The end of the war

The war ended in January of 2002, giving Sierra Leone control of their diamonds and country yet again. In March of 2003, The Special Court of the U.N. in Sierra Leone said this was a civil war. The crimes that were commited in the war were crimes agstaint humanity, thus violating the Humanity Law. The fate of the people indicated is still uncertain. The Special Court cannot get all of the people they think were involved and that would be enough. This is not the first time the goverment has turned a blind eye two. There have been three seperate occasions where the goverment has turned the blind eye as well in Rwana, Sierra Leone, and Sudan. What else could the country do to cause such harm to a country and not help out because, "It is not breaking any law"

Finaly some Help!

In 1999, the Goverment of Sierra Leone was forced once again to make another peace treaty. The RUF was not up for the new peace treaty, they did not want to restore order to the whole country just regaining control of the diamond mines. In results of this, thousand of Sierra Leones were mutalated because there were no large scale early internation intervention in the early stage of war. The United Nations did not intervene untill June 2001 one, Over 10 years after the war had started. The U.N. tried banning diamond trade and stricter rules inforced on weapons but the RUF's leader violated this deal when he flew and sold 8,000 carts of diamonds to two unknown takers. The U.N. did not fully intervene with the whole affair untill Janury 2002 when they sent in 17,000 men to help witht he peace keeping of Sierra Leone. Immediaitly after the U.N. had done this the war has gained International attention

The RUF vs The NPRC

The RUF ( Revoultionary United Front) first big job was the invading and seizing of Kono, the diamond capital of Sierra Leone. In efforts to eliminate the RUF National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) entered the war with the RUF. The NPRC engaged in a plan called, "Operation Genesis" but the operation was unsuccesful. Results of the attack forced the rebels to launch an attack on the Sierra Leone citizins as an act of indimation to have the voters in the city to help keep the power with the Rebels. The Rebels chopped off hands of Adults, teenagers, children, and even infants and invited the RUF to join in on the presidental election. When the new president was elected, this president signed a peace treaty that would allow the RUF become its own politcal power. Instead of this, the RUF rebels made the Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC), which ousted Kabbah. Nigerian officers mility officers were sent to get rid of the RUF's rebels. This did not last long because they came back more envoked and mulated over 6,000 more civilians.

Sierra Leone, Where it all started

The term "Blood Diamonds" refers to the bloody market that were sold during the Civil war in Sierra Leone. The Civil war lasted between the early 1990's and finally ended in the year 2002. The Diamonds that were comign out of Sierra Leone was little compared to the rest of the world but this was enough for the rebels to bring some profit into their pockets. During the early 90's a group called the RUF was formed. For the next fours years there were corrupt Military officers were running the country which finally got the RUF into the Blood Diamond trade. In 1995 a group called the Executive Outcomes were hired to take care of the RUF. Soon a new President was elected and the Executive Outcomes were dismissed and the RUF was back in control of the diamond work. The RUF remained in contorl of the diamonds until the beginning of Jan. of 2002. For over a decade, African were captured, killed, even mulated. Some African were forced to work in the poor conditions of the diamond camps.