Correspondent: Blood Diamonds Tx Date: 21st October 2001 This script was made from audio tape – any inaccuracies are due to voices being unclear or inaudible 00.00.00 Music 00.00.05 Ishmahil Blagrove For over ten years a brutal civil war has raged in Sierra Leone. 00.00.08 Music 00.00.09 Ishmahil Blagrove It has claimed the lives of over one hundred thousand people and left the country in ruins. 00.00.14 Music 00.00.18 Man singing Subtitles Diamonds' effects have given us corruption. Diamonds' effects have spoilt our hopes. 00.00.27 Music 00.00.29 Ishmahil Blagrove Greed has fuelled this war. 00.00.31 Music 00.00.34 Ishmahil Blagrove As the fighting dies down there's a chance to examine a diamond trade that's soaked in blood. 00.00.39 Music 00.00.41 Man singing Subtitles Oh my people, we have no peace. We have no peace, peace is not there. We have no peace, peace is not there. Oh my people, we love to pray to God. 00.01.03 Ishmahil Blagrove This is the next challenge for this tragic West African country – dealing with the blood diamonds. 00.01.13 Correspondent Theme Music 00.01.22 Title Page BLOOD Diamonds 00.01.29 Ishmahil Blagrove Diamonds from Sierra Leone are reputed to be some of the best in the world. 00.01.35 Ishmahil Blagrove Around seventy million dollars worth leave the country every year. Most of them smuggled. 00.01.42 Ishmahil Blagrove Officially the government only exports eleven million. They claim to be losing millions of dollars through the rebels' smuggling activities. 00.01.50 Ishmahil Blagrove Last year the government tried to clamp down and introduced a new system to stop the rebel smuggling. 00.01.56 Ishmahil Blagrove It's meant to trace a diamond's origin from mine to retailer. But millions of dollars of these gems are still being smuggled out of the country, bypassing these offices because an unscrupulous industry is happy to buy them – no questions asked. 00.02.13 Ishmahil Blagrove Here exporters' stock is valued, then checked to ensure these are not blood diamonds bought from the rebels. 00.02.19 Ishmahil Blagrove Ndola Myers, a former De Beers employee, is the government valuer. One of his tasks is to ensure no blood diamonds filter through. 00.02.27 Aston NDOLA MYERS Government Diamond Valuer The rebels are in the diamond ferrous areas, that is Tongo and the Kono area and that borders Liberia. So they sort of smuggle the diamonds to Liberia because when we look at the international figures on what Sierra Leone exported in comparison to what Liberia exported, but it's not, that doesn't have diamonds as much as Sierra Leone, it's laughable because you know, last year we exported about eleven million and Liberia exported close to about a hundred and something million dollars. So it's our diamonds. 00.03.11 Ishmahil Blagrove Liberia and Guinea both export diamonds. But most are smuggled from Sierra Leone. 00.03.19 Ishmahil Blagrove Corruption is the problem here. Although the government likes to insist things are getting better. 00.03.25 Aston MOHAMMED SWARRAY- DEEN Minister of Mineral Resources The government legal system indicates to us that there is reduced smuggling going on. We cannot claim to have stopped smuggling altogether but I think we can reasonably conclude that some measure of success has been attained. 00.03.50 Ishmahil Blagrove But how successful are the attempts to stem the trade? 00.03.54 Ishmahil Blagrove I was last here seven years ago to report the war. Back then no one discussed blood diamonds. 00.04.03 Ishmahil Blagrove Sierra Leone has vast mineral wealth – gold, bauxite, timber and copper – yet it remains one of the poorest countries on earth. 00.04.12 Ishmahil Blagrove Bordered by Liberia and Guinea, its porous borders have long been a popular route for smuggling raw materials, weapons and more significantly diamonds. 00.04.22 Ishmahil Blagrove In 1991, former army corporal Foday Sankoh led the Revolutionary United Front from the jungles bordering Liberia and declared war upon the government. 00.04.31 Ishmahil Blagrove His battle cry was a fight against corruption and the poverty of his people. The bloody civil war that ensued claimed the lives of thousands, displaced millions and exposed the civilian population to a barbarism that shocked the world. 00.04.48 Ishmahil Blagrove Today Foday Sankoh is a prisoner of the British backed government and the United Nations is struggling to broker peace. 00.04.55 Ishmahil Blagrove But Sankoh's men fight on and still control the country's most prosperous mining areas in the East - areas the government is desperate to get its hands on. 00.05.13 Ishmahil Blagrove My journey begins at a legal mine in government territory, east of Freetown. Even here conditions are harsh and methods are basic. 00.05.24 Ishmahil Blagrove We watched as the men washed and sifted gravel to find diamonds. 00.05.30 Ishmahil Blagrove Luck is the main ingredient. It can take months to find a single stone. 00.05.38 Ishmahil Blagrove Most of these men were displaced by the war. Many were farmers, their livelihoods shattered when the war came to their villages. 00.05.47 Ishmahil Blagrove Mining is the only job they can do now. 00.05.51 Ishmahil Blagrove All live in hope of finding a diamond large enough to take care of their families for the rest of their lives. 00.06.03 Tamba Lebie Each man can have sometimes three cups of rice and one thousand five hundred Leones, sometimes one thousand, it depends. Mining is hard but if you get a stone, bigger stones, you'll be up, definitely. Always when we you are doing mining it's like what we are doing now. 00.06.23 Aston TAMBA LEBIE Miner It's possible we get two hundred carats, three hundred carats. That one can give you millions of dollars. So, always we are thinking high, so that is why we always get ourself in mining, that is one point. Secondly, there is no job, you know, when the rebels come, they vandalised us, burnt our houses, killed some of our peoples, cut some of their hands. So because most of some of us here, some of them they are farmers and everybody cannot go to the farm. But if you go, say you want to start farming this time then how can you leave, your family will perish. So you have to go and find a supporter, somebody who will give you money and say work for me here. Just like what we are doing. 00.07.19 Ishmahil Blagrove Dreams of riches fuel their labour. 00.07.25 Ishmahil Blagrove Most miners in Sierra Leone earn less than twenty cents per day. The miners here believe they're lucky because they earn double that. 00.07.40 Ishmahil Blagrove Tamba Lebie was once a successful miner in the east of Sierra Leone. 00.07.46 Ishmahil Blagrove When the RUF attacked his hometown of Kono, he was forced to flee to the jungle with his family. 00.07.54 Ishmahil Blagrove Tamba lost everything. 00.07.57 Tamba Lebie Here is not my homeland. My homeland is Kono. Kono has the highest deposit of diamonds in this country, I can tell you that. If it were Kono, maybe you cannot see me dirty like this. You only see me, I had, I used to work with one hundred and fifty boys, I support them for myself. But now I cannot do that. 00.08.21 Ishmahil Blagrove I was not surprised by Tamba's story. The war has displaced over half of the population. 00.08.29 Ishmahil Blagrove Over the past ten years the RUF, government soldiers, mercenaries and civilian militia have battled for control of these mineral rich areas. 00.08.40 Ishmahil Blagrove The civilians were caught in the middle. 00.08.44 Ishmahil Blagrove Many were used as slave labour. Others fled in their thousands, only to starve or die of malaria in the jungle. 00.08.53 Tamba Lebie The rebels drive us, 1992. We go to another man's country, we go and live there like a refugee, to Guinea. You know, struggle, struggle, struggle, come back. We start to re-settle back, to come back and drive us again, burnt all our houses, our cars, money, everything. You walk on your foot like this, you walk two hundred, three hundred miles, several hundred miles on foot, it's hard struggle. Sometimes you sleep in the bush. You always worry for your life because if the rebels meet you, they kill you, they fire you. Even comes a time you hide from rebels, you hide from …, you hide from soldiers. 00.09.35 Tamba Lebie I lose my father; I lost my mother and even my elder sisters and my uncles. Two of my sisters died and my younger brother, one of my youngest brothers, he too died in the RUF territory. By then he was trying to escape to find Guinea. They captured him and slaughtered him. 00.09.57 Music 00.10.04 Ishmahil Blagrove Most civilians have never set eyes on a diamond. Yet diamonds have destroyed their lives. 00.10.08 Music 00.10.11 Ishmahil Blagrove Even in Freetown you can see the devastation. 00.10.15 Ishmahil Blagrove I went to visit a camp where the brutality of war is clear. 00.10.18 Music 00.10.20 Ishmahil Blagrove Particular to this conflict was arbitrary amputation. 00.10.26 Ishmahil Blagrove Captured civilians were often offered a choice – to have either their arm or leg chopped off. Those who hesitated were killed. 00.10.36 Ishmahil Blagrove I find it disturbing that the government can spend millions on fighting the rebels but ignore the plight of these amputees. 00.10.42 Music 00.10.48 Ishmahil Blagrove Like Tamba, Gibril Sessay was a miner from Kono. Two years ago he fled his hometown when the RUF attack. 00.11.01 Aston GIBRIL SESSAY Former miner The camp is not a human being camp. As you have seen, first of all our sanitation is not good. Too poor, we haven't got enough medicines, enough food. 00.11.18 Music 00.11.22 Ishmahil Blagrove There is no sanitation or electricity here. The inhabitants exist solely by charity. 00.11.27 Music 00.11.32 Ishmahil Blagrove There are two hundred amputees and their families at this camp. Most have been reduced to begging. 00.11.37 Music 00.11.40 Ishmahil Blagrove It is hard to imagine how people who have endured so much can continue in the conditions I witnessed. 00.11.45 Music 00.11.52 Ishmahil Blagrove Gibril is still haunted by what happened to him. He actually knew the man who cut off his hand. He was a neighbour who joined the rebels in their fight against the West African peace keeping force ECOMOG. 00.12.04 Gibril Sessay One day I tuned my radio and heard an announcement that the ECOMOG had captured Koidu town. So we tied our bundles on the way to Koidu town to meet the ECOMOG. We fell into the ambush. They told us to stop. You are going to the ECOMOG, so you love the ECOMOG. Where have you been? Those were the questions they were asking us. So, they decided to kill some of our colleagues and they raped some of the women and killed them, stabbed them to death. My wife was stabbed to death in front of me so I was amputated with five people. 00.12.52 Ishmahil Blagrove Gibril and others like him were innocent victims – they had no idea why this war was being fought. 00.13.01 Ishmahil Blagrove But as the war came to their towns it was clear that diamonds were the focus not political change. 00.13.07 Ishmahil Blagrove A pattern soon emerged. Areas were attacked due to their access or location to diamond rich sites. 00.13.15 Ishmahil Blagrove In a frenzy of blood thirsty greed, a sense of morality and respect for human life was lost. Now in the camp there is a growing sense of anger against the hypocrisy of the international community who have fuelled this conflict. 00.13.29 Ishmahil Blagrove Why would you say this war in Sierra Leone is being fought? 00.13.33 Amputee 1 Well let's say it was for, for money, for diamonds, for self-benefit, for self-benefit. When the war started, the major target for the RUF was for diamonds. From the time when they occupied the diamond mines and they've been getting these diamonds, they exchange it for weapons. 00.13.59 Ishmahil Blagrove Wasn't there any political ambitions behind the war? Was it solely for diamonds? 00.14.03 Gibril Sessay Yes. We have no good houses, no good schooling, teachers have not been paid, other government workers have not been paid. So what benefit are we getting from those diamonds? We've been amputated because of those diamonds. 00.14.23 Ishmahil Blagrove But obviously there is a world market for diamonds. What do you feel about people in perhaps more affluent countries, what do you feel they can actually do to assist this problem? 00.14.35 Gibril Sessay Well, it is the responsibility of the world market to get hold of these diamonds from Sierra Leone here or get hold of those people and put them to court or bring those diamonds back here. 00.14.49 Ishmahil Blagrove If the smuggling is so prolific, why hasn't the government, do you think, not done anything to stop that? 00.14.55 Amputee 1 Let me tell you part of this government have got hands in most of this smuggling, let me tell you. 00.15.03 Ishmahil Blagrove So you believe the government is actually involved in the smuggling? 00.15.05 Amputee 1 Yes, there are some ministers in fact involved. 00.15.08 Gibril Sessay So if the international body, I mean the…, stop these RUF boys to mine in Kono and other mining areas I think peace will have to come in this country. 00.15.23 Ishmahil Blagrove For Gibril and his friends, Sierra Leone's diamonds, which should have been their fortune, have been little more than a curse. 00.15.33 Ishmahil Blagrove There is a desperation for the war to end and peace to hold. 00.15.42 Gibril Sessay Sierra Leone was a very beautiful and lovely country. I always dream about this place when I go to bed. And I am praying for this peace because this was not my condition. Our present condition, especially with the amputees, is too bad, let me tell you it is too bad. 00.16.11 Music 00.16.16 Ishmahil Blagrove The peace Gibril dreams of relies on these men – the United Nations. 00.16.23 Ishmahil Blagrove I wanted to see the efforts they have been making at brokering peace. So I travelled with them into RUF territory in the east of Sierra Leone. 00.16.35 Ishmahil Blagrove The roads have been deliberately destroyed in an effort to slow down any enemy advance. 00.16.42 Ishmahil Blagrove The UN were understandably nervous for the RUF fighters have previously kidnapped entire companies of UN soldiers. 00.16.49 Ishmahil Blagrove These are the RUF – young men, virtually teenagers, responsible for some of the most despicable atrocities imaginable. 00.17.00 Ishmahil Blagrove The UN is trying to persuade these fighters to put away their weapons, weapons which have been bought with diamonds. They want them to join in the electoral process. 00.17.10 Ishmahil Blagrove Watching them swagger around, it was hard to imagine them giving up power so easily. 00.17.16 Ishmahil Blagrove They are all seasoned fighters who have spent most of this war in the bush. They are suspicious of the UN and the disarmament programme. 00.17.30 Ishmahil Blagrove I wanted to get to the heart of the diamond trade, so I travelled north to Kono, the RUF stronghold, some two hundred and eighty miles from Freetown. 00.17.39 Music 00.17.41 Ishmahil Blagrove It was the first time the RUF had allowed cameras into the region. 00.17.46 Ishmahil Blagrove People talk of slave labour and arbitrary executions in Kono. When I was last in Sierra Leone seven years ago, these areas were no-go zones. 00.17.56 Ishmahil Blagrove There had been heavy fighting here for the past three weeks. I arrived here expecting war. 00.18.04 Ishmahil Blagrove There was no sign of it. These young fighters trained and armed by the British backed government are used against the RUF in breach of the UN sponsored peace agreement signed in Nigeria in May. 00.18.15 Ishmahil Blagrove Only yesterday these men had been preparing to launch an offensive against Kono. To my surprise they were surrendering. 00.18.23 Ishmahil Blagrove In this senseless war, these young men are also guilty of atrocities. 00.18.27 Singing 00.18.42 Ishmahil Blagrove Sick of fighting, they were handing in their weapons and seeking UN protection. 00.18.55 Music 00.19.01 Ishmahil Blagrove This is the battleground – the Kono mines. 00.19.06 Ishmahil Blagrove Everyone here is involved in the trade. The only movement I saw was to and from the mines. 00.19.15 Ishmahil Blagrove Not surprisingly this area's witnessed some of the fiercest fighting in the country. 00.19.21 Ishmahil Blagrove Abandoned Nigerian tanks and equipment are all that is left as a reminder of the hundreds of Nigerian peacekeepers who died here. 00.19.30 Ishmahil Blagrove Kono holds massive treasure, underground Kimberlite deposits. Large rock formations containing prize diamonds worth hundreds of millions of dollars. 00.19.39 Music 00.19.43 Ishmahil Blagrove But they remain buried; inaccessible to the RUF because they can't work the equipment needed to reach deep underground. 00.19.50 Ishmahil Blagrove These mines were abandoned by their foreign owners when the RUF seized control of Kono from the Nigerian peacekeepers. 00.19.57 Ishmahil Blagrove Now the government is frantic to get its hands on these valuable Kimberlite deposits. 00.20.02 Aston NDOLA MYERS Government Diamond Valuer One of the biggest pipes, the dykes in Koidu is very, very big and that could be able to ignite and push our economy right to its zenith. The Kimberlite mines in Tongo and Kono would change the economic situation in Sierra Leone. 00.20.28 Music 00.20.34 Ishmahil Blagrove Koidu town, the capital of Kono. 00.20.39 Ishmahil Blagrove A burnt out shell. 00.20.43 Ishmahil Blagrove This was not the heavily fortified RUF stronghold I was told to expect. 00.20.49 Aston GIBRIL SESSAY Former miner Kono was a beautiful place. Electricity and the water supply was running there perfectly. Business was going on the up, good. 00.21.04 Aston TAMBA LEBIE Miner It is because of the diamonds. Right now the RUF are searching in our homeland, Kono. Now they are mining our houses, all of our lands they are mining just to exploit the diamonds. 00.21.17 Ishmahil Blagrove I visited the RUF headquarters. There I had an appointment to meet the feared fighter, Brigadier Maurice Kallon, second in command. 00.21.27 Aston MAURICE KALLON RUF Commander The government is just trying to destroy the image of the RUF but for the moment you yourself walk on the street today, get to my house and then get back here. If RUF… you have see two, three people fighting on the street. I believe you didn't observe anything like that. Everybody moving about on their business, laughing on the streets. I quite sure you saw it for yourself. 00.21.52 Ishmahil Blagrove Kallon was determined to stage a meeting of the town council for our cameras. 00.22.00 Ishmahil Blagrove After all they've been accused of they were bizarrely concerned about their image. 00.22.07 Ishmahil Blagrove Gathered in this room with little to do, the town council seemed uneasy with their role. 00.22.13 Ishmahil Blagrove There was little to discuss and even less signs of a local administration at work. 00.22.20 Ishmahil Blagrove It is a town council without a town. 00.22.26 Ishmahil Blagrove Kallon was keen to dispel some of the rumours, which have tainted the RUF. 00.22.30 Maurice Kallon Subtitles I understand the RUF always tells you, the chiefs… to make sure all the young men in Kono… are to dig diamonds, is it true? 00.22.40 Man Subtitles No sir, during the intervention diamond digging was already going on. When we came here, people were already digging around the town. Right now, people from Kenema, Bo and Freetown come and mine for themselves. 00.23.02 Ishmahil Blagrove The RUF were desperate to assure me that they had moved away from random violence. I wasn't entirely convinced. 00.23.11 Gibril Sessay Those people are still raping women. Though they are not amputating people again, they are beating men to work for them. They don't give them food. When you work for the whole of the day they don't give you food. They just tell you go to the bush and dig out bush yams. No water supplies, no electricity. They haven't made any laws; everybody is free for himself or herself. 00.23.45 Tamba Lebie They force people who must work by force whether they like it or not. They just meet a young man, hey you, come on, come over here. At gunpoint, come on, work here, you work, no food, work for the day. 00.23.59 Ishmahil Blagrove Everywhere I visited people were digging. 00.24.04 Ishmahil Blagrove The destruction wrought by fighting is nothing compared to what is being done in the pursuit of diamonds. 00.24.13 Ishmahil Blagrove Subtitle So how much is this stone worth? 00.24.16 Miner Subtitle Two thousand dollars. 00.24.19 Ishmahil Blagrove Subtitles Two thousand dollars? It was five hundred two minutes ago. 00.24.31 Ishmahil Blagrove Subtitle Which jeweller? Miner Subtitle The Maraca Man. 00.24.34 Ishmahil Blagrove Subtitles You're going to sell it to the Maraca Man? How much will the Maraca give for it? 00.24.36 Miner Subtitle He'll give me one thousand dollars. 00.24.39 Ishmahil Blagrove Subtitle One thousand dollars for this? 00.24.40 Miner Subtitle Yes, this is one carat and 50 percent. 00.24.42 Ishmahil Blagrove Subtitles And what are you going to do with your one thousand dollars? 00.24.45 Miner Subtitle I am going to make benefit for my family. 00.24.51 Ishmahil Blagrove When I interviewed the miners, it didn't seem to be the forced labour I had often heard about. But when I pushed the issue of who they were actually mining for, they seemed nervous about answering questions. 00.25.04 Ishmahil Blagrove The RUF presence was everywhere. 00.25.12 Ishmahil Blagrove How long have you been mining? 00.25.15 Miner About five years. 00.25.18 Ishmahil Blagrove And do you mine for yourself or do you mine for the RUF? 00.25.22 Miner For myself. 00.25.24 Ishmahil Blagrove Have you been successful? 00.25.28 Miner 2 Not yet. 00.25.29 Ishmahil Blagrove So when you find something, will it be yours or does the RUF…. 00.25.38 Miner 2 No, only for myself. 00.25.40 Ishmahil Blagrove Only for yourself. 00.25.42 Ishmahil Blagrove Some hid their faces, frightened of repercussions if the territory is retaken. 00.25.48 Ishmahil Blagrove Who are you mining for? 00.25.50 Miner 3 I mine for the RUF. 00.25.51 Ishmahil Blagrove You mine for the RUF? 00.25.52 Miner 3 Yes. 00.25.52 Ishmahil Blagrove So everything you find here goes to the RUF? 00.25.55 Miner 3 Yes. 00.26.00 Aston TAMBA LEBIE Miner In the RUF's territory, it is only the RUF people it's better for them. But if you are not in the RUF you go to the RUF territory, say you walk there, your life is be at risk. If you go there they'll kill you and take your diamond away from you. 00.26.17 Ishmahil Blagrove It was difficult to verify these allegations. The mines were teeming with RUF fighters. But, to be fair, the conditions were no harsher than that of the mines in government areas. 00.26.27 Ishmahil Blagrove Kallon insisted these miners were free men. 00.26.31 Maurice Kallon Subtitles Have you ever experienced when an RUF soldier… just comes and takes anybody's gravel for themselves? 00.26.37 Miner Subtitle No, because that is out of the law. 00.26.40 Maurice Kallon Subtitles So no RUF attempt to take your gravel? All miners mine for themselves? 00.26.45 Miner Subtitles Of course. This is free mining, for all Sierra Leoneans. 00.26.50 Maurice Kallon Subtitles But the RUF, does the RUF use any civilian population for free? To force them to mine for the RUF? 00.26.58 Miner Subtitle No, no. 00.26.59 Maurice Kallon Subtitle These men, are they mining for the RUF? 00.27.02 Miner Subtitles These men, I assure you…90% are civilians and are mining for themselves… 60% are Kono people. The owners of the soil. 00.27.13 Maurice Kallon Subtitles So you are their guide for negotiations? So you share the gravel with them? Whenever you dig on a Kono man's land you share the gravel. 00.27.20 Miner Subtitles Yes, because they are the owners of the land, we negotiate with them. Is that right? 00.27.26 Miners Subtitle No. 00.27.27 Maurice Kallon Subtitle So, gentlemen, do any RUF harass you? 00.27.29 Miners Subtitle No. 00.27.32 Miner Subtitle Any harassment? 00.27.33 Miners Subtitle No…no problems. 00.27.35 Maurice Kallon Subtitles The RUF is not using anyone as a slave. Many Sierra Leoneans come from Freetown every day, with trucks, with goods to sell, and go back. Everybody is free, as a son and daughter of Kono. There's no threat. No attacks against any human being. It would go against the RUF political party. 00.27.59 Maurice Kallon Subtitle Do you see peace coming to Kono? 00.28.02 Miner Subtitles Of course, I can assure you Kono is the obstacle to peace… but we can really guarantee you 90% that peace is on the way. 00.28.16 Maurice Kallon Subtitle If I asked for a diamond, would you give me one? 00.28.19 Miner Subtitles If necessary…but if not, a diamond is not something that you can give out like that. 00.28.28 Ishmahil Blagrove They were laughing for our camera. I didn't really expect anyone to contradict him. There is evidence of brutality in RUF areas. This looked like a sanitised version of life under the rebels. 00.28.39 Maurice Kallon Subtitle Are you supporters of the RUF? 00.28.41 Miner Subtitles No, just ordinary civilians. They've been civilians throughout the 10-year war. Now they're trying to make money for themselves. They're starting to rebuild their houses which were destroyed by war. 00.28.57 Maurice Kallon Subtitle So does the RUF harass you people? Miners Subtitle No! 00.29.03 Ishmahil Blagrove It is true that the RUF made money from diamonds when they first took control of Kono and seized large stockpiles. But there was no sign of diamond money in this town. 00.29.14 Ishmahil Blagrove It seems their stockpiles have now run out. 00.29.20 Ishmahil Blagrove So suing for peace is not just a political decision but an economic one. 00.29.27 Ishmahil Blagrove The valuable diamonds are in the Kimberlite mines and the RUF openly admits these are out of their reach. 00.29.40 Maurice Kallon Subtitles The RUF has no mining equipment; how can the RUF mine that amount? Sierra Leone is all kimberlite mining. You need to spend millions upon millions to get… the type of equipment to even mine kimberlite. But we are not doing that kind of mining… only common mining where you can make enough each day to live on. 00.30.10 Maurice Kallon Subtitles The RUF didn't have any revenue set up for mining equipment. What we did, as the war deteriorated and people got displaced… when the RUF took this area, we offered it to the Sierra Leonean people. Whatever you get there is your own. Whatever the RUF gets is for RUF families. 00.30.35 Ishmahil Blagrove Whatever the RUF does dig up is sold here. 00.30.41 Ishmahil Blagrove In this street, Marakas, traders from Gambia and Senegal openly buy stones. They travel throughout West Africa smuggling diamonds. 00.30.54 Aston MOHAMMED SWARRAY- DEEN Minister of Mineral Resources Right now in Kono they are there, mine the diamonds. It doesn't take much to imagine that they have couriers to take it to, you know, the next stage. Mostly maybe Liberia, from there to the other centres eventually before it gets into the market. The other way round, the proceeds will come either in cash or probably in kind, mainly maybe in guns and weapons. 00.31.25 Ishmahil Blagrove Alusine Kamara is one of the RUF's most influential diamond traders. According to him Liberia is not the only route for smuggling. 00.31.34 Ishmahil Blagrove He challenges the government line that diamonds go through Liberia. He says it's much easier to sell diamonds through corrupt officials in Kenema or Freetown. 00.31.48 Alusine Kamara Voice over We sell diamonds to the Sierra Leone government. We're civilians; we do nothing to the people. The diamonds we get we sell in Freetown. We don't sell them abroad. We don't sell them to Liberia or Guinea, only the Sierra Leone government. 00.32.10 Ishmahil Blagrove So you buy diamonds from the RUF? 00.32.13 Alusine Kamara Voice over Everybody, not just the RUF. If they pay me in dollars I'll bring back dollars. If they pay me in Leones I'll bring Leones. 00.32.20 Ishmahil Blagrove So they'll pay you in dollars and you would bring these dollars back and pay the RUF? 00.32.24 Alusine Kamara Yes. 00.32.25 Ishmahil Blagrove And how often do you go down to Freetown? 00.32.28 Alusine Kamara Voice over Every month. 00.32.30 Ishmahil Blagrove Do you know that they've actually placed an embargo against diamonds from conflict regions such as Kono? 00.32.40 Alusine Kamara Voice over When you go to the market place no dealer is going to ask you where you get your diamonds. If you're a millionaire and I bring a diamond to you, I show it to you. If you agree you buy it, if not I go. No one will ask if it's from Liberia or Guinea. 00.33.04 Ishmahil Blagrove Many of the Marakas use the same methods. They have connections with legitimate dealers throughout the country, who are only too happy to sell blood diamonds using their illegal licenses. 00.33.15 Ishmahil Blagrove Has anyone ever questioned you about where your diamonds come from? 00.33.22 Alusine Kamara Voice over You're meant to produce a digging licence. We have a digging licence for Bo and Kenema. It is this licence that we produce when we go to officials. 00.33.41 Ishmahil Blagrove You produce the licences that you have for mining in Bo and Kenema as the licence for mining the stones that you have in Kono. I see, so that's the loophole is it? 00.33.52 Alusine Kamara Voice over This is a game of double play. I have a digging licence for Kenema and Bo. When you mine for diamonds in Kono you tell the government they're from Kenema and Bo. 00.34.06 Ishmahil Blagrove But the government knows, people who buy these diamonds they know that the diamonds come from Kono? 00.34.12 Alusine Kamara Voice over They know. They know. 00.34.19 Ishmahil Blagrove So this is the heart of the problem. It's easy to disguise the origin of diamonds and demand is such that hardly anyone in the trade asks any questions. 00.34.31 Ishmahil Blagrove The market will pay for diamonds wherever they come from. 00.34.35 Ishmahil Blagrove Do you believe the Belgians, Israelis, British, Americans – do you believe they all know that a lot of these diamonds are blood diamonds but they still buy? 00.34.47 Alusine Kamara Voice over Of course they know. When you go to Europe with diamonds they're not going to ask you where they're from. Even you, if I give you this diamond and it's worth a million dollars you know you can sell it on, you're not going to ask where I got it because I've given you a profit. So you can eat, you're not going to ask me where I got the diamond. 00.35.12 Ishmahil Blagrove If Kamara's allegations are true, it means the system of certification is a PR exercise to pacify consumers and the international community. 00.35.24 Ishmahil Blagrove Even government officials disagree over whether one can really identify if a stone is a blood diamond or a legitimate one. 00.35.32 Ndola Myers I've been in this trade for the past thirty years and every diamond has a peculiar look from the area it comes from. 00.35.41 Aston NDOLA MYERS Government Diamond Valuer Ones that come from Kono are quite plain and simple – shiny, good looking, bigger stones, clearer stones. So we are able to differentiate between diamonds that come from Kono as of those that come from the government owned areas. 00.36.02 Mohammed Swarray-Deen It's very subjective, it's your personal knowledge, it's not a scientific method. I mean, you can say with your own experience, you can say this from my experience of Kono or Tongo diamonds, this diamond comes from Tongo, it's very likely. And my own, maybe we both have the same experience and I may have a completely different view. So, it's not very reliable, as I say, it's very subjective. 00.36.43 Ishmahil Blagrove This is Kenema. Situated one hundred and seventy miles from the capital, it's a major trading centre for diamonds. Rebels, smugglers and legitimate dealers all buy and sell here. 00.36.55 Ishmahil Blagrove The town is full of dealers. Many are Lebanese. Few have licenses. The profits they make easily pay off mines inspectors supposed to regulate the business. 00.37.07 Ishmahil Blagrove Few legitimate buyers are choosing to open offices here. The competition is too dirty. 00.37.14 Albert Benjie Lots of diamond dealers, everybody goes, all these merchants are, claim themselves to be dealers. Diamond dealer, diamond dealer, diamond dealer, just like that, so you can understand what is happening in this country. If you can check all these offices, they are all illegal, you can see one office being operated by five or six, operating under the same license. 00.37.39 Albert Benjie I feel too angry about that, definitely. I feel too, I become so disgust, definitely, no other way to do. I don't have, like I've been saying, most of these people, when our government ministers come to this area or our government officers, you see them conniving with them, moving together, they mingle together, they do everything in Kono. I feel too bitter about that; I would like to see all these offices mounted by these so called dealers being owned by Sierra Leoneans instead of Lebanese merchants. 00.38.14 Ishmahil Blagrove Albert Benjie's pushing for change. One of the few Sierra Leoneans in the business, he wants the trade to benefit his own people. 00.38.23 Ishmahil Blagrove Currently dealers smuggle large diamonds by legally registering their trade in small stones, creating a smokescreen. They get these smaller stones through intimidation. Albert's concern is that local miners are regularly ripped off by foreign dealers. 00.38.38 Aston ALBERT BENJIE Valuer If they negotiate for a price and he finds out that the miner doesn't want to agree, accept his own price, he easily send to any of the monitoring officers or senior monitoring officers to come to his aid, in what way. He sends call for him quickly. The miner will not be afraid that he hasn't got any legal document to get diamonds, to get diamonds, he hasn't got any legal document for that. What he do is, he will decide to sell the diamond at whatever price because if he say we get out the diamond, they will catch him because he hasn't got mining licence. So he sell that under duress with no, whatever price they determine. 00.39.24 Ishmahil Blagrove Albert knows the activities of dealers and officials all too well. He has been in the business a long time and has had countless confrontations with them. 00.39.34 Ishmahil Blagrove He is a leading member of an organisation pushing the way to have better mining conditions and pay for indigenous miners. 00.39.47 Albert Benjie Corruption is a national issue. That is really what we are crying to the Tejen government to try to wipe out that quickly because the suffering is much and we, the common people, are really traumatised with the war and traumatised with all these things. Because a lot of corruption from the ministries, government ministers getting themselves involved into mining activities. 00.40.15 Ishmahil Blagrove It's a problem the government prefers to ignore. 00.40.19 Ishmahil Blagrove In a country where the average annual salary is two hundred and fifty dollars, corruption is inevitable. 00.40.25 Ishmahil Blagrove The government rejects the charge of corruption. It insists things are getting better and their officials can be trusted. 00.40.32 Mohammed Swarray-Deen The diamond situation is such that you have to have sophisticated methods of monitoring. I'm afraid we don't have and we rely on the integrity of our officers. All you have told me that everybody in the whole system is rotten and I don't believe that. I don't believe that. 00.41.04 Ndola Myers It has destroyed the nation; you will see the type of destruction done to the ordinary individual who was not involved in governance, who was not involved in the diamond trade, who was only an ordinary farmer. All of these people have suffered considerably. Our mistakes have been identified and from now on, I believe, everybody else will put his arm on the wheel and turn it for the development of this nation. 00.41.40 Singing 00.42.04 Ishmahil Blagrove The theory is if peace comes to the country, Myers and his men will no longer be on the look out for blood diamonds. And the RUF will no longer be a part of the picture. 00.42.19 Ishmahil Blagrove But as long as officials deny there is a problem, peace cannot be assured and the mineral wealth of the country will continue to be sold off to western consumers without having benefited the people. 00.42.32 Tamba Lebie May the lord bring us good leaders who can stop all this thing in the country. If all these things stopped then maybe the lay man can know his rights because we have a heavy deposit in this country. But if you don't have somebody strong at the back of you, you cannot reap the benefit of it. We would like everything to be under proper control, this is all we do, we need in this country, president because if not definitely suffering will continue because people are suffering a lot. 00.43.05 Gibril Sessay Let them stop the mining, let them stop the mining. Let them tell those guys to stop the mining. So, from now, if everything goes well, if everything goes well then the government will have to introduce a new mining policy. But for now, let the mining stop. 00.43.32 Singing 00.43.36 Voice over For more information on tonight's programme please visit our web site at: www.bbc.co.uk/correspondent Voice over Next week – one woman's fight for freedom of expression, risking her marriage and her liberty. Join us as we investigate the rise of Islam in Egypt. 00.43.33 Credits Reporter ISHMAHIL BLAGROVE Dubbing Mixer PHITZ HEARNE VT Editor NICK KAMPA Graphic Design NICOLA OWEN Production Team SARAH BRODBIN NILA KARADIA JULIA DANNENBERG ANJANA SHARMA Production Manager JANE WILLEY Unit Manager IRENE OZGA Film Research NICK DODD Research SAM JONES AISHA TEJAN-COLE Picture Editor CATHERINE AREND Series Producer SIMON FINCH Director FRANCIS SMITH Deputy Editor FARAH DURRANI 00.43.59 Editor FIONA MURCH BBC © BBC MMI 00.44.05 End BBC Correspondent 1 26