N.E., Washington, DC 20002.
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Two of the study's authors, Ian Smillie and Lansana Gberie, discussed their findings at an April 18 briefing sponsored by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. In his introduction, the Rev. Paul Dirdak, chief executive of the board's United Methodist Committee on Relief, noted that the report is important to the denomination because of its churches in West Africa and an overall concern for public welfare in those countries. Diamonds, in fact, have fueled Sierra Leone's conflict, destabilizing the country for the better part of three decades, stealing its patrimony and robbing an entire generation of children, putting the country dead last on the United Nations Development Program Human Development Index. The tools of war are being purchased with the illegal diamonds. Peacekeeping troops need to expand to the diamond-mining areas currently held by rebels.