Diamonds and Discontent in Sierra Leone

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The people of diamond-rich Kono district express their anger at how, in their view, they are being side-lined in the rush to dig up their country's natural wealth. Ed Butler travels to the town of Koidu in Sierra Leone, where he confronts a manager of the country's biggest diamond operator - owned by controversial Israeli tycoon Beny Steinmetz - about what the company is doing to pay its taxes and to support the local community. He also hears the story of one village who unearthed the so-called Peace Diamond. The size of an infant's fist, it sold for $6.5 million - but has the local pastor absconded with the proceeds? Ahead of the general elections scheduled for March, there are worries that poverty and resentment over their exclusion from these riches could boil over into a renewed conflict. (Photo: Ed Butler with miners in Sierra Leone; Credit: Ed Butler/BBC)