In retrospect to the diamonds-for-guns scheme
April 13, 2009
Freetown, Sierra Leone: Abu Bakarr Kargbo, 31, was one of the thousands of amputees afflicted by the RUF atrocities during the civil war
When Sierra Leone faced a cruel and brutal civil war and the reign of terror of the RUF, the rebel army Revolutionary United Front, diamonds funded this war. The civil war devastated Sierra Leone from 1991 till 2002. That is why they are called conflict diamonds, because they were involved in it and the basis of the conflict because through this distribution it was possible for the rebels to buy weapons. Diamonds brought weapons to the region. At the height of the conflict, 30 tons of rifles and ammunition were smuggled into Monrovia from Belgium from Nice in France. It was gruesome times. Artillery was fired indiscriminately into the city, killing scores of civilian men, women and children. People who refused to vote for the RUF got their hands cut off, because the RUF said: “If you don’t vote for the RUF, then you shouldn’t be able to vote for any other party.”
Nowadays peace has indeed taken hold in the country, the first time in its 48 year history since independence. The question now is: How long will it last and how will the government deal with new threats to its stability?
Lastly, and most significantly, even though organised rebel exploitation of the diamond mines has ended officially, Sierra Leone has had little to no success in ending smuggling. One of the reasons is that Sierra Leone’s diamond regions are poorly watched. That seriously has to be improved.
