UBC JOURNAL of INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
All People’s Congress (APC), took mining out of the hands of local community leaders, and consolidated the industry under the portfolio of the Ministry of Mines.16 Though this change upset local communities that had become somewhat reliant on mining, large-scale conflict was avoided. The movement of mining permits to a formal ministry was initially intended to curtail corruption surrounding preferential mining permits and illicit extraction, but this change simply switched the beneficiaries of corruption from local chiefs to supporters and loyalists of the APC.17 Under the watch of the Ministry of Mines, diamond revenue was funneled out of state welfare programs, and into the hands of wealthy politicians. In 1985, Stevens appointed Major General Joseph Saidu Momoh to be his successor as leader of the APC, which was still the ruling party of Sierra Leone.18 Momoh continued distributing mining rights and privileges based on favouritism, but perhaps more devastating was his series of unviable, and ludicrous economic policies that left the country in ruin. Though it was wealthy in diamonds, the corruption among government executives saw Sierra Leone’s most precious resources financing the whims of favoured ministers and businessmen. Momoh’s destructive economic policies and rampant corruption led to complete financial ruin in Sierra Leone that would instigate rebellion. With dwindling government revenues, teachers and other civil servants could not be paid, and the education system collapsed. As a result, without employment or schooling, 80 percent of children and youth roamed the streets, leaving them prey to rebel movements, and smuggling operations.19 By 1990, despite being rich in raw minerals, Sierra Leone was recognized as one of the poorest countries with the second-lowest living standards in the world.20 By the early 1990s, Sierra Leone fit all of Collier’s main criteria for civil unrest. Indeed, with an extremely vulnerable population and an abundance of easily exported raw resources, Sierra Leone was on the brink of a devastating civil war.
The  Revolutionary  United  Front  First assembling in neighbouring Liberia in 1990 with aspirations to overthrow Momoh’s government and establish a more economically successful and equitable state, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was the central rebel force that began the civil war that
ͳ͸Ô? „‹†Ǥ ͳ͚Ô? „‹†Ǥ ͳͺÔ? ‘ŠÂ? Ǥ ‹”•…Šǥ Sierra  Leone:  Diamonds  and  the  Struggle  for  Democracy  ȋ ‘—Ž†‡”ǥ Â‘ÂŽÂ‘Â”ÂƒÂ†Â‘ÇŁ ›Â?Â?‡ ‹‡Â?Â?‡” —„Ž‹•Š‡”• –†Ǥǥ Í´Í˛Í˛ÍłČŒÇŁ ;ͲǤ ͳ͝Ô? „‹†Ǥ ʹͲÔ? ‘ŠÂ? ‡ŽŽ‘™• ƒÂ?† †™ƒ”† ‹‰—‡Žǥ Dz ƒ” ƒÂ?† ‘…ƒŽ ‘ŽŽ‡…–‹˜‡ …–‹‘Â? ‹Â? ‹‡””ƒ ‡‘Â?‡ǥdz Journal  of  Public  Economics ͝;ǥ Â?‘Ǥ ͳͳnjͳʹ Č‹Í´Í˛Í˛ÍťČŒÇŁ ͳͳ͜ͺǤ
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