The War on Conflict Diamonds Essay

In the world today, there are over 250,000 child soldiers fighting for their lives (Goodwin).During the Sierra Leonean civil war in 1991-2002, the United Nations estimated that there were over 7,000 child soldiers being used on both sides (Maclay). The conditions during the war were terrible and in 2002 over

Brianna Selhorst Glenn Ames Contemporary World History 5 December 2007 A Long Way Gone vs. Blood Diamond A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier and the recent 2006 film Blood Diamond both depict how it was living in Sierra Leone, Africa during the Civil War in the ‘90’s. While A Long Way Gone focuses on child soldiers and what they had to live and go through for many years, Blood Diamond focuses mainly on how the country is torn apart by the struggle between government soldiers and rebel forces. The film portrays many of the atrocities of that war, including the rebels' amputation of people's hands to stop them from voting in upcoming elections. Both the movie and the book try to tackle major issues by asking the questions: how

As our knowledge of Sierra Leone is very limited. The information which we can obtain in Australia from the newspapers, internet and government can be biased. The fact remains that these refugees arrived lawfully to compete in the 2006 Commonwealth Games. A fair go for refugees is a fair go

By definition, strife precious stones are jewels that begin from mines that are under the control of revolutionary gatherings that are battling against their nation's legislature. Sierra Leone, a little nation on the west bank of Africa, (in this paragraph you need to elaborate a little bit more) has throughout the previous ten years been under the fear of an ever display common war. This war is being battled between a radical gathering known as the Revolutionary United Front and Sierra Leone's available government. The RUF took control of some of Sierra Leones wealthiest diamond mines in the mid-nineties centuries. They now utilize the benefits they make from these precious stones to purchase weapons for their armed force, made up for the

Whilst leading to civilians fleeing Sudan and Sierra Leone to start new lives. The histories behind both wars are quite similar as both were solely motivated by natural resources and power imbalance. As The Revolutionary United Front had established in 1991 as rebel army that shared one goal, which was to overthrow Sierra Leone's government. Often referred to as the “Blood Diamond” era in certain African countries. Although diamonds and natural resources were a significant motivating factor, there were other causes of the Sierra Leone Civil War. Such as the pre-war frustrations and injustices that had transpired for decades. More than twenty years of poor governance, poverty and corruption created a setting for the RUF causing a rebellion, as civilians desired for change in Sierra Leone. Corruption and mismanagement led to the downfall of the country leading to an increase of recruits for the RUF. For Sierra Leoneans who did not have access to cultivating land, joining the rebel cause was an opportunity to seize property with deadly force. After leaving over 50 000 casualties and 2.6 million citizens displaced from Sierra Leone. The war came to an end in 2002 concluding in a loss for the

Men, women, and children are all coerced, regularly at gunpoint, to mine coltan. Both the novel Blue Gold by Elizabeth Stewart and the CBC News article, “Coltan: A New Blood Mineral” shine light on the influence coltan mining has on people residing in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the

There have been many dark times throughout the years but there is a time that some people may not even know about. This time involved a war that lasted from 1996 to 2001 and even inspired a movie called Blood Diamond. For a while people did not want to get involved with this war. All it took for people to demand action and end it were the events of 9/11. During the war, people were trying to get a hold of precious stones and for most of these people the hunt did not end well for them.

Human blood is shed on almost every diamond mined in Africa, bought from Africa, or traded out of Africa. In the beginning of Aryn Baker’s article “Dirty Diamonds” in TIME magazine, Baker presents a man conflicted with his decision to buy an engagement ring, because he does not want

Introduction This essay supports the statement “The price of diamonds is too high”. Diamonds have always been presumed to be rare. They have been present in history as a symbol of wealth and luxury as they were so difficult to find. Nowadays diamonds are mined and are found all over the world but they are sold through a cartel. (Epstein 1982) A cartel limits the supply of a product in order to keep prices high and to limit competition. (South African Pocket Oxford Dictionary: 2002) This raises the question of whether diamonds are actually worth their price. This essay focuses on the origins and the basic theory behind the diamond cartel; the early operation of the cartel; De Beers’ strong market campaign; determining De Beers’ current

Sierra Leone and the Implications of British Imperialism Sierra Leone is a country located on the west coast of Africa in between present day Guinea and Liberia. To the left is an image Sierra Leone and its bay depicted on a map. Sierra Leone was only discovered by the Europeans

Slavery was abolished in the year of 1865; however, the maltreatment of African-Americans has not. Similarly, the triangular slave trade mentioned in Hartman’s book is no longer existent, but inhumane conditions still exist amongst the African community. These conditions are recurring motifs that hip-hop artist try to bring to mainstream audiences. The blood diamond industry began in the 1990s with the rebel group, Revolutionary United Front (RUF), led by Foday Sankoh, who had claimed they would improve the destitute conditions of the Africans and take better care of them than the African government. However, they later went against these promises and “seized control of diamond-producing regions in the east and south of Sierra Leone” (Fofana,

The Sierra Leone Civil War The continent of Africa has been exposed to countless of years of tragedy including forced slavery and colonialism. One of the most devastating hits to Africa is the civil war that occurred in Sierra Leone from 1991 to 2002. This country experienced a decade long war in an endeavor to achieve economic stability and a democratic political system for Sierra Leoneans. There are many facets that contributed to the warfare that occurred in the small nation, from the reason why the conflict started, the numerous participants and their affiliations, and cessation as well as the effects thereafter.

Not many people know that the pursuit for peace began within the country, Abraham explains that, it was actually commenced from the villages that were attacked by the RUF in 1991 (201). Disturbingly enough, not all of the government’s officials were in agreement to end the war and bring peace to the country. Abdullah describes the utter disappointment and disgust expressed by the citizens toward their government. The NPRC government could best be described as coldblooded, proliferating, and fraudulent (203). The Sierra Leone war ended with the help of many outside nations and non-governmental organizations such as Ivory Coast, the British military forces, and especially the United Nations. Although outside involvement had a positive contribution,

III.The organization that Colonel Coetzee operates involves the use of military force and monies through European agencies that help crate civil conflict in order to exploit the natural resources of the Sierra Leone. His goal is to provide cheap diamonds found by stakeholders, like Solomon, that wish to use the blood diamond to free his family and to stop the exploitation of his peoples. Danny Archer’s means to an end is to be able to find these diamonds to make the Colonel massive profits off of them. These “blood diamonds” are the result of creating wars that destroy African communities, so that Europeans can live in luxury. Is it Danny that must find these diamonds and find ways to smuggle them out of the region during military conflict, artificially created by men like Colonel Coetzee. Maddy is involved with the American media, as she is trying to find a

University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Arts and Letters Pol 221: Dynamics of Philippine Politics TAN, Sharmaine Wednesday, 6-9pm The film starts out as Solomon Vandy and his son, Dia, were on their way home and notices that a group of rebel forces were bound for their town. Many people were killed, some who were lucky got out (including Solomon's family) while some unfortunate ones got captured and made to work in the mines like Solomon. They were made to mine for diamonds, blood diamonds. These gems are used to fund wars throughout the country. While working in the mines, Solomon chanced upon a huge pink diamond. He was caught by the commander of the rebels while he was trying to hide the gem. The government forces then arrived, making