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Diamonds: Reason for War - Reason for Peace
Africa's Riches are not yet a Blessing - Christians warn of Blood Diamonds
"You must let the people in the North know that our resources are reasons for war", Bishop Joseph Humper of Freetown, Sierra Leone, urged his partners from the Methodist church in Germany. "But we don't want you to stop buying diamonds for example, because selling them means income for our economies. Otherwise African states are not able to build an infrastructure, to finance a health system or to pay for education." But he also called on the consumers in the North: "Don't do business with gangsters!" The Association of Protestant Churches and Missions (EMW) has published a book showing the close relationship between natural resources and wars in Africa.
The war in Sierra Leone between the government and the Revolutionary United Front was financed by profits from illegal deals with diamonds. The Unita Rebels in Angola bought weapons with gains in the same trade, while the government used oil-money to buy arms. Diamonds and Coltane - the latter used for high-tech equipment - is preventing the Democratic Republic of Kongo from living in peace. And the demands for oil has and will cause more conflicts. In the year 2000 the World Bank stated: "Resources, such as diamonds, are more often the reason for civil wars then ethnic or religious struggles".
There are enough diamonds to satisfy the wants and needs of mankind, yet the price is kept at an artificial high level. Besides the precious stones used for rich people's adornment, uncut diamonds are kept in vaults for "bad times". But the majority of the world production is literally used up: for cutting, drilling, grinding and boring no material does a better job than diamonds.
"The blessing of having natural resources turned into a curse", said the President of Sierra Leone's Lutheran Church, Tom Barnett. Diamonds from the area bordering on Liberia diamonds were being stolen by the neighbouring country's rebels. This meant that his country could not do business, but lost revenues while the warlords traded diamonds against weapons on the international market, murdered people or chased them off their land - many fled to Sierra Leone. Obviously it is simple to smuggle the small, yet precious goods to the trading places in the north, were they are turned into jewellery or tools.
Officially such dealings are illegal. But buyers in the north care little where the diamonds come from. Legal threats are plenty, but seldom are the traffickers brought to justice. since some trading companies and several African states signed the document of the "Kimberley Process" in 2001 to prevent dealings with illegal diamonds, there has been hope of drying up the swamp of corruption, murder and fraud. But even now specialists have not seen a great change neither on the diamond business or in the peace business in Africa.
The small book published by EMW shows the efforts being taken to make the German-speaking public aware of the connection between illegal diamonds and wars in Africa. Citizens in the buyers' countries - many of them Christians - can remind their democratically elected politicians of these facts. Awareness has to be created, that for example, to ensure that Germany signs the "Kimberley Process" and makes sure that national legislation punishes those who break these rules.
At the same time those who still want diamonds in their possession can buy them legally and without pangs of concience: A German company offers precious stones from a small co-operative in Lesotho. Their claim is "5Cs", meaning that besides the 4 traditionall 4 Cs of the diamond trade - carat, colour, cut, clarity - the fifth C stands for "conflict-free, child labour-free, corruption free diamonds mined and processed under clean working, social and environmental conditions". those precious stones do not go through the hands of international agencies therefore most of the money paid will go to the people that mined the stones. This way "Fair trade" helps the curse to be turned into a blessing.
