Word: diamonde
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...Unable to defend itself against the rebels initially, the elected government had hired mercenaries to fight the rebels, and, in particular, to protect the diamond fields. Part of the mercenaries' price was that they wanted a slice of the diamond industry themselves as part of their payment. And that's something the West found objectionable. So part of the condition for foreign assistance through the U.N. and the World Bank was that the government had to get rid of the mercenaries. The problem is that once the mercenaries withdrew, the rebels quickly overran the diamond fields and that changed...
...committed horrendous crimes, people in Sierra Leone were so traumatized by war that they were prepared to give up justice in order to secure peace. They'd have accepted the deal, if it was workable. The reason it wasn't, though, was because of the diamonds. This is not a civil war in the true sense. Sankoh doesn't represent the poor, or have any coherent political program. This is just a grab for control of the diamond fields by a despised army whose only agenda is making its leaders wealthy. I talked to a number of captured rebels...
...only successful effort, partial at least, to keep peace in Sierra Leone came when a Nigerian-led force, known as ECOMOG, intervened two years ago to stop the rebels from overrunning the country. But the RUF controlled diamond fields that could finance a long-term insurgency, and when ECOMOG withdrew recently, complaining that the mission was too costly, the RUF became emboldened. The peace deal was supposed to mean giving up their control over the diamond fields, but that wasn't something an exceedingly brutal army - which had adopted systematic dismembering of the civilian population as a tactic...
...office, Richard and Elizabeth traveled with retinues, like royalty. They made memorable scenes and drank each other into stupors and blackouts. They dined with Rothschilds or Windsors. If Richard belted Elizabeth and felt contrite the next morning, he might make up by buying her, say, the 33.19-carat Krupp diamond...
...captain Deborah Abeles sparkled at shortstop, picking up seven ground balls and making the long throws across the diamond to snag runner after runner at first...