BLOOD DIAMONDS

"Blood diamonds" are diamonds that have been mined in a war zone. They are produced in areas controlled by rebel forces that are opposed to internationally recognized governments.
Enormous amounts of money are at threats; and murders are modes of operation. This is why the term "blood diamonds" is used.

MINES & LABORERS
"Blood diamonds" have been mined in Angola, Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone Democratic Republic of Congo and other nations.

These diamonds are mined with free labor and are sold for extreme prices that are used to buy weapons that will be going against governments.

In the rebel-held land, the very few farms are razed and gutted.

Blood Diamonds are often produced through the forced labor of men, women and children.

The farmers are then taken from their land and are forced to work as prisoner-laborers where they are shot on spot for being disobedient or under-productive.

More than 1,500 of these miners in Sierra Leone's Kona region were children. These kids could easily find themselves drugged, forced to enlist in the rebel army and holding a gun that was bought by thediamonds they were mining.

HISTORY

The first diamond found in Sierra Leone was found in 1930.

In the 1990's, the rebel army clashed with the government. By this time, elections were scheduled.
To keep people from voting, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) instituted a campaign of amputation to chop off people's limbs so they could not vote.

Without the resources within the rebel borders, they wouldn't have been able to fund the war. The rebels used their diamond profit to force more people into slave labor camps to dig up more diamonds which will buy them new weapons.