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The Revolutionary United Front was lead and founded by ex-army corporal Forday Sankoh.
As the death tolls rose, people around the world were starting to realize what was really going on. They realized that when they were buying a diamond they were funding a civil war in Africa. Sierra Leone even tried to hire a private army to win the war, which they did until they left. The next major even was the signing of the Lome peace accord. Once the RUF broke this agreement later the UN and British forces stepped in and conquered the forces and arrested Sankoh for crimes against humanity.
The civil war began in 1991 when the RUF (Revolutionary United Front), invaded from Liberia and took control of the most eastern diamond mines because the corrupt government of Sierra Leone was keeping all the countries mineral wealth for themselves. From that point it became a long and brutal war. The RUF would use these "conflict diamonds" to buy arms and ammunition. The RUF used brutal tactics to amputate and mutilate civilians.
Diamonds and human greed are ultimately what drove this horrible civil war.
A "blood diamond" is a diamond that is mined and sold out of a war zone, whose profit is used to finance military action.