Authorities in Sierra Leone have launched a series of raids on illegal diamond offices operating in the eastern part of the gem-rich West African country.
In mid-September police and officials from the Ministry of Mineral Resources padlocked offices and seized mining equipment and scales in Kedema, the nation’s third-largest city. Several shop owners were taken in for questioning and released.
The operation could be extended throughout the eastern region of the country, where diamond traffickers can easily slip into neighbouring Guinea and Liberia.
So-called “conflict” diamonds were one of the chief causes of a decade-long civil war, which ended in 2001 and claimed more than 200,000 lives. During the country’s 1991-2001 conflict, rebel group Revolutionary United Front smuggled the gems out of the country to help pay for weapons. Since then, Britain and the U.S. have stepped up aid to Sierra Leone to help the country ensure that the trade is more law-abiding.
Late last month, Sierra Leone announced plans to restrict the residency rights and movements of foreign nationals within designated diamond mining areas in a bid to stem the illegal outflow of the gems across the border.
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