Beyond the shine and sparkle on the outside of this irresistible rock the fact still remains that a diamond is just a piece of coal. In fact this mere rock lives a double life as the bringer of happiness and the bringer of death and war. Many consumers overlook the area where diamonds are from and how they are mined. Much like the secret world of oil the diamond industry has been the brewer of death and conflict for years.

            If diamonds really are forever then their past history should be known forever as well. Some are mined in African countries ripped and torn by poverty and war. Songs have been sung about these diamonds and movies have hit the big screen that display the crazed blood spread world that diamonds really come from.

               Commonly known as conflict diamonds, theses pieces of carbon hold a dark double life unknown to consumers. Before the late 90s countries in African torn by war and poverty like Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Angola would have military coups take over the country for short periods of time and some of theses wars fought by the military takeovers were paid for by the money from diamonds.

            One of the more publicized counties that suffered from conflict diamonds is Angola. Militant groups like the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (PMLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (NUTIA) used money from diamond sales to pay for weapons.

             In 1998, the United Nations (UN) placed sanctions forbidding other counties to import diamonds from Angola after hearing where the profits were going. Reports from the UN stated that as much as 20 percent of total profits from Angola diamond sales were used for illegal purposes.

            Another country that made news was Sierra Leone. Many groups employed by the UN have been sent into Sierra Leone when their problems with conflict diamonds hit the media. Militant groups in the country would amputate their war victims; the money that funded such things came from the sales for diamonds. In 2000 the UN also put sanctions on Sierra Leone stating that diamonds coming from the country must be certified with a Certificate of Origin.

            With the blood spread from these counties stained on the diamonds, it’s a long way from peace. The number of conflict diamonds has gone down, in fact according to the World Diamond Council there are less then 3% of conflict diamonds in circulation. The numbers have gone down but the memory of what these pieces of coal meant to the countries that were torn apart by them should never be forgotten. May the healing start and peace begin.