Conflict and diamonds.In "Bloody Nonsense" (Nov. 20), Jack Jolis writes of the "non-issue of 'blood diamonds.'" He asserts, "If there were not a single diamond produced on the African continent, there would not be one fewer war there, nor one fewer human victim thereof." He maintains that the majority of diamond-producing countries are free of conflict and that many civil wars in Africa occur in diamond-free countries. But this is trivial: No organization that has worked seriously to stop the bartering of "conflict diamonds" claims that a large fraction of the world's diamond supply comes from conflict areas. It is virtually undisputed that only a sliver sliver in wool processing a continuous band of carded and combed wool which has not yet been twisted into yarn. of the world's diamonds are "conflict diamonds." The problem is that this sliver still represents tens of millions (if not hundreds of millions) of dollars. And what do these millions of dollars buy? Not just machetes and AK-47s, as Jolis claims, but, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a January 2001 U.N. Report, items such as tanks, missiles, artillery, and landmines. The majority of Angolans maimed maim tr.v. maimed, maim·ing, maims 1. To disable or disfigure, usually by depriving of the use of a limb or other part of the body. See Synonyms at batter1. 2. during the civil war (around 80,000 people) were injured by landmines. People continue to be killed and maimed today. A2004 BBC BBC in full British Broadcasting Corp. Publicly financed broadcasting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. report estimated that there were somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million landmines in Angola--three years after the civil war ended. Jolis is correct on one point--profits from "conflict diamonds" do not supply "the locally grown ganga with which the 'troops' are mostly paid." Rather, those millions of dollars fund high-ranking rebel officials who often live outside their native countries in places such as Belgium and the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . M. Elaine Vote Seattle, Wash. JACK JOLIS RESPONDS: Virtually all (if not all) of the landmines in Angola are of Soviet origin and were paid for (if they were paid for) by government oil revenues. And any "tanks, missiles, and artillery" that Angola's rebels might have deployed were captured from the government. On the rare occasion that any of this Soviet materiel ma·te·ri·el or ma·té·ri·el n. The equipment, apparatus, and supplies of a military force or other organization. See Synonyms at equipment. was bought with diamonds, it was bought from corrupt government officials themselves. Thus, the weapons were already in the Conflict--they merely changed hands. The people who profit most from "blood diamonds" in Africa are the publicity-hounding activist groups, U.N. officials, and Congressional Black Caucus Congressional Black Caucus, organization of African-American members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Founded in 1970, it addresses legislative concerns of African Americans and other minority citizens, such as employment, welfare reform, minority business members who perpetuate this myth. African tyrants, both government and rebel, are no more financed by diamonds than by any other commodity. Corruption is fungible A description applied to items of which each unit is identical to every other unit, such as in the case of grain, oil, or flour. Fungible goods are those that can readily be estimated and replaced according to weight, measure, and amount. . |
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