On the recordSeptember 20, 2001
The substantive part of the bill which they are sending back to the Senate has to do with blood diamonds. Blood diamonds are diamonds that are used to really fund wars in Africa, particularly in Sierra Leone, in Angola, and in the Congo. For years they have been using diamonds, either through the smuggled ways, or through a lot of different ways that they find themselves coming into America to fund the kind of wars that are going on; particularly in Sierra Leone, where a group of 500 ragtag rebels were able to increase their small little army to about 25,000 with very sophisticated training, drugs, guns, et cetera. They terrorized all of Sierra Leone. They have done the same thing in Angola. It has been used in Liberia in many different ways.
Source
govinfo.gov
