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Who should be blamed? Printable Version PRINTABLE VERSION
by chuka, Nigeria Feb 16, 2008
Peace & Conflict   Opinions

  

Diamond, mineral form of the element carbon, valued as a precious stone,has brought wars,wealth, disaster and vanity fame to some categories of people living on earth today.
These categories are those who live in diamond mining regions example in Sierra lone, Angola and parts of Liberia. Here rich in diamonds the rebels/oppositions to the recognized governments have taken advantage of these rich mineral deposits.When the diamonds mined under cruel manners using the poor citizens are sold they used the earnings to buy weapons and engage in wars.Diamonds originating from these areas are known as CONFLICT DIAMONDS.It has brought disaster to the inhabitants of these region. There are ugly tales from there region concerning how the citizens are being forced into war and countless atrocities meanted out to them.Watch the movie Blood Diamond and feel for your self.
The other categories of people are those it brought wealth and fame. The buyers of these CONFLICT DIAMONDS, the Westerners, captains of Jewel industries and rich collectors, celebrity, the famous and royal personalties. These group of people brought these diamonds and wears them to show off at expensive amounts fueling the need for jewelery markers to search for more market to buy raw diamonds breaking into the black market to buy CONFLICT DIAMONDS.
A chain reaction is built, as demands increases from users in the Western World so are the increase in conflict in the diamond mining regions. On Dec 1 2000 the United Nation General Assembly adopted unanimously, a resolution on the role of diamonds in fueling conflict, breaking the link between the illicit transaction of rough diamonds and armed conflict, as a contribution to prevention and settlement of conflicts (A/RES/55/56). In taking up this agenda item, the General Assembly recognized that conflict diamonds are a crucial factor in prolonging brutal wars in parts of Africa, and underscored that legitimate diamonds contribute to prosperity and development elsewhere on the continent. In Angola and Sierra Leone, conflict diamonds continue to fund the rebel groups, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), both of which are acting in contravention of the international community's objectives of restoring peace in the two countries.
Governments, inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations, diamond traders, financial institutions, arms manufacturers, social and educational institutions and other civil society players need to combine their efforts, demand the strict enforcement of sanctions and encourage real peace. The horrific atrocities in Sierra Leone and the long suffering of the people of Angola have heightened the international community's awareness of the need to cut off sources of funding for the rebels in order to promote lasting peace in those countries; such an opportunity cannot be wasted.

Legitimate Diamonds Peace Development

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Controls on conflict diamonds cut off sources of funding for rebels, help shorten wars and prevent their recurrence.
Peace in diamond producing regions will bring about the potential for economic development and tax revenue for building infrastructure as legitimate mining ventures increase.
The international diamond industry is already taking steps to respond, such as the adoption by the World Diamond Congress, Antwerp, 19 July 2000, of a resolution which, if fully implemented, stands to increase the diamond industry's ability to block conflict diamonds from reaching market. Other efforts include the launching, at the initiative of African diamond-producing countries, of an inclusive, worldwide consultation process of Governments, industry and civil society, referred to as the Kimberly Process, to devise an effective response to the problem of conflict diamonds.
What is the United Nations doing?
The tragic conflicts in Angola and Sierra Leone, fueled by illicit diamond smuggling, have already led to action by the Security Council. Under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, targeted sanctions have been applied against UNITA in Angola and the Sierra Leone rebels, including a ban on their main source of funding -- illicit diamonds. Diamond sanctions have also been applied against Liberia but are not yet in effect.
My question is this who should the blame for this? we need to understand that things will change if people should the blamed and the law brought against them.








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chuka


Chuka Ejidike is a medical Imaging scientist. A member of rotary club of rotary international while as a student in the University of Nigeria Enugu Campus.. He is also a crusader of youth empowerment and social justice. He is still single and working with the University of Benin Teaching Hospital Benin city Nigeria. He has written other works which includes Women are not Aware. a work born out of his research on breast cancer awareness.
This current work is about the increasing crisis in my home country Nigeria. There have been increase in crisis events in the countery since the inception of the political order of the day,Democracy.
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