The governments of Sierra Leone and armed forces are at war with each other.
The armed forces are using conflict diamonds (diamonds that are illegally extracted and exported from regions in
sub-Saharan Africa) to fund weapons and explosives for their soldiers.
Economic Foundations of Conflict
Even though the country of Sierra Leone was rich in natural
resources, it was ranked as the poorest country in the world in the 1990s. The economic
development in Sierra Leone has always depended on diamond exports to forgein countries. In the 1970s and early 1980s,
the economic growth slowly increased because of the reject in mineral funding.
Political Corruption Leads to Conflict
The most impotant factor led to the war in Sierra Leone
was the corruption and mismanagement in the diamond sector. Also, the structures of the states and resistance of the civilians
caused many wide passageways to become areas for trafficking drugs, ammunition, and weapons.
