[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 63 (Friday, May 19, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E784]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[[Page E784]]
SHARING AN ARTICLE FROM MARTIN RAPAPORT: ``GUILT TRIP''
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HON. TONY P. HALL
of ohio
in the house of representatives
Friday, May 19, 2000
Mr. HALL of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, today I share with our colleagues a
moving plea written by one of the most respected experts in the diamond
industry to other members of the industry.
Martin Rapaport, publisher of one of the top trade publications,
traveled to Sierra Leone in the weeks before United Nations
peacekeepers were captured. His article, ``Guilt Trip,'' was written to
propose a solution to the mayhem war diamonds fuel. It needs no
embellishing, and I excerpt it here for my colleagues' review:
I don't know how to tell this story. There are no words to
describe what I have seen in Sierra Leone. My mind tells me
to block out the really bad stuff, to deny the impossible
reality. But the images of the amputee camp haunt me and the
voices of the victims cry out. `Tell them what has happened
to us,' say the survivors. `Show them what the diamonds have
done to us.'
``I am angry. I am upset. I am afraid that my words will
not be strong enough to convey the suffering and injustice I
have witnessed. How do I tell you about Maria, a pretty
eight-month-old baby whose arm has been hacked off by the
rebels? How can I fully describe the amputee camp with 1,400
people living in huts made of plastic sheets, babies in
cardboard boxes, food cooked in open fires on the ground, no
electricity or plumbing--everywhere you look someone is
missing an arm, a leg or both. What can I say about the tens
of thousands that live in displaced persons camps without
adequate medicine, food, clothing and shelter.
Friends, members of the diamond trade. Please, stop and
think for a minute. Read my words. Perhaps what is happening
in Sierra Leone is our problem. Perhaps it is our business.
Sierra Leone is a beautiful country. It has a cornucopia of
natural resources and a population that includes many well
educated, highly intelligent people. In spite of the wars,
which have decimated the population and destroyed the basic
infrastructure of the country, the people of Sierra Leone are
industrious and kind-hearted. During my visit last week, the
capital, Freetown, was bustling with people trying to rebuild
their lives and their country.
While there is much to be hopeful and optimistic about, the
peace process is moving too slowly. The diamonds are holding
up the peace process. The war in Sierra Leone is about power.
It is about who controls the country, how they control it and
what they do with their control. There is a strong perception
that he who controls the diamonds will control the country.
Simply put, Sierra Leone's diamond industry is totally
black market, underground, illegal and corrupt. Hundreds of
millions of dollars of Sierra Leone diamonds are being traded
on the world markets without any benefit going to the
government, or people, of Sierra Leone.
The bastards are not just stealing Sierra Leone's diamonds,
they are trading them for guns. Guns which are used to kill
people to keep the war going, which assures that the
government will not be able to control the illegal trade,
assuring that the bad guys can continue to steal the
diamonds. The real challenge facing Sierra Leone and the
world diamond trade, is how to stop this horrific murderous
cycle of illegal diamond activity.
The problems of Sierra Leone are so great and discouraging
that one hesitates to suggest solutions. . . [but] the
situation in Africa is such that we must adopt a pro-active
attitude towards the resolution of problems. We cannot sit
back and write off the problems of Africa as unsolvable--the
human suffering is simply too great.
The diamond industry must address the fact that illegal
diamonds from Sierra Leone and other war zones are in fact
finding their way into the diamond marketplace. While the
industry in general cannot solve Sierra Leone's problems it
can, and must, take realistic measures to assure that illegal
diamonds are excluded from the marketplace.
The bottom line is that our industry must stop dealing with
questionable diamonds. Consider the market for stolen
diamonds and jewelry. Now we all know that these markets
exist in a limited way, but no decent, legitimate or even
semi-honest diamond dealer would ever consider buying stolen
diamonds. When you buy a stolen diamond you encourage the
thieves to go out and steal another diamond. You endanger
your own life and you destroy the security of your business.
Would we walk around saying there is no way to tell if a
diamond is stolen and just let the thieves market prosper? By
the way--how is it that our industry is able to self-regulate
in a reasonable manner against thieves, but not against
conflict diamonds? Is the life of a black in Sierra Leone
worth less than the life of a diamond dealer or jeweler in
the U.S.?
Mr. Speaker, I met Mr. Rapaport before I went to Sierra Leone last
year, and I have heard the industry's admiration for him. He and his
colleagues are savvy, clever business people. I am confident they not
only can figure out how to stop war diamonds from enriching butchers--
but, more importantly, how to turn diamonds' economic potential into a
positive force for the African people who so need that.
I applaud Mr. Rapaport for making his trip to Sierra Leone and for
eloquently appealing to the diamond industry to find a solution to this
urgent problem. And I urge my colleagues to join me in pressing for a
targeted solution to the diamond smuggling that is destroying Sierra
Leone's democracy and its people.
Please join Sierra Leone's democratic government, the U.S. diamond
industry, and some of our most thoughtful colleagues in supporting H.
Con. Res. 323.
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