The struggle for resources has been going on throughout human history. Recent developments, particularly in the diamond trade, show that their bloody legacy is still all too real today. Their appeal and glitter kept aside the precious stones also play a far less appealing role in helping to finance some of the world's bloodiest conflicts. Angola , Sierra Leone , Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, are home to some of the prolonged conflicts, brought about by funding from illicit trade in diamonds. The clandestine illegal trade in diamonds has also been accused of funding international terrorist organizations like the Al Qaeda.

From 1992 to 1998, the UNITA rebel group in Angola , sold billions of dollars worth of diamonds to generate revenues to re-arm themselves. This happened despite a United Nations sponsored peace process. A very worrying pattern emerges across the whole natural resource spectrum. The timber trade in South East Asia includes many similar examples of the role that natural resources play in prolonging conflict and perpetuating poverty (as well as deforestation). During the 1990s the genocidal Khmer Rouge generated US$10-20 million per month from sale of timber alone. A campaign led by Social Action Groups finally saw the Thai government close the land border with Cambodia , cutting off the export route. Within 18 months the conflict was over. More recently, similar illicit trade in timber from the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Liberia is a clear warning signal to the international community that "business as usual" cannot continue to be tolerated when the human and economic cost is so unacceptably high.

There is a lack of "international mechanisms" to address this problem happening in the illegal trade of Natural resources. The fact that Diamond Majors like De Beers were acquiring rough diamonds from armed rebel groups was not known to many people. The general mood was the way in which the diamond companies were behaving responsibly by buying diamonds from armed factions and thus protecting the world diamond markets and also the jobs. The failure to implement peace strategies was mainly due to the unethical way in which diamond buyers bought rough diamonds from these rebel groups. It was but evident that a huge cost in terms of loss of life and destruction was being paid to protect the interests of a certain section of the diamond industry. The UN embargo on trade of unofficial diamonds from Angola did not work out since the companies never stopped buying it from the rebel groups. This lack of support from the International traders undermined the credibility of the UN, prolonged conflict, and in a way exposed the fallacity of the UN sanctions mechanism.

It was not long before International Human rights groups and NGO's joined forces to stop this illicit trade. Under a Mandate by the UN General Assembly, it was decided to try and develop a system to exclude conflict diamonds from the legal market. This would include joint efforts from the Government as well as the business community. The Government would establish controls over the export/import of diamonds, and the business arm of the diamond industry would issue warranties to ensure that the diamonds come from a legitimate source. The diamond industry would also be committed to conducting independent audits of its control systems.