Sierra Leone Diamond History
Sierra Leone diamonds are well-known among the jewelry world to be one of the best quality diamonds available today. This is perhaps the main reason that blood diamonds have wreaked the havoc they have had over so many years. The first diamond was found in Sierra Leone in the 1930s. Since then, a story of brutality and violence has unfolded in this small West African country. In 1968, Siaka Stevens became the prime minister of Sierra Leone. Recognizing the value of their diamonds, he made a large profit out of illegal diamond mining and trading. In the ensuing years, more and more diamonds were being exported illegally rather than through legal means. Most of these transactions were overseen by Stevens'' right hand man Jamil Mohammed, a Lebanese.

Sierra Leone blood diamonds
In 1991, Sierra Leone was thrown into more trouble as the rebel group Revolutionary United Front (RUF) launched assaults against the government. A military government was set up yet proved to be ineffective against the RUF's attacks. From the very beginning, the RUF found an ally in neighboring Liberia. Their goal was officially to combat crime and corruption but it soon became clear that their main aim was to take control of the diamond mines.
Preying on civilians, the RUF would take prisoners and enslave them to work in the diamond mines. This was no fun thing for the civilians as their work conditions were horrible and they were punished for the slightest things. Anyone opposed to the RUF's methods and practices would be brutally punished. Amputation was not an uncommon occurrence.

All this was unknown to - or perhaps ignored by - the outside world for many years. UN studies estimate that about $125 million worth of rough diamonds were bought by the diamond industry in Europe alone! Imagine this much money being used by the RUF to fund their grotesque activities in Sierra Leone. The equivalent of this money is tens of thousands of people killed and even more hurt.

It was only in 1999 that the UN deployed a mission to Sierra Leone to deal with the problem of Sierra Leone Conflcit Diamonds. Since then, sanctions have been put in place so as to curb such illegal activities. The Kimberly Process Certification Scheme requires a paper trail that certifies the origin of rough diamonds. This aims to cut off the flow of diamonds from countries like Sierra Leone.
The question that remains to be answered today is whether the paper trail that accompanies each diamond shipment is for real. Certificates can be forged.

Rough diamonds can be smuggled into a "clean" country. After that, there would be no way of knowing where the gems came from. There is always a willing market somewhere in another country. Traders and buyers don't always ask questions. They are just happy to buy and line their pockets. In an area rife with suffering and poverty, there is always an official who would be willing to accept bribes. All it takes is one person to overlook a shipment of blood diamonds. For all we know, there might still be a steady flow of rough conflict diamonds coming from the mines of Sierra Leone today.