Quote Originally Posted by Mason View Post
Thanks for the reply most people just ignore me.

The problem with your argument IMH is that diamonds are not the only cause of the wars in Africa. Africa is a mess and its not because of diamonds...the Hootu or Tootsies (cant remember who killed who - it doesnt matter because the other side would have done the same eventually) killed 1 million people in a week using machetes; not guns from the diamond trade.


In Nigeria it's oil and in Darfur its something else...if the civilized world stopped buying diamonds the africans would find other reasons to kill themselves.
I don't believe Posh is saying that Africa is a mess BECAUSE of the diamond trade, just that the artifically inflated prices of diamonds allow already (and historically) warring ethnic clans to kill each other in a more orderly, efficient manner. In addition, the purchase of weapons allows the practice of child soldiers to continue to flourish in sub-Saharan Africa.

Granted, more people in Africa are killed with edged weapons (as in the rest of the world- i.e. more people are killed manually, hands/feet/bludgeoned, than are shot in the US) but what the "illegal" diamond sales do is allow the purchase of modern weapons.

Using the proceeds of the diamond sales, the local warlord goes and buys some old, beat to hell Kalashnikovs, gives them to 10-14 year old boys and tells them they are in the "army". As any street cop will tell you a teen will kill you a LOT quicker than an adult- the resasoning process is absent- no thought for consequences of actions. Said warlord then tells these children to go raid the next village over.

An "army" of pre-teens with Kalashnikovs and PKMs is a danger to those who are unarmed. An "army" of pre-teens with sticks and knives is not.

Those living in sub-Saharan Africa will ALWAYS find ways to kill one another on a Biblical scale. Mixing ethnicities in a highly tribal continent is a massive mistake the colonial powers made. The damage is done however, but I do not feel the need to toss fuel onto an already burning situation when there are alternatives out there- ones which also happen to be far more economical.