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| May 19, 2008 |
I was standing on the airstrip in San Ouandja talking to the EUFOR troops when an immaculate, white Cessna flew down from the sky. We watched, along with the scores of ragged children who seemed fascinated by this unusual day- there had been helicopters, military vehicles, white faced troops, a UN plane and now this. But it was what came next that interested me; troops rushed toward the plane- the CAR army(FACA) and men with an assortment of boxes and bags of various sizes. Other men disembarked and all were animatedly shaking hands and exchanging parcels. A delicate little girl also stepped out of the plane. She was wearing a blue gown laced with silver and she was carrying a doll. A white baby doll. The ragged children stared and she stared back. A white man pilot also got out. By then I was on the spot to ask where he was from. France. He had been flying into this area for 20 years-except when the violence makes it too difficult. So I asked who the passengers were. "I just fly the plane" said he, ending the conversation. Inside of 10 minutes all passengers were back on-board and the plane was disappearing into the clear, African sky.
What I had witnessed was a diamond trade. The area is full of diamonds. The actual diggers make very little money, the middle men make much more but the real money comes when the diamonds reach the international marketplace.
The wealth of the poorest country on earth was taken into the sky. Some one is making billions and it isn't the starving people of the Central African Republic.
I know about the Kimberley process and I don't care. Diamonds can get 'laundered' and can squeak through the process.
Until the rightful owners of the gems -the populations of the lands from which the diamonds are taken - fairly benefit from the wealth, the diamond is the symbol of the gross plundering of African countries.