It Ain't de Diamonds, it's de Beers

The leader of the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone, Foday Sankoh, was captured on Wednesday, 17 May 2000. In a tradition all too neglected in recent centuries, the captured leader was stripped naked and paraded through town. For those of you too interested in the NBA playoffs to notice, Sankoh and his merry men have been trying to topple Sierra Leone's democratically-elected president for the better part of eight years.[1] Sierra Leone is a diamond-producing West African nation; residents in search of quick riches have been known to dig up roads and unseat the foundations of government buildings. Not being stupid, the RUF itself has been occupying some of Sierra Leone's more diamond-rich towns and plundering them.

Among the more interesting revelations surrounding Sankoh's capture is the discovery of documents suggesting the RUF was trying to negotiate, or maybe had already negotiated, an exchange of cash or arms for diamonds with several "well-known" international companies. This is likely to make those certain "well-known" companies look bad, mostly because the RUF's modus operandi is to chop off the hands and poke out the eyes of people who have nothing to do whatever with the government. We're not professional insurgents or anything, but we figure the cause might be helped by leaning on the people who might actually affect policy.