Blood on the Stone: Greed, Corruption and War in the Global Diamond Trade

252 Pages·2010·1.49 MB·English

by  Ian Smillie

BLOOD ON THE STONE
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR BLOOD ON THE STONE
‘A masterly account of the dark side of the diamond trade. Smillie’s scalpel
has cut very deep.’
—Matthew Hart, author of Diamond:
the history of a cold-blooded love affair
‘Required reading for anyone who still believes the diamond trade is only
about love, honor and trust… A devastating, important work… Read this before
you buy another diamond.’
—Greg Campbell, co-author of Flawless:
Inside the World’s Largest Diamond Heist
‘Smillie’s compelling narrative of the journey from teacher to prosecutor is
touching and breathtaking.’
—Peta Thornycroft, award-winning
Zimbabwean journalist
‘Very high-octane…by far the most interesting and illuminating account of the
blood diamond campaign.’
—Lansana Gberie, author of
A Dirty War in West Africa
‘Ian Smillie was among the fi rst international and most eloquent investigators
who understood and publicly denounced the use of “blood diamonds”… In
Blood on the Stone, he links his own experiences and deep knowledge of the
diamond trade to the history of… how these gemstones with no intrinsic value
drive confl ict, corruption and mayhem. It is an important story, and one that
needs to be understood if the world is to help end the misery of confl icts
driven by commodities and greed.’
—Douglas Farah, co-author of Merchant of Death: Money,
Guns, Planes and the Man Who Makes War Possible
‘Global Witness, after fi rst alerting the world to the horror of blood diamonds
in 1998, has worked closely with Partnership Africa Canada on the campaign
to stop diamonds funding war. Smillie’s book is a fascinating read about
the world of diamonds, war and greed.’
—Charmian Gooch, co-founder, Global Witness
BLOOD ON THE STONE
GREED, CORRUPTION AND WAR
IN THE GLOBAL DIAMOND TRADE
IAN SMILLIE
Anthem Press
An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company
www.anthempress.com
This edition fi rst published in UK and USA 2010
by ANTHEM PRESS
75-76 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK
or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK
and
244 Madison Ave. #116, New York, NY 10016, USA
A copublication with the
International Development Research Centre
PO Box 8500, Ottawa, ON K1G 3H9, Canada
www.idrc.ca / [email protected]
ISBN 978-1-55250-498-7 (e-book)
Copyright © Ian Smillie 2010
The author asserts the moral right to be identifi ed as the author of this work.
Cover image ‘Artisanal Diamond Miner, Democratic Republic of Congo’
reproduced courtesy of Shawn Bore, Partnership Africa Canada
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above,
no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means
(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise),
without the prior written permission of both the copyright
owner and the above publisher of this book.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested.
ISBN-13: 978 0 85728 979 7 (Hbk)
ISBN-10: 0 85728 979 9 (Hbk)
ISBN-13: 978 0 85728 963 6 (Pbk)
ISBN-10: 0 85728 963 2 (Pbk)
ISBN-13: 978 0 85728 987 2 (eBook)
ISBN-10: 0 85728 987 X (eBook)
For Sharon
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‘What do you know about diamonds, Bruce?’
‘They’re forever.’
‘Corny.’
‘They’re a girl’s best friend.’
‘Which decade are you from?’
‘They’re not cheap.’
‘Yeah.’
‘Hoods call them “ice”.’
‘They’re wrong.’
‘And they’re probably trouble.’
‘That’s for certain.’
– The Big Killing, Robert Wilson
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CONTENTS
GLOSSARY xi
PREFACE xiii
PROLOGUE 1
CHAPTER 1 (cid:105) Of Judgement and Cunning Work: Dirty Diamonds 11
CHAPTER 2 (cid:105) The River of Big Returns: Geology and History 27
CHAPTER 3 (cid:105) De Beers: The Delicate Equipoise 35
CHAPTER 4 (cid:105) Strange Plumbing: The Diamond Pipeline 51
CHAPTER 5 (cid:105) Angola: Another Distracting Sideshow 63
CHAPTER 6 (cid:105) Liberia and the Love of Liberty 79
CHAPTER 7 (cid:105) Sierra Leone: Diamonds in the RUF 95
CHAPTER 8 (cid:105) President Mobutu’s Ghost 115
CHAPTER 9 (cid:105) Enter al Qaeda 133
CHAPTER 10 (cid:105) Boiling Frogs: Companies in Hot Water 147
CHAPTER 11 (cid:105) Ice Storm: The NGO Campaign 163
CHAPTER 12 (cid:105) Kimberley: A Hope In Hell 177
CHAPTER 13 (cid:105) Endgames 193
EPILOGUE 209
NOTES 213
BIBLIOGRAPHY 225
INDEX 229