fact that some UN soldiers were captured and held by the rebels who demanded a UN withdrawal, eventually the country was largely disarmed. The United Nations Security Council’s ban on the exporting of diamonds had taken the wind out of the conflict. When the sanctions were extended to neighboring Liberia where the rebels were still receiving support and arms, the area began to realize the implications. The so called blood diamond was going to lose any value it might have had, and was not going to be able to finance the conflict and chaos that it had in the past.
President Kabbah of Sierra Leone declared the war in his country officially over on January, 18, 2002. Although the UN troops were not completely withdrawn until 2006, the diamond war had ended.
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