EDITOR Brendan M. Laurs (
[email protected]) CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Emmanuel Fritsch, IMN, University of Nantes, France (
[email protected]) Henry A. Hänni, SSEF, Basel, Switzerland (
[email protected]) Franck Notari, Geneva, Switzerland (
[email protected]) Kenneth V. G. Scarratt, GIA Research, Bangkok, Thailand (
[email protected]) DIAMONDS Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This situ- Update on Diamond Trading in Sierra Leone. During the ation led to the Kimberley Process for certifying dia- decade-long civil war in Sierra Leone, the Revolutionary monds from mine to market, which was implemented in United Front (RUF) rebel army committed widespread 2002. With the signing of the Lomé Peace Agreement atrocities against innocent civilians, drawing global con- between the Sierra Leone government and the RUF earlier demnation by governments, human rights groups, and that year, peace has returned to the country. concerned citizens. The RUF was partially funded by the In August 2006, GIA Education instructor Ric Taylor country’s diamond resources, bringing the issue of con- traveled through the Sierra Leone diamond mining areas of flict diamonds in Sierra Leone to world attention in the Koidu, Tongo, Kenema, and Bo, some of which were once late 1990s. Meanwhile, similar diamond-funded conflicts controlled by the rebels. He saw no evidence of continuing were being waged in other African nations, such as conflict, and residents and journalists in these areas con- firmed that there is no desire to return to war. In the town of Koidu (figure 1), in the diamond mining district of Kono Figure 1. The town of Koidu, in the Kono district of in eastern Sierra Leone, one can still see the bare walls of eastern Sierra Leone, was at the center of the county’s buildings that were looted and burned, but many others protracted conflict because of the area’s diamond have been rebuilt and have roofs of corrugated metal or resources.