Blood diamonds fund Hezbollah

A mixture of bullshit and interesting bits ...

Koidu, Sierra Leone - Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrilla movement is systematically siphoning profits from West Africa's multimillion-dollar diamond trade, in part by threatening the Lebanese merchants who long have handled much of the region's diamond business, US diplomats in West Africa charge.

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With the end of fighting and the advent of an industry-backed certificate-of-origin programme for diamonds, Sierra Leone estimates its legal exports of the stones have soared from US$1.4m in 1999 to US$76m last year.

The US Embassy in Sierra Leone, citing experts, says between US$70- to US$100 million worth of rough gems still are smuggled out of the country each year.

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"This is a lie. There's never been any connection between these people and Hezbollah," said Kassim Basma, born in Sierra Leone to a Lebanese family.

News24(South Africa)

all this time I thought that
DeBeers has a compltele stranglehold-monopoly on the diamond trade on planet earth.
The Oppenheimers are supporting Islamic terrorists?
Who knew?