Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25245
create a democratic governmen t. The locals liked the UN. Its staff spent money, clogged the streets with their clean white SUVs, and crowded the bars and beaches. They supported an army of prostitutes, drug users, and petty scam artists. Corruption was part and parcel of the UN's presence, clearly visible as mountains of clearly labeled equipment, western supplies, canned goods, and military hardware that had been stolen or sold by UN employees in the day-to-day operations. Cornflakes, juice, rice, and orher food supplIes appeared in Lebanese shops around town, so~etimes selli~g for less. than cost. Ghanaian-supplied UN troops ate beans whIle theIr officers shIpped materIals on UN helicopters to be sold in Freetown. There was also an entrepreneurial spirit here. The Nigerians in the UN and ECOMOG brought in marijuana and cocaine and made a tidy profit. Jamba, or marijuana, had formerly been common bur now there was cocaine, a hunger that was created when the RUF injected fighters before batrle. Drugs hadn't been a major paft of life, but now they were common on the streets. One "matchstick,"-a tiny, thinly rolled stick of smokable cocaine-cost less than a dollar. "Dairy milk," or small, folded packets of heavily cut cocaine COSt $25. Marijuana, often sold by Nigerian soldiers, ran between fifty cents and four dollars for a small three-by-one-inch folded plastic parcel. Bur overall, there was more good to blame on the UN than bad. People had a sense of security, and the peace process was progressing. Above Freetown was a mix of lush suburbs, a scabby office center, and a rust- for diamonds. Greg picked up a Fanta cap and said, "I can find one diamond and make a fortune." Lou mimicked Greg and picked up his own Fanta cap "Yeah, but you gotta dig up a ton of gravel to find it. If I dig up a ton of gravel I can find all I want of these"-he waved the orange cap. "You can open one pi t and make a lot of money or you can open a bunch of pits and make nothing. One guy scraped the soil off of one plot and there they were, diamonds. Then the people found out, ran in, and started grabbing them all." Lou had gold export license number nine. "People come here and get diamond fever and forget all about gold. They throwaway the gold. This may be the richest country in the world. Where you find diamonds you find gold. But where you find gold you won't necessarily find diamonds. Diamonds run in lines like waves on the ocean. Back in 1989 I took out nine rons of gold. Most of the gold is alluvial. Around the dam in Bambuna they have nugget gold. The Italians came here to excavate for the dam and found so much gold they never finished the dam." "In 1991 they chopped the first hands off. Why did it take Britain nine years to come in? De Beers paid $230 million for the Branch Energy kimberlite concession, the last beautiful diamonds. Then the diamonds sta rted showing up in London. This is what I was told." Greg liked working the riverbeds for all uvial diamonds, but it was dangerous. "The best place ro mine is in the rivers, but they can come up in groups of 25 ro 40 and kill you. It is very difficult to make a living here. Down here the srones are not that good. We couldn't get up north because of the rebels. You don't go colored maze of slums. Derelict ships sat rolled over and half submerged in rhe harbor. The serpentine maze of mangroves, mudflats, and tiny pam pams gave way ro vistas of overgrown coconut palm plantations. The only vehicles on the roads were the occasIOnal white UN convoy or single white Land Rover-brilliant white contrasted WIth the red stri ps of dirt roads and green jungle. The effects of war were easy ro see. Some of the houses were stripped of their tin roofs. The gray cinder-block walls underneath revealed signs of looting-stripped doors and window frames, burned interiors, weeds growing through the floor. Orher areas were pristine. The only incongruous structures and patterns visible from the air were the many reflective beige holes. At first they looked like shell craters. I learned later that they were actually diamond digs around rivers or on flat lands once traversed by rivers. It was the rainy season, and they had filled with muddy water. Diamond mining was an entrepreneurial activity that continued to corrupt and inflame greed. We landed in Bo, a center for diamond mining and buying. The srores had shovels, pans, and mining supplies. At the other end of the business spectrum were the tiny diamond-buying shops, all with Lebanese names and big diamonds painted crudely on the signs and doors. I met two Americans: Greg Lyell had graying blond hair held in a tired ponytail; Louis Supera was dark and wore a poorly fitted roupee-both acted very American in this odd place. Greg said he was 55, Lou was 56. Despite being residents for several years, they both looked sweaty and uncomfortable in the heat. Lou and Greg rold me about their businesses. Lou liked gold; Greg was here up there unl ess you have big balls. We were asked ro go up there and work, but if you work with the rebels, after the war they come and kill you. ''A half carat in good shape and good crystal goes for $180. Two pyramids back to back is the ideal shape. The worst shape is flat. The ideal situation is to mine them, cut them, and sell them. We teally don't have the ideal situation here. Hell, we don't even have a situation.}) Greg was amused with Lou's tough talk. "Someday we will make it rich here," he said. "In diamonds." Lou corrected him, "In gold." "In diamonds," Greg continued, "As a diamond dealer I am obligated ro buy diamonds from a supposedly licensed diamond miner. You never ask to see a license. It's pretty simple. You pay 5,000 leones for a miner's book. You write down what you want and what you don't want. You don't want 99 percent of what you see here. The people who run the mines and are supposed to regulate diamond sales are the crookedest motherfuckers on the face of the earth. One time I brought them a carat and they switched it for a lesser diamond. If you have a diamond-shaped stone that's clean and white you can get $100 a carat. 'Mackels' or 'double-decka' they call them. There are five basic diamond shapes. It's a pretty simple business. If you find a good diamond here you don't tell anyone. You could end up dead. " continued on page 74 53