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International Intervention to Govern Diamonds and Minerals

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Peacebuilding and Natural Resource Governance After Armed Conflict

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Abstract

Beevers examines efforts by international peacebuilders to govern Sierra Leone’s diamonds in the aftermath of the conflict. He explains how strategies primarily focused on securing diamonds and diamond revenues so that the conflict would not reignite, but over time began to concentrate on the extraction of diamonds and minerals as a key to economic recovery and poverty alleviation. Beevers shows that despite numerous international initiatives, and new laws and regulations, efforts to govern diamonds and minerals remain controversial and problematic. The reason, Beevers contends, is that the reforms put forth by peacebuilders do little to address historical grievances and create new tensions that make resource extraction and peacebuilding more challenging.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Mining licenses can only be given to Sierra Leonean nationals.

  2. 2.

    Miners are the individuals that hold the actual mining license, entitling them to the mine. They are often the manager of the operation although when there is an external supporter from outside financing the enterprise, a mining supervisor may be involved.

  3. 3.

    Including dependents and extended families it was projected that about 300,000 people would depend on these mines for livelihoods and sustenance.

  4. 4.

    Branch Energy had links to the private security firm Executive Outcomes, which was discussed in the previous chapter. Branch Energy and all of its mineral rights were acquired by Canadian firm DiamondWorks in 1996.

  5. 5.

    Koidu Holdings expanded in the Tongo diamond fields by getting a mining lease from the government in 2008.

  6. 6.

    This profit-sharing agreement was negotiated in 2006 and was scheduled to begin in 2014.

  7. 7.

    Le Billon and Levin 2009, 709–710. Le Billon and Levin report that when a multilateral funding agency expressed concerns about revenue transparency they were told to be “quieter for their own security” (2009, 706).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Studies, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, USA

    Michael D. Beevers

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  1. Michael D. Beevers
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Beevers, M.D. (2019). International Intervention to Govern Diamonds and Minerals. In: Peacebuilding and Natural Resource Governance After Armed Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63166-0_7

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