Hollywood film threatens to dull Africa gem trade

The diamond industry has begun a campaign to safeguard its lucrative Christmas trade from what it fears will be a blitz of negative publicity resulting from a forthcoming Hollywood film about the trade in African “conflict diamonds”.

De Beers, the world’s biggest diamond company, plans to spend $15.2 million on publicity this autumn, in advance of the release in December of Blood Diamond, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, which threatens to make diamonds as unfashionable as fur.
In the film DiCaprio plays a South African mercenary who goes on a quest in pursuit of a rare pink diamond through rebel-held territory in Sierra Leone, a west African country whose civil war was fuelled by diamond smuggling, and resulted in 75,000 deaths
In real life, DiCaprio has become the poster boy for those who believe the diamond industry is wrecking lives. The film has inspired a band of Kalahari Bushmen to advertise in the Hollywood magazine Variety, attacking the diamond business.
The Bushmen, who claim they have been expelled from ancestral land in Botswana to make way for diamond mining, appealed for DiCaprio’s support.
In an open letter to the star, they said: “After diamonds were found on our land we were evicted.... Those diamonds are a curse for us. We hope you will use your film to let people know that we too are victims of diamonds and we just want to go home.”
In turn, Hollywood has been accused of trivialising the truth about African diamonds by some in the gemstone trade. Eli Izhakoff, chairman of the industry body the World Diamond Council, said: “This movie, drawing attention to this subject, is something that happened years ago, something that was remedied.”
The industry has set up a website aimed at countering a backlash from the film. Diamondfacts.org tells of the benefits the industry has brought to its workers and enlists the unimpeachable sainthood of Nelson Mandela, who describes the diamond industry as “vital” to southern Africa’s economy. In Botswana, 25 per cent of jobs are directly or indirectly linked to diamonds, while in Namibia the diamond trade is the second biggest employer after the government, the industry says.
The industry claims conflict diamonds now make up less than one per cent of those sold, compared with four per cent in the late 1990s, the period in which the film is set. Conflict diamonds have been virtually eliminated by the Kimberley Process, a scheme which requires governments to track rough diamonds from mines to the polished stage, the industry says.
But not everyone agrees the problem has been solved. After peace deals ended several African civil wars, the main source of conflict diamonds is Ivory Coast, where rebels control some mining areas. According to the pressure group Global Witness, gems smuggled out of Ivory Coast into Mali are being sold on to international dealers.
Congo-Brazzaville has been prohibited from diamond trading because of suspicions that it is a hub for smuggling, and though the civil war is over in its neighbour, the Democratic Republic of Congo, there is still occasional fighting for control of diamond mines and other minerals. 
— The Guardian

Jeevan Vasagar

■ Diamonds are forever
Top diamond mining countries
Botswana
Russia
South Africa
Angola
Namibia
Australia
Congo
Canada
■ Diamonds are also mined in these countries
Brazil
Guyana
venezuela
Sierra Leone
Liberia
Ivory Coast
Ghana
Central African Republic
Tanzania
China
Indonesia
Zimbabwe
India
■ Traditional diamond cutting centres:
New York, USA
Antwerp, Belgium
Tel Aviv, Israel
Mumbai, India
Johannesburg, South Africa