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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: one_less who wrote (225275)	3/27/2007 11:59:56 AM
From: neolib	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Blood Diamond is set in West Africa, which I have never been to, although my wife grew up in Nigeria. So I can't answer your question about that area. The storyline about Rhodesian & South African mercenaries has some basis in fact, you might look up the history of a guy named Mike Hoare. I've only very briefly visited Angola and Congo, two areas that have had blood diamond type issues. Southern Africa itself has generally not, although with De Beers in South Africa, it is implicated in the problem. I might add that Botswana owes a good deal of its current financial well being to diamonds, and seems to be doing a pretty good job of it, unlike the normal expectations of government plunder one often thinks of in Africa. Same for Namibia. There is some contention about Botswana, diamonds, and Bushman, but I'm not sure where the truth lies on that one, as there are other issues as well.