The illegal Diamond Trade of Sierra Leone - Case Study Example

Download file to see previous pages... Charles Taylor, the leader of insurgents in Liberia, runs a non-state entity known as "greater Liberia".3 He does not have any official identity, but he maintained trapping of gold, diamond and hardwood. He has support from port city of Buchanan and a strong tie with several other trading partners. This insurgence has given rise to criminal activities which are being referred as "crime disguised as war". 4 The insurgency got integrated and has resulted to complex criminal networking.5 Along with exploitation of natural resource, other criminal activities such as drugs, money laundering and many other illegal activities are growing at a faster rate. The war state in Sierra Leone made the life of civilian people disastrous. This leads to humiliation for people who get caught in between the warring parties and as a result human residential areas get deserted. On the other hand the town and cities are getting flooded with Internally Displaced People (IDPs) who are living in overcrowded outskirts. The resource based conflict in Sierra Leone is non-ending because some of the people involved in such conflicts are getting benefitted. Such situations create easy access for resource smuggling. If someone undergoes an in-depth research for the factors which were actually responsible for the present conflict in Sierra Leone, the following three main reasons will emerge out:


These are:
The main cause behind the war was closely associated with the competition for resource (mainly diamond). This strengthened with the passage of time.
The conflict was directly linked with collapse of the state and emergence of non-state criminals with small arms.
The war was never restricted to a single state, rather it was a regional problem and no state boundaries could actually restricted illegal trading of these resources.6
Different non government organizations are coming up to provide help to those people who are suffering the most from such resource conflict. They are also campaigning against trade conflict that is getting worst day by day in Sierra Leone.
The innocent civilians are the one who suffered most from such a war state. For example on 19th and on 20th December, 2001 in Kono District situated to the eastern part of Sierra Leone, a clash emerged out between Civil Defense Force (CDF) and RUF that resulted into killing of 13 people while 40 ...Download file to see next pagesRead More