The News Review:

- Diamonds Move From Blood to Sweat and Tears

Diamonds Move From Blood to Sweat and Tears
New York Times – Mar 25, 2007
Kamanda said, standing calf-deep in brown muddy water here at the Bondobush mine, where he works every day. This is my only hope, really. Diamond mining in Sierra Leone is no longer the bloody affair made infamous by the nations decade-long civil war, in which diamonds played a starring role. The conflict begun by rebels who claimed to be ridding the mines of foreign control killed 50,000 people, forced millions to flee their homes, destroyed the countrys economy and shocked the world with its images of amputated limbs and drug-addled boy soldiers. An international regulatory system created after the war has prevented diamonds from fueling conflicts and financing terrorist networks. Even so, diamond mining in Sierra Leone remains a grim business that brings the government far too little revenue to right the devastated country, yet feeds off the desperation of some of the worlds poorest people. The process is more to sanitize the industry from the market side rather than the supply side, said John Kanu, a policy adviser to the Integrated Diamond Management Program, a United States-backed effort to improve the governments handling of diamond money.