Blood Diamonds
Doran Kaplan and Chandler Williams
Background
The war in Sierra Leone was fought for control of the diamond mines. It began in march of 1991, more than 50,000 people died in the first six years of fighting. The remaining people of Sierra Leone's population suffered from hunger and watched the almost total disintegration of their once proud society. All of this tragedy for shiny rocks?
Cause of the Conflict
This conflict was caused by greed and the lives were lost because of greed. This war should not have happened and the fact that it did makes the human race look foolish.
Countries involved
The diamond war occured in Sierra Leone in West Africa.
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Statistical Information
4% of world diamonds are conflict diamonds
Annual value of diamonds smuggled is $23 million
15% of Sierra Leone's diamonds are conflict diamonds
3,000,000 deaths are contributed to conflict diamonds mining
Avg. daily pay for a conflict diamond worker is $0.07
Sierrra Leone has the 2nd highest production of conflict diamonds
Resolving the Issue
A United Nations peacekeeping force was dispatched to Sierra Leone and eventually the country was largely disarmed. The UN banned the exporting of diamonds, and a process called the Kimberly Process was aimed at stopping the use of children as soldiers as well as using civilians as targets.
What else needs to be done?
Nothing, the war ended on January 18th 2002, and UN troops withdrew in 2006.
Plans to address the problem
War over resources will always exist and it can only be prevented by using logic and rational thoughts. It is in human nature to fight for profit, but we must resist the temptation of greed.