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JxBae
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Name: Jason
Location: United States
Birthday: 7/14/1992
Gender: Male
Interests: God!/food/ basketball/ football/ soccer/ volleyball/ hockey/ ping-pong/ throwing rocks/ burning stuff/ friends(esp. other asians)/ sleep/ tv/ weapons
Occupation: Military
Industry: Government
Message: message meEmail: email me
AIM:  JasonXbaE
AIM:  baEsterrr
Member Since:
12/30/2005
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SubscriptionsSites I Read
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| Brown, Pervenia P. "Africa." Worldpress. 13 Dec. 2005. 10 Oct. 2007
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Campino, Anna F. "Conflict Diamonds." UN. 21 Mar. 2001. Department of Political
Affairs. 10 Oct. 2007 .
"Diamond Facts." 10 Oct. 2007 .
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| Blood diamonds, also known as conflict diamonds, is a problem occurring in most parts of Sierra Leone. The diamonds are mined up by innocent civilians who are controlled by rebel groups who trade the diamonds for weapons. This action can be stopped and so far has shown improvement but nevertheless; there are still groups controlling these people today. Blood diamonds should be terminated because Africans are treated like slaves, they are buying weapons that could put peoples lives in danger, and selling diamonds illegally to other countries.
The first rebel group that emerged was the R.U.F. that stands for Revolutionary United Front. This ruthless group seized Kono, the diamond capital of Sierra Leone, early in 1992. In November 1996, the newly elected president, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah agreed to a peace treaty in Abidjan, which gave R.U.F. the right to become a legitimate political party. “ The R.U.F. was invited to the elections, but once again reverted to their depraved tactics, amputating civilians’ hands and feet.” Charles Taylor who became the next president of Liberia, acted as a mentor, trainer, banker, and weapons supplier for the R.U.F. He was later found to be the formidable force behind R.U.F. rebels. “Charles Taylor used R.U.F. rebels to integrate a substantial amount of illicit diamonds into the global trade, then used to purchase weapons reinforcing the military.” The group emerged in January 1999 killing an estimated 6,000 civilians and mutilating many more. By July, the violence has escalated. The government of Sierra Leone was forced to sign the agreement in Lone, Togo, which legitimatized them and brought it into the government with several positions. The R.U.F. surprisingly was not interested in rebuilding Sierra Leone but only to gain control over the diamond mines of Kono Districts and Tongo Fields. In an effort to stabilize the region and restore democratic civilian rule, the nation Provisional Ruling Civilian Council became engaged in a war with R.U.F. rebels. The N.P.R.C. initiated “Operation Genesis” to drive out the R.U.F. rebels and was unsuccessful. In return they launched a deadly attack during the 1996 elections. To intimidate potential voters and to maintain control of the diamond mines, the rebels chopped off the hands and feet of adults, teens, children, and even infants. In spite of these brutal attacks, the R.U.F. was invited to participate in the elections. In February 1998 Nigerian-led forces of the Military Observer Group of the Economic Community of West African States removed Armed Forces Ruling Council rebels from Freetown and reinstated Kabbah. But they couldn’t contain the R.U.F. rebels. 6000 civilians and mutilating many more have died. Thousands of Sierra Leoneans were killed and mutilated mainly because there was no large scale, international intervention in the early stages of the war. The United Nations did not intervene in Sierra Leone until June 2001, which was 10 years after the wan began. “It was practically impossible for the United Nations to enforce these sanctions since an official report “showed conclusively that there was virtually no oversight of the international movement of diamonds.” Similarly, a U.N. expert panel “reported that the then ‘interim’ leader of the R.U.F., Issa Sesay, [violated U.N. sanctions and] flew to Abidjan late in 2001 with 8,000 carats of diamonds which he sold to two dealers of undisclosed identity.”
The United Nations did not seriously intervene in Sierra Leone’s war until January 2002 when it sent the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (Unamsil), a 17,000-man peacekeeping force to supervise disarmament and “to uphold the provisions of the Lomé agreement.” Immediately following U.N. intervention, the war gained international attention after Unamsil peacekeepers were prohibited from conducting an investigation of diamond areas controlled by the R.U.F.
In March 2003, the U.N. Special Court in Sierra Leone “indicted several of those involved in the civil war in Sierra Leone for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and violations of international humanitarian law.” But the fate of those indicted is uncertain. The U.N. Court cannot simply “round up” the usual suspects and think that is enough.
The most worrying aspect of the war in Sierra Leone is the international community’s belated response. In three separate incidents — in Rwanda, Sudan and Sierra Leone — the international community has turned a blind eye while génocidaires, the janjaweed and R.U.F. rebels wreaked havoc on their civilian populations. Ikechi Mgbeoji’s book, Collective Insecurity examines the hidden causes of West Africa’s civil wars and addresses an important question: “Why has the U.N. system not worked to protect people and to enhance their welfare, as intended, in Africa and elsewhere?” In his book, Mgbeoji proposes, “the solution to African political instability lies in a structural rearrangement of the African polity for the purpose of legitimate governance of African peoples.”
Diamonds have always occupied a very high status in the world of jewelry. Fueled by tradition and intense marketing campaigns, diamonds have achieved incomparable status. Starry-eyed young men present gorgeous diamond rings to their girlfriends. Married couples exchange diamond studded jewelry over the years as symbols to their undying love. Celebrities and personalities don fabulous diamond jewelry whenever they go out in public. There is absolutely no doubt as to how valuable and sought after diamonds are.
As with most things in life, there is always something bad mixed with the good. A diamond may be a woman's best friend but a diamond can also be the bane of some people's existence - and I am not talking about the man's pocket here. The term conflict diamond, or blood diamond as others call it, became quite well known to the average person in 2002 when the James Bond movie "Die Another Day" was released. This contribution to the legendary James Bond saga revolved around the idea of smuggling conflict diamonds. So what is a conflict diamond? The UN formally defines a conflict diamond as a "diamond that originates from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments, and are used to fund military action in opposition to those governments, or in contravention of the decisions of the Security Council." In short, a conflict diamond is any diamond that is mined from an area in which there is war, or armed conflict. The idea is that diamonds are very much in demand and that they fetch such a high price in almost any market. If you mine diamonds and sell them to other countries - of which there is definitely no shortage - you can get a large amount of money for them. Where does the profit from these sales go.
You guessed it - to finance wars and other forms of armed conflict in the affected areas. The manner of mining and selling conflict diamonds is usually done in secret. You can just imagine what the reaction of the (average) buyer would be if he learned that he was financing a war somewhere in Africa with his transaction. Thus, people involved in the conflict diamond business do not really advertise what they are doing.
Although these activities have been going on for quite some time, it was only in 2000 that the international community formally recognized the gravity of the situation. In December of that year, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the role of rough diamonds in furthering the conflicts in specific areas in Africa. The General Assembly came up with a resolution aiming to severe the connection between the illegal sales of diamonds and wars in concerned areas.
With this resolution in place, countries that buy diamonds from Africa became more aware of the illicit trade. International sanctions were then put in place. In addition to these sanctions, individual countries set up their own methods and processes to curb the practice of trading conflict diamonds. The idea is that if no one will buy, then no one will sell. People who take advantage of conflict diamonds would have no market and thus the practice would stop. We all know however, that in the real world, things are never as simple as they usually seem to be. Today, over two thirds of the world’s diamonds come from one company, De Beers. The London based company was one the first companies involved in the mining for diamonds in Africa immediately following their discovery. Cecil Rhodes was attracted to the new prospects of mining in African and he started his search for diamonds in 1870. Another English immigrant miner named Barney Barnato, Rhodes’ rival, also fought to control the same diamond claims as Rhodes. By 1880, Rhodes had bought out Barnato and had founded De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. Rhodes envisioned controlling the whole diamond market. By 1888, he had realized his vision and he had gained monopolistic control over the whole diamond market. He completed his monopoly with the formation of cartel, the London Diamond Syndicate, who were that biggest diamond merchants of the time. His syndicate allowed him to perfectly match supply with demand. They provided him with critical information about the diamond market allowing him to create an artificially controlled supply of diamonds. In return for their assistance, the diamond merchants were guaranteed a certain amount of diamonds from Rhode’s mines.
In 1929, Sir Ernest Oppenheimer was elected as the chairman of the board of De Beers. Oppenheimer followed the model of his predecessor by using the single channel marketing structure and formed the Central Selling Organization (CSO) by incorporating other major sellers and producers into De Beers syndicate. Oppenheimer’s strategy was tested during the Great Depression and the amount of diamonds mined were significant higher than the amount of buyers at that time. As a result, Oppenheimer was forced to close many of De Beers mines and still purchase diamonds form other members of the CSO as arranged.
Following the death of Sir Ernest Oppenheimer in 1957, his son Harry assumed the role of chairman at De Beers. Like his father he believed strongly in single channel marketing and in 1958 he signed an agreement with the Soviet Union to purchase their diamonds that were being mined at the Mir mine in Yakutia. Before Harry’s role as chairman, he made some very significant contributions to De Beers. In 1939, Harry initiated the marketing campaign for diamonds in the United States. This campaign helped to expand the market for diamonds to middle class Americans who had previously believed that diamonds were only for the extremely wealthy. As a result of their marketing scheme, De Beers was able to increase the supply diamonds in the world to meet the new demand. In 1947, the famous slogan “A diamond is forever” was penned and the De Beers marketing machine was born. By 1982, De Beers was marketing diamonds all over the world including Europe, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Taiwan. At this point, it had become critical for De Beers to be able to expand demand as a result of all the new mines that were being discovered and exploited.
Despite their marketing success to increase demand for diamonds, De Beers was forced to stockpile a large number of their own diamonds between 1992 and 1998. De Beers stockpile grew by over one million dollars as a result of the increase of rough diamonds. By the end of the twentieth century, De Beers marketing strategy had begun to back fire on them. Their supply management have led to legal troubles in the Uniteed States. The Department of Justice have charge De Beers with violating U.S. antitrust laws and as a result they now have a reduced presence in the United States. The costs of creating a diamond buffer and advertise for the whole market had become unsustainable for them. As a result, the twenty first century saw them to begin to restructure their company and rethink their marketing strategy. But, despite this slight hiccup in De Beers continual monopolist presence in the diamond market, they still control over two thirds of today’s market ant they are still the driving force behind the Diamond market
Today blood diamonds still exist and still are out to prevent them. There are many of them that have been gone because of what we have done. Out of everything that has happened, diamonds still seek to be in peace. Blood diamonds should be taken complete care and never to be found because of the incidences that have happened in the past to children and many African residents.
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