Clampdown on 'conflict diamonds' begins

Representatives of the diamond industry and government, from more than thirty countries agree to certify all legitimate shipments of rough diamonds, in an unprecedented effort to weed out the 'Black market' trade in gems that has been used to fund civil wars in Africa. This came at the time when the civil wars in West Africa - most notably in Sierra Leone and Liberia - had become extremely brutal, prompting many heads of state to call for a more concerted effort to rid the world market of 'conflict diamonds'. By 2001 the wars in the Great Lakes and West Africa had escalated, leaving hundreds of thousands of civilians fleeing the conflict. De Beers Consolidated, leading producer and exporter of the precious stones, led the crusade. Jonathan, the youngest of the Oppenheimers, had just taken over leadership of De Beers and was expected to lead the charge against ‘conflict diamonds’. In just under ten years since this initiative started in 2001, the sale of conflict diamonds has lessened remarkably, and many regimes propped up by the trade have been severely weakened. In 2010 Charles Taylor, who many considered as the king pin of conflict diamonds, was facing trial in the Hague having been accused of crimes against humanity.