Blood Diamonds Blood Diamond: Sierra Leone Conflict
Sierra Leone “Blood Diamond” Conflict
Many of the world’s major conflicts arise from the want or need for resources, but the extent to which these resources are responsible for such conflicts, tends to be misunderstood. Conflicts may arise with first a dispute on who gets control over what resources, but followed by other factors adding up to contribute to the said conflict, including, corrupt leaders, religion, debt ect. When this is the case, it becomes confusing on what aspects are responsible for specific conflicts. Resource conflicts are a common occurrence in many African countries, as Africa is a continent with a surplus of natural resources and minerals, that the rest of the world wants control over. A collection of issues arose in Sierra Leone, thus starting a civil war. The diamond mining industry in Sierra Leone makes for half of their exports contributing greatly to their yearly income, although this annual income is minimal. Diamonds in Sierra Leone have paid for weaponry, which has contributed to warfare, they have added to the country’s corruption and have affected the international …show more content…
As diamonds offer large profits from their trades, it causes many people to become greedy, and use corruption as a way to get to the diamonds. This greed has caused many outbursts of violence to take place in Sierra Leone and the diamonds themselves have contributed largely with the progression of violence and wars, causing the need for interference from the international world. Sierra Leone, like many other African countries, has had horrendous results due to the abundance of lucrative natural resources. But would such issues appear if these resources were not in the lesser-devolved countries of Africa, but in the more developed countries in Europe or the Americas? And would the situations there be dealt with in a different
Many of the world’s major conflicts arise from the want or need for resources, but the extent to which these resources are responsible for such conflicts, tends to be misunderstood. Conflicts may arise with first a dispute on who gets control over what resources, but followed by other factors adding up to contribute to the said conflict, including, corrupt leaders, religion, debt ect. When this is the case, it becomes confusing on what aspects are responsible for specific conflicts. Resource conflicts are a common occurrence in many African countries, as Africa is a continent with a surplus of natural resources and minerals, that the rest of the world wants control over. A collection of issues arose in Sierra Leone, thus starting a civil war. The diamond mining industry in Sierra Leone makes for half of their exports contributing greatly to their yearly income, although this annual income is minimal. Diamonds in Sierra Leone have paid for weaponry, which has contributed to warfare, they have added to the country’s corruption and have affected the international …show more content…
As diamonds offer large profits from their trades, it causes many people to become greedy, and use corruption as a way to get to the diamonds. This greed has caused many outbursts of violence to take place in Sierra Leone and the diamonds themselves have contributed largely with the progression of violence and wars, causing the need for interference from the international world. Sierra Leone, like many other African countries, has had horrendous results due to the abundance of lucrative natural resources. But would such issues appear if these resources were not in the lesser-devolved countries of Africa, but in the more developed countries in Europe or the Americas? And would the situations there be dealt with in a different