Chelsea+La.


 * Blood Diamond**
 * By Chelsea LaFranchise**

Also known as "conflict diamonds" are diamonds mined under the rebel forces in Africa. Rebels sought after the diamonds to sell illegally in exchange for weapons to fuel their wars (Geology.com). According to Geology.com blood diamonds were often mined by forced laborers threatened by the rebels. The trade of these illegitimate stones is run by illegal diamond traders, robbers, and smugglers throughout the nations of Africa. The stones, once moved into the gem market, assimilate making it impossible to tell which stones were sought in blood.



The gem market is a form of currency. However, unlike physical bills and coins, there's often no tracking. Diamonds are portable and undetectable making it easy for smugglers to make their business. With the value of these stones, the money paid for even one "could fund and army or a terrorist organization," as was said in the National Geographic documentary "Diamonds of War: Africa's Blood Diamonds" (National Geographic).

In //A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a boy Soldier// the rebel forces power through towns in Sierra Leone in search of money to fund the rebellion. Some of this surely came from the sale of property left behind, stolen money, but also from forced mining. Free labor for all the guns and ammunition that a war could need. The rebels, in their siege, mutilated and murdered innocent civilians. These were the victims of the blood diamond wars.




 * "Blood Diamonds - Conflict Diamonds: What is the Kimberly Process?" Geology.com. Web. 3 February 2011.**
 * "Diamonds of War: Africa's Blood Diamonds." //National Geographic//. 2007. Film. 2 February 2011.**