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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The Use of Regional Diamond Trading Platforms to Access Conflict Zones
Author:Dietrich, ChristianISNI
Year:2004
Periodical:African Security Review
Volume:13
Issue:1
Pages:51-57
Language:English
Geographic terms:Sierra Leone
Angola
Congo (Democratic Republic of)
Africa
Subjects:diamonds
trade
Economics and Trade
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Politics and Government
External link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10246029.2004.9627270
Abstract:International dealers who purchase diamonds from war zones must rely on a limited number of routes to access rebel territory. These dealers almost always use operating platforms in reasonable geographical proximity to the war zone to facilitate access to rebel groups, transfer cash to diamond buying operations, physically remove diamonds from the buying zone and organize their onward transfer to the legal international market. Without such a regional diamond trading platform, access to rebel groups is either impossible or becomes a highly costly affair. Case studies on Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sierra Leone outline the main connections between rebel groups and neighbouring countries that have been used as platforms in the African conflict diamond trade since the 1990s. They illustrate the mechanisms by which diamond dealers organize, finance, orchestrate and conceal their business dealings with African rebel groups. Conflict diamond dealers interviewed by the author expressed economic rather than political motivation for their business activities, and in this context the author analyses why they have chosen regional operating platforms that conform to regional political alliances. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract, edited]
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