Please write three pages per question. 1. Briefly discuss how consumers, diamond companies, manufacturers of electronic devices, mercenaries, rebel groups and corrupt politicians have been linked...

Violent conflicts in Africa & Counterfeit products
    Violent conflicts in Africa & Counterfeit products
    2018
                
[Violent conflicts in Africa & Counterfeit products]
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Briefly discuss how consumers, diamond companies, manufacturers of electronic devices, mercenaries, rebel groups and corrupt politicians have been linked together in support of extremely violent conflicts in African countries.
The diamond companies, manufacturers of the electronic devices, mercenary’s rebel groups along with the corrupt politicians have resulted in the violent attacks and constant wars (Martin, 2015). Not only it accounted for the 400 million people death, but it also resulted in the loss of diamonds trades and other valuable commodities. It is due to the smuggling or selling it in the illicit market. Due to conflicts and violent wars during the 1980’s it resulted in the peace agreement between the countries of DRC & Sierra Leone and also allowed the Kimberley process wherein the diamond merchants were allowed to trade legally with the certification and warranty, The corrupt politicians allowed the foreign investments in such areas and steps were taken for the peace restorations. Consumers along with politicians and diamond merchants demanded changes in the trade process.
How have the illicit markets for diamonds and precious metals led to massive amounts of human misery and destruction in those countries?
The illicit markets for the diamonds and various other precious metals have led to massive human misery and destruction in the West Africa (Kiggundu, 2016). Over the several years, the African countries have been dealing with the issues of the devastating wars and the brutal conflicts. This is due to the natural mineral and the timber wealth. The precious metals and the diamonds illicit markets lead to the Democratic Republic Congo's bloody civil war with the Sierra Leone, resulting in four million reported deaths. Also, it resulted in the bloody insurgency terror by ensuring to hack off the limbs of the innocent civilians of Sierra Leone.
The civilians, business people, and the various illicit traders wrecked destruction the continent and its commodities creating conflicts and war (Ogada, 2016). The war was in between the Congo Democratic with Sierra Leone during 1980's. The reason was to control the oil, timber, coltan and the cassiterite and to trade them by the rebel armies. As of now, there have been peace agreements and the diamonds business men's remain tightly safeguarded. The corrupt politicians are more engaged with the foreign investment in such places. The consumers and the diamond merchants believe that there would be some changes in the trade agreements. To ensure the quality, the diamond merchants have also started with the certification and warranty. Even though there have been peace agreements, still there have been cases of smuggling resulting in heavy losses for the trades and the companies (Omaiye, 2016). There are still wars in the areas of the DRC and it is considered to be violent unrest area. In the northern rebel, for example, it was reported a worth $ 23 million diamonds smuggling which was traded in the other zones such as Zimbabwe or Congolese. The diamond industry is estimated at $ 60 billion a year and $ 15 million is worth the blood diamonds in the form of conflicts, wars and smuggling which has devastated the West Africa (Söderbaum,, 2017).
In your opinion, how effective would consumer boycotts be in reducing the violence associated with these markets?
If the consumers boycott the diamonds purchase and such precious metals, it would result in the low demand which would subsequently result in low conflicts, smuggling and wars for such metals (Prudham, 2016). The industries or the business exists due to the constant customer demands and needs. The industries and the business need to abide by the customer satisfaction, tastes, preferences, and requirements. They need to inculcate the...