國家地理:Blood Diamond: Africa 血鉆
There's a disturbing side to the diamond trade--- the traffic of conflict diamonds, otherwise known as blood diamonds. This is Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone on the West African coast, a country still emerging from ten years of war. During that war, it was held by rebel forces--- rebels who use diamonds to finance their rebellion.
The war started with rebel forces trying to overthrow a corrupt government, but quickly descended into a terror campaign with amputation used as a weapon--- thousands of people were killed and maimed as the rebels maintained their tenacious hold on the diamond fields, using the gems to buy more guns. Rebels forced men, women and children to dig for diamonds at gunpoint. These diamonds were then smuggled into the world markets. There, they were cut and polished, disappearing into the legal supply, sold like any other gem to consumers who had no idea they'd been paid for originally in blood. Diamonds from Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo joined the illegal exodus.
It doesn't look like much, but this is the Sierra Leone's government diamond office--- the new frontline of the fight against blood diamonds. Every gem in this room is supposed to be legal. Lawrence Myers who runs this office understands the danger blood diamonds posed to the industry. Thousands of diamonds pass through this office every week and every so often, a spectacular one shows up, like the stone that came through yesterday.
"That stone would vary from 1 million to 1.5 million."
It's already on its way to Belgium--- the largest diamond exported from Sierra Leone in ten years at least legally. Weighing in at 110 carats, it's the size of a golf ball and worth about a million dollars in its rough state. After it's been cut and polished, it will be sold for about five times that amount. But for the government of Sierra Leone, the diamond will earn a mere 30,000 dollars in export taxes. That's not very much. But many diamond traders in the country choose not to pay any taxes at all. About 40% go through the official channels. 60% of diamonds are smuggled--- 70 to 75 million.
This untamed jungle shelters a rich and fertile land, but there's almost no sign of agriculture. Farmers abandoned these fields long ago--- many to dig for diamonds, no fences, no guards, no industrial machinery. Twenty feet beneath these men is a diamond-rich gravel bed. To get to it, tons of earth have to be moved, a shovelful at a time. Ex-rebels work side by side with the civilians they once terrorized. Most of these men dig all day, every day, 365 days a year.
"Century ago, diamonds have been part of their life. They dream diamonds, they eat diamonds, they think diamonds. Wherever you go, you talk about diamonds."
"I buy house. I buy motorcar. I do the job for my people."
Whether they are large or small, diamonds from these mines feed the same pipeline that once trafficked the blood diamonds. There are up to a million miners in Sierra Leone, and only a thousand of them have licenses. It's like the Wild West, a place that obeys its own laws, because all it takes is one big stone to change a person's life, for better or for worse.
The war started with rebel forces trying to overthrow a corrupt government, but quickly descended into a terror campaign with amputation used as a weapon--- thousands of people were killed and maimed as the rebels maintained their tenacious hold on the diamond fields, using the gems to buy more guns. Rebels forced men, women and children to dig for diamonds at gunpoint. These diamonds were then smuggled into the world markets. There, they were cut and polished, disappearing into the legal supply, sold like any other gem to consumers who had no idea they'd been paid for originally in blood. Diamonds from Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo joined the illegal exodus.
It doesn't look like much, but this is the Sierra Leone's government diamond office--- the new frontline of the fight against blood diamonds. Every gem in this room is supposed to be legal. Lawrence Myers who runs this office understands the danger blood diamonds posed to the industry. Thousands of diamonds pass through this office every week and every so often, a spectacular one shows up, like the stone that came through yesterday.
"That stone would vary from 1 million to 1.5 million."
It's already on its way to Belgium--- the largest diamond exported from Sierra Leone in ten years at least legally. Weighing in at 110 carats, it's the size of a golf ball and worth about a million dollars in its rough state. After it's been cut and polished, it will be sold for about five times that amount. But for the government of Sierra Leone, the diamond will earn a mere 30,000 dollars in export taxes. That's not very much. But many diamond traders in the country choose not to pay any taxes at all. About 40% go through the official channels. 60% of diamonds are smuggled--- 70 to 75 million.
This untamed jungle shelters a rich and fertile land, but there's almost no sign of agriculture. Farmers abandoned these fields long ago--- many to dig for diamonds, no fences, no guards, no industrial machinery. Twenty feet beneath these men is a diamond-rich gravel bed. To get to it, tons of earth have to be moved, a shovelful at a time. Ex-rebels work side by side with the civilians they once terrorized. Most of these men dig all day, every day, 365 days a year.
"Century ago, diamonds have been part of their life. They dream diamonds, they eat diamonds, they think diamonds. Wherever you go, you talk about diamonds."
"I buy house. I buy motorcar. I do the job for my people."
Whether they are large or small, diamonds from these mines feed the same pipeline that once trafficked the blood diamonds. There are up to a million miners in Sierra Leone, and only a thousand of them have licenses. It's like the Wild West, a place that obeys its own laws, because all it takes is one big stone to change a person's life, for better or for worse.
