not only to stop the flow of money to rebel groups, but also to restore consumer confidence in the gems and ensure the survival of the diamond industry. (CNN) Recently, UNITA has made peace proposals to the Angolan government to end the civil war. The MPLA run government responded by saying that the ending of the war all depends upon the laying down of UNITAs weapons. Aid agencies say at least five-hundred-thousand people have died and about two-point-seven-million have been forced to flee their homes because of the fightingUNITA has shown signs for some time of wanting to restart talks with the MPLA government after suffering a series of military defeats. (BBC) If UNITA were out of the picture, who knows how Angolas economy would respond. With no interference the Angolan economy could grow to be one of the most powerful in the continent. The sad truth is that the dispute described above is only the conflict going on in Angola. There are several other African countries with similar but separate problems with diamond wars. Another country that is in severe conflict is Sierra Leone. Between 1991 and 1999, the war claimed over 75,000 lives, caused half a million Sierra Leoneans to become refugees, and displaced half of the country's 4.5 million people. (PACNET) While the conflict in Angola is based mainly upon a race for control of the government, the quarrel in Sierra Leone is fueled chiefly by money. The point of the war may not actually have been to win it, but to engage in profitable crime under the cover of warfare. (PACNET) Up until the 1980s DeBeers was directly involved with diamond trade in Sierra Leone. Now there are no DeBeers offices held in Sierra Leone but it is believed that many of the diamonds still being mined there come through DeBeers hands indirectly from other countries such as Liberia and Guinea. This is possible because diamonds can be smuggled out of Sierra Leone and into these other countri...
