Sierra Leone Rehabilitation from War

May 28, 2005 11:13 AM

The 10 year long civil war in West Africa's Sierra Leone may have concluded in the last couple of years but rehabilitation of the country is painfully slow. War crime trials are under way but are underfunded and there's only scant attention paid by the western press. Naturally, the most vulnerable are at greatest risk. Pep Bonet has photographed children at the hospital for the blind, a war amputees soccer team and the rather disturbing conditions at Kissy mental hospital in Freetown. There is only space for about 150 of the estimated 50,000 people left psychotically disturbed by the war. These lucky ones are held in chains by way of treatment control. (via) [aid]
posted by peacay (19 comments total)

Carve-up of diamond and mineral rights exposed, as Britain continues recolonisation of Sierra Leone By Chris Talbot 26 June 2000
posted by drakepool at 12:14 PM on May 28, 2005

Diamonds?
posted by peacay at 12:17 PM on May 28, 2005

Respect
posted by drakepool at 12:35 PM on May 28, 2005

"Operation Pay Yourself."

Lord of the Flies government
posted by drakepool at 1:12 PM on May 28, 2005

drakepool, wtf are you going on about? The first link is a 5 year old story, the next one is to a Unionist page about Bethnal Green and then obscurity. huh?
posted by peacay at 1:24 PM on May 28, 2005

The west seems only concerned when the flow of diamonds gets cut-off or huge mining firms complain to Governments and the UN, or warlords want too much money for their forcefully appropriated wares.
posted by drakepool at 1:32 PM on May 28, 2005

World governments have done something to try and limit trade in "blood diamonds". It's called the Kimberley Process.
posted by Carbolic at 1:57 PM on May 28, 2005

The US Government is fully aware of the source of this extremely lucrative illegal trade. The Diamond Industry, not surprisingly, has stifled US legislation that would force a certification system on Diamonds sold in the US which would have compelled Diamond dealers to disclose the source of their diamonds, either legitimate or ill gotten. The source of the illegal gems would alarm many Americans and would force the dealers to come clean or see their sales plummet.
posted by drakepool at 2:01 PM on May 28, 2005

The Kimberley Process is a sort of certification system. The US joined in when Bush signed The Clean Diamond Act in 2003. Are you saying this doesn't go far enough? Probably not if you want to guarantee that trade in blood diamonds comes to a stop. I don't know how that could be done. A legally obtained Sierra Leone diamond looks just like an illegally obtained one.
posted by Carbolic at 2:46 PM on May 28, 2005

The Destabilization Of Africa
posted by drakepool at 2:55 PM on May 28, 2005

I don't know how that could be done. A legally obtained Sierra Leone diamond looks just like an illegally obtained one.

Chemical impurities can identify the geographic source of diamonds.
posted by Rothko at 2:56 PM on May 28, 2005

Peacay, I just gave myself a shock treatment. I'm feeling much better now.
posted by drakepool at 3:01 PM on May 28, 2005

I think there are dangerous terrorist training camps near the NASA, Military grade diamonds in the African Great Lakes Region.
posted by drakepool at 3:04 PM on May 28, 2005

(A 1999 report by MSF into psychological damage in Sierra Leone after a period of intense violence found that 99% of respondents showed levels of disturbance equivalent to severe post-traumatic stress in Europe.)

posted by drakepool at 3:19 PM on May 28, 2005

The Diamond Industry, not surprisingly, has stifled US legislation that would force a certification system

Note that "the diamond industry" in the US comes down to DeBeers Diamonds. They control 2/3 of the world trade in diamonds, including a fair share of "blood diamonds".

I would strongly suspect that some competitors are pushing for a certification system in order to get DeBeers to have to give up some of its lucrative operations.

There's also guaranteed blood-free Moissanite artificial stones.
posted by thedevildancedlightly at 3:33 PM on May 28, 2005

Rothko: You can tell a S. African diamond from a Sierra Leone diamond. What you can't tell is who mined the diamond or when they mined it.
posted by Carbolic at 3:38 PM on May 28, 2005

Thanks for the post Peacay, it certainly raised my awareness on West Africa and the diamond industry.
posted by Chimp at 12:33 AM on May 29, 2005

I am officially drakepool's #1 fan.
posted by mokujin at 12:07 AM on June 1, 2005

"(A 1999 report by MSF into psychological damage in Sierra Leone after a period of intense violence found that 99% of respondents showed levels of disturbance equivalent to severe post-traumatic stress in Europe.) "

I don't even know what that means. That article linked by drakepool was about Iraq. That quote was out of the blue and had no discernible context in the article.
I mean, if it's trying to imply that the people in Sierra Leone are fucked up because of the civil war then for sure, I agree and that was actually the whole point of the post -- the psychiatric hospital photographs were the thing I first found. But diamonds? wtf? So tangential as to be pretty well beside the point I would have thought.
posted by peacay at 4:45 AM on June 1, 2005