What wealth there is goes to various elites while the population starves. More than 80 per cent of Angolans live in poverty. The UN has slapped an embargo on Angolan diamonds, and the big-name mining companies, such as De Beers, have severed their ties. However the precious gems are still finding their way out of the country. Angolan diamonds are now being sold through one company - a company which is partly owned by a man who has for the best part of a decade kept the country's government in arms.
Diamonds are big at the moment.
The conflict in Sierra Leone was initially sparked by a desire of Charles Taylor, the ruler of Liberia, to control his neighbouring country's diamond reserves. Last week The Observer revealed how the Foreign Office had stepped into the row surrounding mining firm Oryx, which was looking to float on London's Alternative Investment Market. The firm, which has a concession to mine in the Mbuji Mayi area of the DRC, has attracted attention because of its close links with the Zimbabwean and Congolese governments, which have profit-sharing agreements with Oryx. Oryx feels hard done by. It is a relatively small company operating in an area which is also being mined by a Belgian firm partly owned by diamond giant De Beers.