Diamonds in Sierra
Leone, oil in Angola, copper in Papua New Guinea, gold,
coltan, and diamonds in
the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, timber in Liberia…the battle
to control these and other natural resources leads to terrible
atrocities in many armed conflicts around the world.
Rather than bring much needed wealth
to countries’ economies,
these resources are exploited and traded in exchange for
weapons that fuel wars and destroy thousands of lives. Take
Rwanda. Before the genocide in 1994 the government responsible
for planning the genocide mortgaged its tea plantations to
buy arms from Egypt. Then after the genocide the UN reported
that the new Rwandan government used its armed forces to
exploit coltan and diamonds from neighboring DRC. Likewise
in Liberia, the UN has cited the role of timber exports in
funding a war where human rights abuses have been rife on
both sides.
If governments are serious about
protecting lives and human rights they must end the illegal
trade in natural resources
for weapons that are destined to commit atrocities. |
