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Authors: Greg Campbell
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allegations of weapons deals being conducted between the RUF and Guinean military officials. One such deal that was said to have gone sour in the summer of 2000 resulted in the RUF attacking Pamelap, the Guinean border town on the road between Freetown and Conakry. The Guinean military retaliated, firing artillery shells into Kambia, on the Sierra Leone side of the border, with the result that more innocent civilians were sent to Freetownâs MSF camp.
Guineaâs guilt as a diamond conduit is reflected in discrepancies between what it exports to Belgium and what Belgium says is imported from Guinea. For example, from 1993 to 1997, Guinea reported 2.6 million carats of official diamond exports at an average of $96 per carat to Belgium. During the same period, Belgiumâthrough the Diamond High Council, the diamond industryâs self-appointed watchdog organizationâreported imports from Guinea of 4.8 million carats averaging $167 each. âIn other words,â reported the UN in December 2000, âBelgium appears to import almost double the volume that is exported from Guinea, and the per-carat-value is almost 75 per cent higher than what leaves Guinea.â 5
People like Singer account for the discrepancy. By doing nothing more than shaking hands in Freetown, Singer doesnât have to carry any cash into the country or carry any diamonds out. Getting the diamonds to Conakry is the RUFâs âproblem,â even though itâs not any more difficult than U.S. citizensâ traveling across state lines to buy fireworks for their Fourth of July celebrations. If the deal is solidified in Freetown, RUF brokers often take the goods to the Guinean capital via ferry after bribing customs officials to ignore certain items of luggage. Bribery in West Africa is such a part of the culture that itâs like tipping a waiter after a mealâI did it myself on arrival in Freetown, paying a customs official a mere $5 to avoid a time-consuming search of my incoming luggage, which, as far as he knew, could have been filled with pistols and $100 bills.
If the deal is made in the bush, the broker takes a backpack filled with diamonds on a motorcycle from Koidu, for instance, through bush trails across the border and on to Conakry. The trip can be made in a day during the dry season. The RUF representative goes to a bank in Conakry and deposits the parcel in a safe deposit box.
Buyers like Singer will then meet them in a café, adjourn to inspect the goods, and the money will be wired from Poland to be converted into cash at the same bank. In some circumstances, Singer said, the RUF rep will prefer to have the money deposited in a numbered account in Copenhagen for use later.
Guinean customs then inspects the diamonds and issues a certificate of authenticity that they originated in Guinea andâvoilà âconflict diamonds magically become legitimate. If all goes according to plan, Valdyâs company will send a twelve-seat private jet the same day to pick them up and the diamonds will be in Europe by nightfall, squeaky clean as far as the Diamond High Council is concerned.
âBut they didnât originate in Guinea,â I said.
âSo?â
âSo how do you get customs to say that they did?â
He looked at me as if I hadnât learned a thing. He rubbed his fingers together, the universal sign language for âbribery.â
The certificate accompanying the diamonds is supposed to be the guarantee that the diamonds came from legitimate sources, but obviously such a guarantee is relative, and itâs not just an African problem. Perhaps aware that some stones coming into Belgium are from questionable sources, the Diamond High Council in Antwerp until recently recorded the origin of diamond imports as the last country to ship the goods to the cityâs cutters and polishers. Therefore, a package of rough that began in the forests of Sierra Leone and was smuggled to
Guineaâs guilt as a diamond conduit is reflected in discrepancies between what it exports to Belgium and what Belgium says is imported from Guinea. For example, from 1993 to 1997, Guinea reported 2.6 million carats of official diamond exports at an average of $96 per carat to Belgium. During the same period, Belgiumâthrough the Diamond High Council, the diamond industryâs self-appointed watchdog organizationâreported imports from Guinea of 4.8 million carats averaging $167 each. âIn other words,â reported the UN in December 2000, âBelgium appears to import almost double the volume that is exported from Guinea, and the per-carat-value is almost 75 per cent higher than what leaves Guinea.â 5
People like Singer account for the discrepancy. By doing nothing more than shaking hands in Freetown, Singer doesnât have to carry any cash into the country or carry any diamonds out. Getting the diamonds to Conakry is the RUFâs âproblem,â even though itâs not any more difficult than U.S. citizensâ traveling across state lines to buy fireworks for their Fourth of July celebrations. If the deal is solidified in Freetown, RUF brokers often take the goods to the Guinean capital via ferry after bribing customs officials to ignore certain items of luggage. Bribery in West Africa is such a part of the culture that itâs like tipping a waiter after a mealâI did it myself on arrival in Freetown, paying a customs official a mere $5 to avoid a time-consuming search of my incoming luggage, which, as far as he knew, could have been filled with pistols and $100 bills.
If the deal is made in the bush, the broker takes a backpack filled with diamonds on a motorcycle from Koidu, for instance, through bush trails across the border and on to Conakry. The trip can be made in a day during the dry season. The RUF representative goes to a bank in Conakry and deposits the parcel in a safe deposit box.
Buyers like Singer will then meet them in a café, adjourn to inspect the goods, and the money will be wired from Poland to be converted into cash at the same bank. In some circumstances, Singer said, the RUF rep will prefer to have the money deposited in a numbered account in Copenhagen for use later.
Guinean customs then inspects the diamonds and issues a certificate of authenticity that they originated in Guinea andâvoilà âconflict diamonds magically become legitimate. If all goes according to plan, Valdyâs company will send a twelve-seat private jet the same day to pick them up and the diamonds will be in Europe by nightfall, squeaky clean as far as the Diamond High Council is concerned.
âBut they didnât originate in Guinea,â I said.
âSo?â
âSo how do you get customs to say that they did?â
He looked at me as if I hadnât learned a thing. He rubbed his fingers together, the universal sign language for âbribery.â
The certificate accompanying the diamonds is supposed to be the guarantee that the diamonds came from legitimate sources, but obviously such a guarantee is relative, and itâs not just an African problem. Perhaps aware that some stones coming into Belgium are from questionable sources, the Diamond High Council in Antwerp until recently recorded the origin of diamond imports as the last country to ship the goods to the cityâs cutters and polishers. Therefore, a package of rough that began in the forests of Sierra Leone and was smuggled to
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