Preface

Summary

In 2002 Sierra Leone emerged from a decade long brutal civil conflict. Since then renewed interest in this tiny West African state emerged as ‘conflict diamonds’ globally came to be the subject of much controversy and attempts to combat this trade continued to prove problematic. Indeed the concern over conflict diamonds even managed to penetrate aspects of popular culture seen in the Steven Speilberg film Blood Diamonds (2006) loosely based on the conflict in Sierra Leone. These diamonds also became the subject of a Kanye West single Diamonds from Sierra Leone in 2005. Such efforts have without a doubt contributed to raising awareness of conflict diamonds in Africa and have perhaps enlightened a few to this previously little known country. Today, blood diamonds continue to provoke controversy, whether this involves allegations against a certain supermodel said to have accepted ‘blood diamonds’ from a former Liberian war lord or whether this relates to concerns surrounding the human rights of those working in the mining of these stones. Sierra Leone continues to occupy an uneasy position as one of the world's poorest nations and at the same time the provider of millions of dollars worth of mineral wealth. So whilst Sierra Leone has provided high quality gem diamonds since the 1930s for the luxury markets of the West, as a nation it appears to have benefitted very little in return.