Diamonds and Civil Conflicts in Africa—the Conflicts in Central Africa and West Africa

Abstract

Struggles over mineral resources often lie at the heart of civil conflicts in Africa. Diamonds represent the hardest kind of currency. They maintain their value and are relatively easy to mine and transport. Clearly, they represent an enormous resource that could significantly assist national and local development. In the conflict countries of Africa, the converse has been the reality. Instead of fostering national and local development, governments, the military, private international trading companies and rebel groups have come to depend on the formal, informal and illicit diamond economies, despite the fact that diamonds have no value to the average citizen of these conflict countries above their value to outsiders.¹ This article will focus on the perceived role of diamond wealth in conflicts in two African regions—Central Africa and West Africa. It will centre on different text cases—the conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola in Central Africa and the conflicts in Sierra Leone and Liberia in West Africa.