Assignment #9: Kanye West - Diamonds From Sierra Leone

History of the Conflict

The human cost of Liberia’s two civil wars and the related conflict in Sierra Leone was staggering. 200,000 people were killed, 2 million displaced, and half of Sierra Leone’s female population subjected to sexual violence including rape, torture and sexual slavery. Natural resources did not trigger these conflicts, but they were crucial to funding them.
As rebel leader and later president, warlord Charles Taylor monopolised the diamond industry in Liberia and then eastern Sierra Leone, where he traded diamonds for guns with the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). The signature tactic of the RUF was to mark victims by hacking off their limbs. At its peak, this rebel group was bringing in as much as $125m annually from the illicit diamond trade.  
Global Witness first exposed how “blood diamonds” were driving these conflicts, and a UN investigation in 2000 confirmed that stones were being systematically smuggled out from eastern Sierra Leone through Liberia, and from there onto the international market. The UN finally imposed sanctions on Liberian diamonds in March 2001 – at which point the Taylor regime turned its focus onto the timber trade. Taylor established a shadow state that bypassed the normal state institutions and diverted timber revenues to private bank accounts rather than the national treasury.
Liberia's timber revenues were at least US$106 million in 2000, but government accounts show only US$7 million of this money appearing in state coffers. The trade was a key cog in Taylor’s war machine, with logging company militias acting as private armies and companies themselves trafficking arms.
In March 2003, the Special Court for Sierra Leone formally indicted Charles Taylor for war crimes, including murder, rape and pillage.  UN timber sanctions were finally imposed in July 2003, more than two years after they were first discussed by the Security Council. The following month, with his funding cut off and various rebel groups advancing on Monrovia, Taylor went into exile in Calabar, Nigeria. He remained involved in Liberian politics, in contravention the terms of his exile deal, until his escape and subsequent arrest on 29 March 2006.
Charles Taylor’s war crimes trial at the Special Court for Sierra Leone continues in The Hague today.

What are Blood Diamonds?
Blood Diamonds, also known as Conflict Diamonds, are used in the illegal trading of diamonds to finance conflict, civil wars and human rights abuses in Africa. Profits from this illegal diamond trade in diamonds have been used by warlords and rebels in Africa to buy arms. The countries involved in the illicit trading of blood diamonds include Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. 

The History of African Blood Diamonds - Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone is a country in West Africa which is bordered by Guinea on the north and Liberia on the south, with the Atlantic Ocean on the west of this African country. Between 1991 and 2000, Sierra Leone endured a devastating civil war. The major source of hard currency in Sierra Leone consists of the diamond mining. The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in Sierra Leone attempted to overthrow the government, and an illicit diamond trade was used to fund the war effort. These gems were referred to as African Blood Diamonds or Conflict Diamonds. The Civil War in Sierra Leone claimed over 75,000 lives and caused 500,000 to become refugees, and displaced half of the population of Sierra Leone (4.5 million people) to become displaced. From 1989 to 2003 Liberia, an adjoining country of Sierra Leone, was also engaged in a civil war and became the main route for exporting conflict or blood diamonds from Sierra Leone.

History - The United Nations (UN) highlights the issue of African Blood Diamonds
The United Nations identified the issue of African Blood Diamonds being used as a source of funding for the civil wars in Africa in 1998.

After reading the articles and watching the Kanye West video respond to the following questions:

1.  Do you think the lyrics to Kanye West's song related to the issue of "Blood Diamonds" in Africa?
2.  What conflicts does Kanye West discuss in the song, "Diamonds from Sierra Leone"?