Blood Diamonds and Blood Oil
By J.D. Bindenagel

The film "Blood Diamond" takes us back to war-ravaged Sierra Leone in the late 1990s when that country's diamonds were used to finance rebel groups who fought against legitimate governments.  This illicit diamond trade devastated the country, and these traded diamonds consequently were named "blood diamonds."  This war was infamous for its brutality, especially for the purposeful maiming of children, which led to panic in the population and to their flight from Sierra Leone. In such wars none of us can remain bystanders.

This film, set in Sierra Leone, showed that action can be undertaken to end genocide or war, as in Darfur, and revealed the way to eliminate financing for the conflict. During the war in Sierra Leone the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) grew from a band of 400 to an army of thousands.  In the end, the civil war in Sierra Leone killed more than 50,000 people, displaced over one-third of the country's 4.5 million people, and drove more than 500,000 to neighboring countries.

Once the world became aware in the 1990s of the importance of blood diamonds for financing the civil war in Sierra Leone, the United Nations, governments, NGOs and the diamond industry came together to end the illicit trade in blood diamonds used in the civil war. The fight against blood diamonds urgently brought about a global ban on blood diamonds and ensured that only clean diamonds came to the market. To help end the killing, in 2000 the United Nations passed UN Security Council Resolution 1306, which imposed a ban on the importation of Sierra Leonean diamonds.  Organizations such as World Vision, Global Witness, Amnesty International, Oxfam, Catholic Relief Services, and Partnership Africa Canada at the same time turned to the media to help ensure that the world knew about blood diamonds. The South African government convened a unique grouping of governments, diamond industry leaders, and interested NGOs in Kimberley, South Africa, which became the "Kimberley Process," named for the largest diamond mine.  The goal was to create an internationally-recognized certificate of origin for "clean diamonds" that would protect both the diamond exporting countries and the industry so that customers could be certain that they were not buying blood-tainted diamonds that may have helped finance war in Sierra Leone, Angola, Liberia or elsewhere.

Diamonds are a unique resource, evoking beauty and eternal love.  The Kimberley Process led to an agreement to protect the purity and the image of diamonds, and therefore to deliver diamond patrimony income to its rightful owners.   The United States enacted the "Clean Diamond Trade Act" in 2003.  The success should not be overlooked: by last year some 56,791 shipments of rough diamonds were controlled.  The Kimberley Process ban on blood diamonds was a long step forward to end war in Sierra Leone and to help in its reconstruction.  Last year alone Sierra Leone exported nearly $200 million dollars in "clean" rough diamonds.

The movie in many ways is a wake up call.  EU President Angela Merkel and U.S. President George Bush should take the lead to stop the genocide in Darfur.  The need for a new policy is well known.  It is important to take into consideration conflicting interests in the Darfur conflict.  The war is driven by ethnic and regional tensions between Arabs in the north and the Black Africans in the south; the Sufi Islamic government and its Janjaweed Militia are engaged in combat with animistic Christian rebels in the south.

The "Blood Diamond" movie has shown us that action, rather than more high-sounding, but empty calls, is needed to halt genocide.  Noble stances covering self-interest are no excuse for inaction. Concerted action to prevent terrorism, genocide, and war by addressing diamonds in Sierra Leone or oil in the Sudan is where we need to focus our moral outrage.  After all, genocide must be conceived, planned, and implemented.  But action to stop it can take many forms: remembrance of earlier genocides, education to respect human dignity, sanctions to cut off funding for atrocities, and military intervention.

The importance of oil in Sudan, especially in an era of rising oil prices, reminds us of Sierra Leone.  Oil has the same importance for the genocide in Darfur as diamonds did for the civil war in Sierra Leone.  Seen this way we can find Darfur in a similar situation as in Sierra Leone before the Kimberley Process.  China is fulfilling its oil needs with "Blood Oil" from Sudan; China is the most important customer for the Khartoum regime.  The African Union threatens to intervene, but has not.

The Kimberley Process is proof that it is possible to effectively intervene to end genocide.  The United Nations convention on genocide alone requires signatories to seek to prevent and punish the crime of genocide.  Nevertheless, conflicting interests in the pursuit of human rights, counterterrorism, and trade have stymied efforts by a global coalition of human rights activists, security specialists, U.S. Christian groups, and governments to stop the Sudanese government's atrocities.

What is to be done?  First, African Union forces must be reinforced by U.N. or NATO forces.  Second, governments can impose financial control sanctions on foreign firms conducting business in Sudan.  Third, the International Criminal Court can begin proceedings against the perpetrators of the genocide.  Fourth, leadership from the United States and the European Union by President Bush and Chancellor Merkel can influence the Chinese; China has the influence in Khartoum to help negotiate a peace agreement that would dismantle the Janjaweed militias. 

If the United States and European Union fail to act now, genocide in Darfur will be added to the long trail of genocides that we have come to abhor, from the Holocaust to Cambodia to Rwanda to Srebrenica.  In the last scene of "Blood Diamond," the victim of the war in Sierra Leone stands before the world and tells his story, the story of genocide.  So often has the international community said "Never Again."  So often we have witnessed more genocide.  It is possible to end the murder in Darfur, if we want to do so. Do we?

Ambassador J.D. Bindenagel was the U.S. negotiator for "conflict diamonds" during negotiations that led to an international ban on the illicit trade of these diamonds in 2003.  He currently is vice president of Community, Government, and International Affairs at DePaul University and a member of the AICGS Senior Advisory Council. He was former U.S. ambassador and special envoy for Holocaust issues from 1999-2002, and acting U.S. ambassador in Germany from 1996-1997.

The original German version of this article appeared in the January 25, 2007, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and is available by clicking here.  This article also appeared in the February 1, 2007, AICGS Advisor.