November 30, 2006—Torture, mutilation, civil war, and slavery. For many African nations, diamonds are not a luxury item but a harbinger of violence and death.

For years rebel groups have maintained a harsh grip over many of Africa's diamond deposits, forcing local residents to toil all day in the mines. Proceeds from these "blood diamonds" or "conflict diamonds" are used to buy weapons and fund deadly insurgencies and campaigns of terror.

Take a trip to the fields of Sierra Leone, where diamond smuggling is big business even after the end of a ten-year war, and join officials as they struggle to keep illegal stones from making their way onto the global market.