Your thesis was that in 1995 diamond mining was taking place while civil was occurring in Angola, therefore it was not as unstable as was thought.
"...the Lusaka Protocol, was brokered in Lusaka, Zambia and signed on November 20, 1994... The peace accord between the government and UNITA provided for the integration of former UNITA insurgents into the government and armed forces. However, in 1995, localized fighting resumed. A national unity government was installed in April of 1997, but serious fighting resumed in late 1998 when Savimbi renewed the war for a second time"
So there was a period when a sort of peace occurred, although clashes were occurring.
The Angola civil war 1.5m people died and 1/3 were displaced. The diamond miners were mining the so-called "blood diamonds", the ones that funded UNITA. There was a UN-lead international boycot of the sale of these conflict diamonds.
M this is not a good example. UNITA used the cash from diamonds to fund the purchase of weapons and prolonged the war.
If there is a lesson, then it is political groups can and do use the cash from minerals to fund wars. Warlords will see any discovery as a way of gaining the upper hand through arms purchase. No other clan can let another get ahead.
G
RRS Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Not Held
