Sierra Leone diamonds are well-known among the jewelry world to be one of the best quality diamonds available today. This is perhaps the main reason that blood diamonds have wreaked the havoc they have had over so many years.
The first diamond was found in Sierra Leone in the 1930s. Since then, a story of brutality and violence has unfolded in this small West African country. In 1968, Siaka Stevens became the prime minister of Sierra Leone. Recognizing the value of their diamonds, he made a large profit out of illegal diamond mining and trading. In the ensuing years, more and more diamonds were being exported illegally rather than through legal means. Most of these transactions were overseen by Stevens” right hand man Jamil Mohammed, a Lebanese.