“Diamonds from a conflict area without papers is another definition of blood diamonds, and being in possession of the blood diamonds of Mr. Gilbert as well having signed an illegal contract with him made my need for diplomatic immunity more important than ever before,” Mads Brügger in the Central African Republic.

 In The Ambassador Mads Brügger acts as a diplomat from Liberia to the Central African Republic in order to unveil the blood diamond trade. A diplomat can travel across borders with 10 million dollars in his suitcase, so Brügger wants to exploit this fact by trying to see if he can transport this many diamonds. He goes through a series of steps to do this; including acquiring the proper paperwork from Liberia to do so, starting a fake match company to cover up his diamond trade, and visiting the precarious diamond mine. The beginning of film is almost a satire of the Central African Republic; that IT is so easy to exploit the people and the government, but as Brügger finds, it is very dangerous to play with fire. He gives his associate, Mr. Gilbert ten million dollars to get him diamonds. The contract he signed with Mr. Gilbert is illegal in itself, as well wishing to take diamonds back to Europe is illegal as well. After interviewing a white Frenchman, The Head of State Security in the Central African Republic, Guy-Jean le Foll Yamande, he is assassinated by unknown people. Brügger then finds himself in very dangerous waters, because he does not have proper credentials from Liberia, and fears assassination himself if the government decided to get rid of him.

This issue is important in Africa, because as Brügger mentions, there are 2,500 diplomats registered from Liberia, a huge number that is not necessary even for the amount of countries that Liberia deals with. The diamond trade in Africa is significant because every American woman wants the biggest diamond her fiancé can manage on her left finger. Diamonds are mined by men, women, and children, as seen in the film, and are guarded by guns, from sunrise to sunset. It seems amazing that just for one diamond, a person could work for an entire day, digging in the mud. The film also points to the Central African Republic’s colonizer of France and former president Jean Bokassa as reasons why the country is so corrupt. African nations have been corrupt since the beginnings of their nations, and the diamond trade in the Central African Republic is no different.

It is interesting to me that a white European is able to come into the Central African Republic and take enough diamonds to make him very rich for a long time. If say, a Chinese man were to come into the United States and start using US labor to dig up oil from the United States and bring it directly back to China, people in the United States would be appalled, much less let this happen in the first place. Locals in the Central African Republic do not know who to trust it seems. Do they trust their government who keeps them poor and impoverished? Or do they take jobs from foreigners digging up diamonds that will never be taxed by their country in order to put food on the table for their families?

Ebola Virus in DRC

According to Aljazeera.com, an outbreak of the Ebola virus risks spreading into larger towns of the Democratic Republic of Congo namely the country's capital Kinshasa. The outbreak is believed to have come from tainted bushmeat, and has already claimed 31 lives, according to the article. If the virus were to spread into Kinshasa the death toll could be outrageous because the health sector is crumbling and years of corruption have led to poor infrastructure. Especially Kinshasa, home to nine million people, is not prepared or properly equipped to deal with such an outbreak.

I picked this particular article because it demonstrates the negative effects that colonialism mixed with authoritarian rule can bring to a country. As a Belgium colony the DRC had murder, starvation and a plummeting birthrate during colonial years. Being ruled by an authoritarian leader led to more authoritarian rule after independence, according to the book When Things Fell Apart. Authoritarian regimes lead to exclusion, which leads to poor infrastructure. This is because money is spent on the leader and not on his country. 

Ebola is not something to take lightly. The virus is truly deadly, and the DRC is simply not prepared to deal with it. According to the theories in When Things Fell Apart, authoritarian regimes do not spend money where they should. This results in poor infrastructure and crumbling political institutions that, as the DRC demonstrates, cannot handle an outbreak of any kind. Based on these theories the death toll from Ebola in the DRC will rise significantly in the coming weeks because chances of an authoritarian regime tamping down on an outbreak before it reaches large population centers are slim. It's hard not to be affected by an article like this knowing how much these people have suffered, and it appears that they will suffer some more from Ebola.   

Article link: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/09/2012913165710650271.html            

The Situation in Western Sahara

In preparation for the map quiz on Friday September 7th, a few of you have asked about the situation in Western Sahara and why it is classified as having multiple colonizers. Since we do not really get the chance to discuss Northern African politics in the class, I want to direct your attention to a new article published in one of The Economist's blogs about the current stalemate in the region. The article does not offer much in the way of new information, but does a good job of summarizing the issue.

It should also be noted that the dispute over territory and ownership can also be considered an example of the colonial legacies of the Europeans which we will be talking about in class this week. 

(image used under a creative commons license from Wikipedia)

For added fun, check out the comments. Unresolved contentious issues often lead to very strong arguments in an online forum about which side is "right."