Dimonds from Sierra Leon.......against all right

In 1935 the diamond history of Sierra Leone began when De Beers legally took absolute control of the dining prospects in Sierra Leone for the subsequent 99 years. Despite De Beers presence, Lebanese traders within Sierra Leone quickly discovered the vast profits that could be made by smuggling diamonds out of the country. As a result, illegal mining and trading increased throughout Sierra Leone.

In 1961, Sierra Leone gained its independence from Great Britain. Since then, diamond smuggling became both political and economical problem.

In 1968, when populist Siaka Stevens became prime minister, he was the first to connect the illicit diamond mines to political power and profit officially. To nationalized the diamond mines and De Beers' SLST, he created the National Diamond Mining Co. Through this company, Stevens and his key advisor, Lebanese businessman Jamil Mohammed, controled the diamond mines. It was not before the end of Stevens' rule, when De Beers removed itself from Sierra Leone.

In 1984, De Beers' sold its remaining shares to the Precious Metals Mining Co., controlled by Mohammed. A year later, Joseph Momoh, took power of Sierra Leone. With little political or leadership skills, he placed even more responsibility in Mohammed's hand. As a result illegal diamond mining within Sierra Leone prospered resulting in to a corrupted government by 1991.


On March 23, a civil war began when the Revolutionary United Front, a group of 100 fighters from Sierra Leone and Liberia, occupied east Sierra Leone. At that time, RUF leaders were alert that whoever controls the diamond mines will be able to control Sierra Leone itself.

Finally, in July 1999, under pressure from the U.N. and the U.S. government Sankoh and Sierra Leone's president, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, signed the Lome Peace Accord. RUF agreed to surrender its forces for a share in Sierra Leone's government. As a concession to RUF, Sankoh was released from the death sentence he earned for his war crimes and made chairman of the Strategic Mineral Resources Commission, a position that controlled most of Sierra Leone's diamond exports.