Chris Rogers's List: CST 9 Sierra Leone

• the country has had a long and troubled history with its diamond mines

  • Diamonds = one of the biggest problems facing the nation.
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• diamonds and the corrupt politics they fostered have torn Sierra Leone apart.

  • What has the government done that has made the diamonds have a negative effect?
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• However, Lebanese traders within Sierra Leone quickly discovered smuggling diamonds brought easy profits, and illicit mining and trading grew throughout the country

  • Lebanese traders were the ones that introduced smuggling and using the diamonds for easy profit.
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• the government gave up policing the diamond districts

  • Less corruption, more of an absence problem. They ignore the illegal trade of diamonds.
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• the government tightened security between Kono, a large diamond district, and Freetown, the country's major exporting site.

  • All this really did was move the exportation to a new location.
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• In 1956, the government introduced the Alluvial Mining Scheme, which allowed many indigenous miners to receive mining and trading licenses. The scheme also resulted in increased illegal mining, as 75,000 illicit miners populated the Kono district.

  • In reality, this government scheme made things worse as there were more illegal miners.
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• Great Britain

  • Former colonizer.
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• Sierra Leone has not had a stable government since independence; it fluctuates between multi-party democracy and one-party rule.

  • BIG PROBLEM: UNSTABLE GOVERNMENT!
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• Stevens was the first to officially connect the diamond mines to political power and profit, and he encouraged illicit mining to gain political power.

  • Corruption: Encouraged illegal mining!
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• Joseph Momoh, having little political or leadership skills, placed even more responsibility in Mohammed's hands, and illicit diamond mining within Sierra Leone flourished.

  • Weak leadership encouraged more illegal mining.
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• armed rebellion

  • Another cause of poverty.
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• mineral wealth misused by the corrupt government

  • Government used the diamonds to get rich themselves.
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• Sierra Leone's own army is corrupt; its soldiers are nicknamed "Sobels," rebels by day, soldiers by night.

  • Everyone is corrupt, even the people fighting for them.
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• control over the diamond mines is still at the center of the conflict

  • Biggest cause of poverty?
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• the government has a chance to regain power over legitimate mining and the country.

  • What would they do about corruption?
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• ruling cliques to rob the country's wealth.

  • A.K.A. Government corruption.
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• British colonialism

  • One of the main causes of global poverty.
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• Jonah Dumbuya, his right arm and ears hacked off.

  • Why are their body parts cut off? Because of the civil war?
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• Now the British paratroopers have been engaged in fighting the rebels, four of who were shot dead.

  • British are involved in the war that is unintentionally causing poverty.
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• speaking 23 languages and hundreds of dialects.

  • The different languages made it hard for people to adapt.
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• clique of powerful families who set about plundering the country.

  • Corrupt government.
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• As a reaction to the corrupt governments that ruled Sierra Leone, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was formed under Sankoh. In 1991, the RUF started an uprising against the corrupt government which is still continuing. The rebels have used the most brutal methods to achieve power, including the mutilation of children. In reality, it is a brutal conflict between two sets of gangsters. While cynically resting on the aspirations of the masses, both sides are determined to plunder the country for themselves, determined to seize control over its vast diamond reserves. From these resources they are able to purchase weapons supplied by the imperialists.

  • Neither side wants to help the people, just become rich.
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• "Post independence has shown that most African states have neither the ability or determination to manage their own affairs."

  • People have ruled them for too long and messed up their nation so much that they cannot stand back on their feet.
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• Only then can the misery of war, poverty, hunger and violence be ended for ever.

  • The people themselves have to fight for it.
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• This effort focuses upon the role of the diamond trade upon the conflict.  Control of the diamond producing regions of Sierra Leone is the primary source of revenue for the RUF.

  • Diamonds are funding the army, and they are fighting for them so they could be richer.
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• Lead by NGOs the international community is looking for a way to keep 'conflict diamonds' from Sierra Leone and other war torn African states, out of the worlds jewelry stores.

  • They don't want people to support this war.
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• The RUF first displayed some of its brutal tactics as it consolidated its hold in eastern Sierra Leone.  Brutal attacks on civilians and public executions of minority ethnic groups where attempts to copy Taylor's successful tactics of ethnic incitement.  Soon refugees began to flee towards the Sierra Leonean capital of Freetown, the first of what would become millions of internally displaced persons.  As the conflict spread through Sierra Leone over the next two years brutal attacks on civilians continued.  "The RUF had two major calling cards: dead civilians, and hundreds, possibly thousands, of living civilians with their hands, feet, ears or genitals crudely amputated"

  • What point did they get across by doing these things to civilians?
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• a series of inept and corrupt regimes in Sierra Leone.

  • Corrupt government helped RUF.
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• The lack of authority and ability within the government of Sierra Leone has been a constant problem throughout the civil war.  This has a direct effect on the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of government troops to combat the RUF.

  • Because the government is weak, they cannot do anything about RUF.
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• These mines are the source of revenue for the RUF.

  • The diamonds are where they make their money.
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• In Africa, it is diamonds, which have supported the wars in Angola, Congo and Sierra Leone.

  • Would they be worse off or better without them?
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• The drop off in diamond production by the government of Sierra Leone can be attributed to RUF (Revolutionary United Front) control of the diamond producing districts.

  • They are mining the diamonds and taking them for themselves, causing the country to fall even more into poverty.
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• Diamonds mined by the RUF make their way from the war torn fields of Sierra Leone into Liberia, and hence onto the international diamond market.

  • Smuggling.
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• This lack of information or interest in a diamonds origin contributes to the ability of the RUF to sell diamonds on the international market.

  • Allows them to take advantage of the diamonds.
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• U.S. estimates of $30 - $50 million a year in diamond sales by the RUF, directly contributes to the chaos besetting Sierra Leone.

  • The RUF's selling of the diamonds makes everything worse in Sierra Leone.
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• As long as the RUF controls the source of the diamonds they will be able to smuggle the diamonds out through Liberia or another state.  Even with increased controls over the port of Antwerp and other trading centers smuggling will continue.

  • RUF is the source of problems.
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