Interview

I emailed Mr. Otahal on what he knows about Sierra Leone, its civil war, and the role that diamonds have played. He emailed me back and recommended that I read up about the Kimberley process. I read about the Kimberley process and found out that it is a joint intiative involving governments and the international diamond industry to stem the flow of conflict diamonds. All diamonds would be sealed in tamper-resistant containers and would have forgery-resistant, conflict-free certificates with unique serial numbers each time they crossed an international border. Progress to achieve this began in May 2000 and by 2003, it was adopted as a national law. Sierra Leone is a member of the Kimberley Process and this process has greatly helped decrease the amount of diamonds that are illegally smuggled out of the country.