The Dynamics of the ^|^ldquo;Conflict Diamonds^|^rdquo; Issue

The international community has recently been discussing the problem of “Conflict Diamonds”: diamonds that fuel the various conflicts in Africa. The problem was discussed on many occasions throughout the year in 2000, and finally a resolution calling upon all member states to deal with this problem was adopted at the United Nation General Assembly at the end of the year. The driving forces behind this resolution has been several interrelated factors: international awareness raised by UN and by reports and campains by other influential NGOs; the strength of interest of the British government in resolving the conflict in Sierra Leone; the concern of diamond producing countries and the diamond industry as a whole about the impact of the NGO-led anti- “Conflict Diamonds” movement; and a change in business strategy of De Beers, which is the most important diamond producing company.Although the tragedies caused by the “Conflict Diamonds” have been reported in detail, some important points have not been addressed: although Sierra Leone and Angola have received a great deal of attention, the issues in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the relationship among protagonists is more complicated, have not been sufficiently discussed; and the attitude of legitimate African governments in regard to using diamonds for the procurement of arms and to pay private military companies, may also cause serious problems from the “governance” point of view. In particular, the last point has received little attention at any international level and it is important to address this issue since the problem of the “Conflict Diamonds” is deeply linked with that of the management and development of public resources in weak African states

Conflict resolution · Corporate governance · Democracy · Development economics · Economics · Government (linguistics) · Management · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Procurement · Sierra leone · Sociology · Cambodian History and Society · Law

• Private security forces and African stability

  Open Access•Herbert M Howe•The Journal of Modern African…•1998

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