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Violence & Smuggling Roundup 2007
By Deepthi | February 12, 2008
To keep our website up to date with the important issues and concerns in our work, we read a lot about conflict diamonds. And the global nature of the conflict diamond trade means that it gets covered from many different angles — in terms of human rights, civil conflict, environmental concerns, governmental and regulatory agencies, and industry concerns.
Here’s our roundup of media coverage of violence and smuggling in the conflict diamond trade in 2007.
Escaping the battle: From child soldier to poster boy
Independent - Jan 22, 2007
Ishmael Beah was brainwashed into becoming a brutal killer amid the savagery of Sierra Leone’s civil war. Now he is giving a voice to other young victims of conflict
Ghana denies selling Ivorian conflict diamonds
AngolaPress - Feb 10, 2007
Ghana`s Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) Limited on Wednesday denied allegations that diamonds from rebel-controlled areas of Cote d`Ivoire were being smuggled into Ghana, making Ghana to violate the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme (KPCS).
Diamonds Are a Guerrilla’s Best Friend
Slate - Aug. 17, 2007
Five years ago, most citizens of Angola were getting by on less than a dollar a day despite their country’s rich deposits of diamonds and oil.
After the horror, the day of justice
The Sunday Times – August 19, 2007
The plunder of Sierra Leone, a poor country bordering Liberia that desperately needed its mineral wealth, came at a terrible cost to girls such as Fatimatu.
Thousands Flee Homes Amidst Renewed Violence in the DRC
Rapaport - Sept 5, 2007
The clashes have raised concerns the mineral-rich nation may fall back into civil war, which plagued the country during the 1990s leaving an estimated 4 million people dead.
Unregulated diamond mining wreaks environmental havoc in Venezuela
San Francisco Chronicle – Sept 23, 2007
The long chain of mismanagement in Venezuela’s diamond industry starts at the top, with the government’s own defiance of an international ban on trading conflict diamonds.
UN Team Warns of Cote d’Ivoire Diamond Smuggling into Mali
Rapaport – Oct 21, 2007
A United Nations-appointed team of experts has called on all countries bordering Coté D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and Ivorian authorities, to tighten controls after it found diamonds were being smuggled out of the Ivory Coast to Mali.
Angola Police Seize +30,000 Diamonds
Rapaport – Oct 22, 2007
Angola’s National Criminal Investigation Directorate (DNIC) seized more than 30,000 stones and arrested several national and foreign citizens for diamond trafficking in 2007, Angola Press reported.
Rapaport – Oct 23, 2007
Guyana authorities have seized 4,000 carats of diamonds enroute to Dubai, which they suspect were being traded on the black market.
Mali’s diamond-smuggling centre
BBC News – Oct 31, 2007
Diamonds from Mali’s southern neighbour have been subject to UN sanctions - renewed this week for a further 12 months - as a consequence of its recent civil war. But a leaked UN report says the conflict gems are still getting onto the market, with Mali posited as the most likely route.
Topics: Conflict Diamond Issues, In the News, Uncategorized |