⁣Blood Diamonds Forever (UK) Angola [2003]

New Guinea: Land of the UnexpectedOriginal broadcast 7 February 1993. Nature on WHYY PBS.

⁣Diamond Mining: Sierra Leone

Deadly Diamonds (2009): Could Zimbabwe be suspended from the global diamond trade in the aftermath of the massacre at the Marange diamonds fields?

Did Robert Mugabe’s security forces seize control of a lucrative diamond field by gunning down hundreds of miners? With shocking evidence now uncovered, Zimbabwe's diamond trade faces suspension."We were told here are the guns, sitting in the truck, do you want to stay?" says Andrew Cranswick, CEO of the mining company who owns the rights to mine diamonds in Marange. After his company was evicted, the Marange fields were opened up to the people and tens of thousands of Zimbabweans came to dig, paying the police a commission. Yet the police didn't always play fair - "$15 million worth of diamonds were confiscated", says one former miner and soon the police were replaced by Mugabe's own military. "Mugabe needed a way to buy the loyalty of the army" says Ken Roth, "the military were ordered to kill".In the first week of November, helicopter gunships launched a massacre on the Marange diamond fields. Evidence has been collected of 200 deaths. Those who weren't killed were raped or crippled. "They told us if we wanted to go home we had to sleep with the men", says one woman, "the soldiers watched and laughed". Next month, the Kimberley process, the international body charged with stopping trade in conflict diamonds, will decide whether Zimbabwe should be suspended. Yet with many Western governments involved in Zimbabwe's diamond trade, a former delegate of the Kimberley process believes this deadly business may yet be protected.

War and the Diamonds of Sierra Leone.

⁣Diamonds from Guinea - Documentary of Patrick Voillot

This film takes you on a dangerous and perilous adventure, penetrating a region Conakry,⁣ Guinea which is on the borders of Liberia and Sierra Leone.This region, frequently traversed by armed militia, is extremely rich in diamonds of great value since sixty percent of them can be utilized in jewelry.The diamonds are extracted in an artisanal fashion near a town called Banankoro, where the religious fervour of its inhabitants is equaled only by their passion for diamonds and its trade.You will see the bitter transactions between the miners and their bosses referred to in this country as « mastar ».You will follow the collectors on their dangerous route taking the precious stones to Conakry.You will participate in the tough negotiations between the transporters and the merchants of the capital city. All this takes place in a tense atmosphere under heavy armed protection, when thousands of carats will pass before your eyes.The final destination of these diamonds is Antwerp. You will get a rare chance to see the “Rainbow Collection” belonging to Eddy Elsas, consisting of dozens of coloured diamonds.Then in London you will learn the secrets of the De Beers building, one of the best protected places in the world, through which transits more than half of the world’s production of diamonds.The jeweler Mouawad will let you into his world to show you his famous diamonds whose prices defy belief - several million dollars – and in particular a handbag fully inlaid with white and pink diamonds, unique in the world.

⁣The Diamond Empire
1 Feb 1994


⁣SEASON 1994: EPISODE 9


Second only to Christmas, Valentine’s Day is the holiday when diamonds are most often given as the ultimate token of love. Central to the diamond’s role as a romantic symbol is the belief that diamonds are one of the rarest, most precious gifts for a loved one. But it’s only a myth–diamonds are found in plentiful supply. FRONTLINE examines how the great myth about the scarcity of diamonds and their inflated value was created and maintained over the decades by the diamond cartel. This report chronicles how one family, the Oppenheimers of South Africa, gained control of the supply, marketing, and pricing of the world’s diamonds.

A man and his stick movie