The Conflict Diamonds Of Sierra Leone

The controversial artist Kanye West has always attempted to make known what he thinks, no matter if he has to be disrespectful or graphic in his illustrations of said topic. So it wasn't a real surprise when he chose to focus his energy into reveling to the American public horrors happening that had a direct connection with the beloved diamond stone. West's 2005 music video “Diamonds from Sierra Leone” shows the corrupted underground diamond trade in the African country, Sierra Leone. From this groundbreaking video, West showed the devastated lives those who worked on the mining rivers live. However upon further investigation into the issue of diamond workers in Sierra Leone there emerged the true source of the situation, a violent

Sierra Leone has been involved in a humungous amount of absurd human rights violations since 1991 when the civil war erupted. This detailed paper on the book, A Long Way Gone, set in Sierra Leone, will create interest by summarizing the memoir through descriptive examples and text on symbolism and imagery. The author of this memoir A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier is Ishmael Beah, it's difficult to believe that this is a true and harsh story. You will be learning about Ishmael's resilience and the horrible struggles he faced as a child soldier, while somehow continuing to have hope. Ishmael Beah, 12 at the beginning of this memoir, unexpectedly gets recruited into a time consuming war over blood diamonds, against the rebels as a young child. Ishmael is at a loss, since with his own eyes he viewed not only his loving family, but his whole village as it was horrifically torn down by the dangerous rebels. Ishmael is not physically lonely during the book, but he is emotionally

Men, women, and children are all coerced, regularly at gunpoint, to mine coltan. Both the novel Blue Gold by Elizabeth Stewart and the CBC News article, “Coltan: A New Blood Mineral” shine light on the influence coltan mining has on people residing in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the western consumers callowness to it.

By definition, strife precious stones are jewels that begin from mines that are under the control of revolutionary gatherings that are battling against their nation's legislature. Sierra Leone, a little nation on the west bank of Africa, (in this paragraph you need to elaborate a little bit more) has throughout the previous ten years been under the fear of an ever display common war. This war is being battled between a radical gathering known as the Revolutionary United Front and Sierra Leone's available government. The RUF took control of some of Sierra Leones wealthiest diamond mines in the mid-nineties centuries. They now utilize the benefits they make from these precious stones to purchase weapons for their armed force, made up for the

¹A cilvic war of corruption have turned apart the relationships of Sierra Leone and the trust among its people, its travesty esstitally have destroy once peaceful community. Prior to the cilvic war, the people of Sierra Leoner have shared an intimate relationship with each other, they were a tight communities, until the war took away their lives, forcefully turning the family against each other.

In 1991, the Sierra Leone Civil War started. Rebels invaded Beah's hometown, Mogbwemo, located in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone, and he was forced to flee. Separated from his family, he spent months wandering south with a group of other boys. At the age of 12, he was forced to become a child soldier. According to Beah's account, he fought for almost three years before being rescued by UNICEF.[1] Beah fought for the government army against the rebels. In 1997, he fled Freetown by the help of the UNICEF due to the increasing violence and found his way to New York City, where he lived with Laura Simms, his foster mother. In New York City, Beah attended the United Nations International School. After high school, he enrolled at Oberlin College and graduated in 2004 with a degree in Political Science.[1]

Considering the U.N.’s response to the war in Sierra Leone, it has a long way to go in its responsibility to ensure “legitimate governance under international law.” But U.N. efforts alone won’t stop the senseless killing in Sierra Leone over illicit diamonds. Kayne West’s song and video about “blood diamonds” makes us take an honest look at ourselves and ask: Is my fascination with diamonds contributing to the violence in Sierra

Blood diamond are “diamonds that originate 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”. Blood Diamond is a story about the precious gem acquired through blood and sufferings of common people. How much blood is spilt for each pieces of this luxury, how many tears dried into the very ground it is gathered from. Except from the people that are involved in the whole process of stealing or smuggling a nation’s natural wealth. Sierra Leone, where the storyline takes place, gets nothing. Its people are suffering through extreme poverty, hunger, illiteracy and diseases. Adding insult to injury, there is a fast emerging brutal terrorist group called RUF, destroying the system, collapsing government, killing innocents and taking children as soldiers. Making sure the country never progress and prosper or never grow the backbone to stand on its feet ever to use the valuable diamonds it holds on the ground. For example, when the illegal and unethical blood diamond trade was brought to light, it was ignored by the most potentially influential global players because of economic interest. What resulted was that the situation snowballed over the duration that it has occurred over and when the issue finally came to a head

Human blood is shed on almost every diamond mined in Africa, bought from Africa, or traded out of Africa. In the beginning of Aryn Baker’s article “Dirty Diamonds” in TIME magazine, Baker presents a man conflicted with his decision to buy an engagement ring, because he does not want “. . . a symbol of our union to also be associated with chaos and controversy and pain.” (Baker 64). This man in the example, Max Rodriguez, undoubtedly knew of the backbreaking work that children are subjected to, to provide for their families or to raise money to receive an education. Baker argues that the diamond industry in Africa hinders the development of children, nations, and that this problem may be too large to control as she appeals to logic, evoking

Much of what I discovered in watching this film has helped me see things in a different light. Not just diamonds but every other product imaginable could’ve commenced the same chaos the diamonds caused in Africa. This commotion may not only happen in Africa but also in any other country. Innocent people like Solomon, who just wanted to live their life in a quiet environment, are dragged into the turmoil constructed by the greedy individuals who only see money and power as the most important things in this world. The fact that the rebels cut off the citizens’ arms so that they won’t be able to vote was very disturbing. They recognize the people’s power that’s why they had to prevent the citizens to vote, so that they could stay in power. The citizens have

Not only does this issue involve the politics of the diamond trade and the involvement of outside parties, but it is also a devastatingly serious human rights violation to the civilians of Angola. “There is an average of 52 land mine incidents per month and approximately 1 out of every 356 Angolans is an amputee as a result of these bloody conquests”[4]. It was determined in a United Nations Security Council meeting that “there are clear and major weaknesses in systems for controlling diamond trading, which no single country can address effectively because of the many alternative routes available to illicit diamond traders”[5]. Therefore, in order to combat the civil fighting between UNITA and the MPLA, we must educate ourselves about UNITA’s diamond trade, prohibit the sale of blood diamonds, and achieve a commitment from diamond dealers that their diamonds originate from conflict-free mines.

     In Southern Africa, there were mineral discoveries in the 1860, 70, and 80’s. These discoveries had an enormous impact on Southern Africa. These discoveries lead to a “rush” of many fortune hunters and the establishment of the town of Kimberly, which grew quickly and soon became the largest urban society in the interior of Southern Africa. Soon the diamond industry was controlled by one monopolistic company. This was one negative effect of imperialism in Africa.

The diamond industry impacts the people of West Africa by creating a whirlwind of corruption on a political level. In sierra Leone diamonds were a valuable part of the land and they were once legitimately sold up until Sierra Leone became independent in 1961. The following years of their independence corruption flooded the land. According to an online research paper it says “with that independence came corrupt leaders, manipulation of the people , rebel groups, rivalries and civil disputes”. The correlation implies that the diamond industry has created an environment that leaves people at risk of violence, and unfair treatment by their government. The longer the diamond industry is in effect, the longer West African people will suffer from the world market demanding diamonds. Because of globalization it doesn’t look

III.The organization that Colonel Coetzee operates involves the use of military force and monies through European agencies that help crate civil conflict in order to exploit the natural resources of the Sierra Leone. His goal is to provide cheap diamonds found by stakeholders, like Solomon, that wish to use the blood diamond to free his family and to stop the exploitation of his peoples. Danny Archer’s means to an end is to be able to find these diamonds to make the Colonel massive profits off of them. These “blood diamonds” are the result of creating wars that destroy African communities, so that Europeans can live in luxury. Is it Danny that must find these diamonds and find ways to smuggle them out of the region during military conflict, artificially created by men like Colonel Coetzee. Maddy is involved with the American media, as she is trying to find a

People in the Sierra Leone have massive problems and sad stories of what they have seen in their lives. During time of Sierra Leone war, many rebels attacked people in the villages and other places. This left people with nothing to have and several families died or were lost. Numerous amounts of people in Serra Leone live in the refugee camps, which they have faced their own struggles whether you see them or not. This makes their lives harder and it is not easy for them to express their feelings. Meanwhile, this causes a plethora of people to live with fear and a small hope of living in the country. The leaders and security guards in Sierra Leone tries to get domestic needs for the refugees, get protection for the refugees, and get all