Sierra Leone is a small country in Western Africa on the edge of the “bulge.” It covers an area of about 71,740 square kilometers. The official language is English. The government is a Constitutional Republic, consisting of a President (elected by the people; 5-year term), a Vice President, and a Cabinet (appointed by the President; 5-year terms).
This is the flag of the country. The green stripe represents the agriculture and natural resources of the country, the white represents justice, and the blue represents Freetown’s major harbor.
The main focus of this blog-project is blood diamonds, (also known as conflict diamonds, converted diamonds, hot diamonds, or war diamonds,) diamonds that are mined in war zones. These diamonds are exported to other counties and/or their armies. Sierra Leone produced many blood diamonds as the result of a civil war in the country lasting from 1991 until 2002. In most cases, people are killed so that these diamonds can be obtained. Most people think (partially correctly) that “blood diamond” means a diamond that people have been killed for. And, that is usually true.
Sometime in the late 20th century, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) formed, under command of Charles Taylor, the leader of rebel forces in Liberia; and former Sierra Leonean corporal Foday Sankoh. The RUF launched their first attack on March 23, 1991. The Sierra Leonean government had insufficient strength to stand up to this threat, so RUF forces took control of part of the country. Also, the rebels would use child soldiers as part of the army. In 1992, there was a military coup led by six people (the National Provisional Ruling Council, or NPRC) who didn’t like the way that the government dealt with the rebels that sent current president Joseph Momoh into exile. But this government did not deal with the threat any better than Momoh’s government. So how does this relate to the blood diamonds? The leader of the Liberian rebels wanted to take control of the main diamond mines to benefit his own country and military. Dumb reason to start a war, right?
This is an RUF child soldier.
In 2006, a movie called Blood Diamond was made about blood diamonds. Here is the trailer.
WARNING: This clip contains violence and suspense throughout. Caution is advised.
Rapper Kanye West made a song called Diamonds from Sierra Leone (c Rock-a Fella Records) about blood diamonds. The video is below.
The child seen frequently in the video symbolizes the people who are killed to obtain these diamonds. Also, please note that this clip contains mild “radio swearing.”
However, not all diamonds are obtained this way. You can still buy conflict-free diamonds from sellers like leberjewler.com, arcticsparkle.com, brilliantearth.com, select jewelers, and many others. DiamondNexusLab.com offers a blood-free alternative to diamonds.
There’s the end of the blog…but feel free to visit some more! Special thanks to: Karen Cole, for coming up with the idea; Mr. Ashworth, for being an awesome geography teacher; and everyone who visited the site!
