Sierra Leone Research Paper

Filled with savagery and brutality, leading to the ethnic cleansing of a poverty ridden community through the abusive use of power, place, and people and undocumented use of national resources for personal satisfaction, Sierra Leone is constantly fought over for the resources she holds. Many lobbyist groups exist who seek to control and address the policies about the abundant resources present in Sierra Leone, consequently the country is constantly crippling from within. To understand the inner reality of the diamond industry in Sierra Leone, there is a need to take a look back in its history. Sierra Leone was colonized by the English, in which, the De Beers Corporation controlled much of the diamond mining area in Sierra Leone. Despite gaining independence, the diamond sector was still controlled by the De Beers. De Beers took the advantage of the instability of the newly formed government, allowing it to take control of almost all of the diamond operations in “diamond mining region of Kono district”(Ford 1). Today, “small scale mining has sustained “(Ford 2) everyday life in the region. In Koidu, the capital of Kono, many young children and women are hoping for the …show more content…
The children in Kono are totally locked away from the outside world, trapped in their own realm that seems to give no future to them other than doing the same they have been doing everyday of their life- mining. Although Sierra Leone is completely rid of wars but there is still one that is going on every day in Kono – the war to live the next day. With little or no education at all, these children have no way to decide what is best for their future. It is redounding for the politicians in the area because they can exploit the children to garner votes for their own benefit. Unknowingly, the children dig their own grave by electing same officials in every election, who only seem to promise not