Sierra Leone’s “blood diamonds” helped fuel atrocities in the impoverished West African nation in the 1990s. The war has now been over for a decade, and the country’s most valuable resource is no longer known as the product of a conflict. But it remains a contentious issue.
Voters in Sierra Leone went to the polls on Nov. 17 to pick a president and the parliament, and the country’s diamonds were a central issue. Opposition parties accused the government of mortgaging lucrative diamond fields for a “pittance,” while President Ernest Bai Koroma boasted of his “ambitious” efforts to transform the industry.
As of Friday, there were still no results in what was seen as a tightly contested election. The BBC reported that about 10 percent of the votes had been set aside because of alleged fraud. It was not clear when the results would be announced.
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