[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''

                                 ______
                                 

                           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.

                          ____________________