Can DIAMONDS ever be someone’s best friend

This piece of writing is not against anyone or any gender in particular, I believe that it is in favour of humanity.

Today I went watch a movie called ‘Blood Diamond’. I went there simply for fun sake but the movie turned out to be the one which made me think!!!!

The movie is all about the Diamond trade in the world. It tells you a nerve wrecking story of what the people of Africa have to go through to provide the so called elite people with the so called world’s most precious stone. The movie forced me to do a bit of study on this topic and I am presenting some startling facts of my study.

1) The diamond that you are wearing right now is most probably a “CONFLICT DIAMOND”. The process of obtaining the stone and to get it to you gets it this name.

2)Most of the world’s diamond production comes from the central and southern Africa. We are all aware of the fact that this part of Africa has been marred with civil war for more that four decades. What we usually hear from media is that there are forces fighting against the dictators for democracy but I can bet that’s not the true picture.

3)Conflict diamonds are diamonds that originate from areas controlled by forces or factionsopposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments, and are used to fund military action in opposition to those governments, or in contravention of the decisions of the UN Security Council. These Conflict diamond caches have often been used by rebel forces to finance arms purchases and other illegal activities. Neighbouring and other countries can be used as trading and transit grounds for illicit diamonds. Once diamonds are brought to market, their origin is difficult to trace and once polished, they can no longer be identified.

4)Some diamonds have helped fund devastating civil wars in Africa, destroying the lives of millions. Conflict diamonds are those sold in order to fund armed conflict and civil war. Profits from the trade in conflict diamonds, worth billions of dollars, were used by warlords and rebels to buy arms during the devastating wars in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sierra Leone. Wars that have cost an estimated 3.7 million lives.

5)The countries devastated by this “Diamond War” are Angola, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo(DROC) and many more.

6)I have to mention DROC especially here because of the scale of war its people have seen in past forty years or so. Small arms, ammunition, and other military supplies made within the country also have played a significant role in these troubled areas. The government-owned Zimbabwe Defense Industries (ZDI) has profited considerably from the DROC conflict. ZDI provided about $250 million worth of arms to the ADFL (the Kabila-led armed force) during its 1996-97 campaign against Mobutu. The primary organization which has benefited from this trade is AL-QAIDA. Need I say more here?

7) The warlords abuse the local population for diamond mining. The local people are put through the worst of conditions to obtain a lifeless stone. If the people do not obey warlord’s orders then they are starved to death, the women are raped, the children are made drug addicts and so on. I have a few pictures that are released by the AMNESTY INTL. on this.

So the next time you go to buy this precious stone are if you are wearing this stone, look deep into it and I am sure you would see the colour of the blood of all the people who have lost there lives just to get the stone to you. Looks deep red isn’t it???