That was mega producer, artist and entreprenur Akon in a 2007 interview with The Independent. Since then, the Senegalese-American star has become enlightened concerning the issue of “blood” or “conflict” diamonds, which refers to diamonds mined in war-torn countries that are used to finance civil wars.
“I had to retract my answer because I thought about it and it’s absolutely right that anything of value is always going to be a conflict. People are going to fight over it; governments are going to war and spend billions of dollars trying to own it because it gives them power,” he says.
With his newfound social awareness, Akon understands that mining companies are somewhat powerless in preventing all instances of blood diamonds but that he does take proactive measures with his own South African diamond mine to limit such occurrences.
“It’s never going to be 100 percent legitimate because when you’re dealing with an environment that big in the forest and you got thousands of workers, and 7 to 10 security guards watching those many people, you’re not going to catch everybody. We have to be careful how we distribute it and make sure that [we’re] making it properly, certified, go[ing] through all the systems, and mak[ing] sure [we] team up with the most proper and legitimate corporations to be able to sell the diamond,” he says.
One necessary evil that Akon does know he has the power to change is the economic exploitation of Africa when it comes to its natural resources, which is why his company aims to make a difference by giving back to the motherland.
“Africa as a whole isn’t profiting from it as it should and that was one of the main reasons that I wanted to be part of the diamond trades in Africa. Percentages from the diamonds sold from our company go right back into rebuilding Africa, and that’s what I’m trying to initialize through all the other diamond companies. The natural resources that’s coming from that country should be able to go back into that country to help rebuild it.”
Outside of overseeing his diamond mine company Akon is hard at work on his new album, Stadium, which is scheduled to arrive in stores this fall. –souleo
