Tag Archives: sierra leona diamonds

Diamonds from Sierra Leone are well-known amongst those in the jewelry industry as some of the best quality diamonds available today. However, this prized natural resource has also been wreaking havoc in Sierra Leone today and the diamond trade there is extremely perilous. Diamonds from Sierra Leone have been synonymous with brutality, violence, and conflict. This problem escalated in 1968 when Siaka Stevens became prime minister of Sierra Leone and recognized how lucrative the diamond trade industry was. Stevens made a very large profit out of illegal diamond mining and trading, and in the following years most diamond trade in Sierra Leone was illegal. In 1991, Sierra Leone became an extremely volatile region as the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) started attacking the governments. While their “official” goal was to end crime and corruption, it became apparent that their interests lay in controlling the diamond mines. With RUF controlling all the diamond mines, labor conditions were extremely poor with very harsh punishment for slight mistakes. These diamonds from Sierra Leone as well as certain other African countries became known as blood diamonds or conflict diamonds. In the 1990s, approximately $125 million worth of rough diamonds were bought by just Europe. This … Continue reading