Word: angola
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...though the diamonds are legal, they are anything but clean--at least in an ethical sense. Angola's diamonds, mined by thousands of men, women and children in backbreaking alluvial pits, fuel a rebel war that has torn the country apart for more than two decades. In a strange juxtaposition of the global economy, their hard work, which provides the resources to help buy some of the most lethal weapons on earth, also produces baubles for the delicate fingers of the world's brides in the most romantic moments of their life. Love and war have often been conjoined...
...terms of value, half the world's diamonds come from South Africa, Botswana or Namibia. The control of the diamond fields in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo has always been at the heart of dark and bloody civil wars in those nations as well. But Angola is a case unto itself, a land where a hijacked diamond industry continues to feed the fires of misery even as it swells the coffers of a rebel movement...
...couples from ending up in the hands of the rebels. This fall the company has reaffirmed its commitment to trying to stop the trade and even added a bit of a spin: a sense that the boycott was aimed directly at the National Union for the Total Liberation of Angola (UNITA), the rebel group led by Jonas Savimbi that has been a target of largely ineffectual U.N. sanctions since 1993. Explains De Beers spokesman Andrew Lamont: "The only goal is to do as much as we can to help the U.N. to limit the ability of UNITA to carry...
...weeks the Angolan army has claimed successful attacks against UNITA--most notably a powerful strike that destroyed Savimbi's military headquarters at Bailundo. UNITA's attack on the Cuango diamond holdings is seen as a retaliation and a bold attempt to re-establish control over the area that produces Angola's most valuable precious stones...
Diamond traders on the Zambia-Angola border also say UNITA still has a rich source of diamonds at Mavinga, in southeastern Angola, long a UNITA stronghold. Mavinga's proximity to the Zambian and Namibian borders makes it ideal for the transfer of diamonds for money, goods or weapons. The border between the countries is just a cut line in the bush, with few fences, and runs for some 625 miles through remote scrubland. It's the kind of majestic rural space where you can see Africa at its best. Or, from the front seat of a diamond trader's truck...