Diamonds Make These Economies Sparkle

Natural resources like diamonds are morally neutral. As such, they can be, and many times are, a source of great good, as in Botswana, South Africa and Namibia.

Take Botswana, a country that has been a model not only for Africa but for all developing countries. Since the discovery of its diamond deposits, Botswana has achieved record economic growth. Last year, it was again one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Today, Botswana stands as a model of the way mineral wealth can be deployed for the benefit of a country as a whole, rather than lining the pockets of a corrupt few. The key is not the resource itself, but how it is exploited.

In order to ensure that no harm is brought upon societies like Botswana’s, we must avoid the easy condemnations of natural resources and primary products as a source of war and conflict. As Namibian lawyer Inge Zaamwani recently said, “Long after the question of ‘conflict diamonds’ has faded from political or press attention, we will be left to grapple with the challenges of war and peace, justice and injustice, poverty and prosperity, and the complex role that resources of every kind should play in contributing to one another.”

For now and the immediate future, the answer to the poverty and deprivation of many African countries will continue to depend on the proper exploitation and use of the natural resources with which they have been endowed.