Blood diamonds (also called
conflict diamonds,
converted diamonds,
hot diamonds, or
war diamonds) is a term used for a
diamond mined in a war zone and sold to finance an
insurgency, an invading army's war efforts, or a
warlord's activity. The term is used to highlight the negative consequences of the diamond trade in certain areas, or to label an individual diamond as having come from such an area. Diamonds mined during the recent civil wars in
Angola,
Ivory Coast,
Sierra Leone, and other nations have been given the label. The term
conflict resource refers to analogous situations involving other natural resources.