The money gained from the trade in diamonds stayed very much with the ruling political groups in Sierra Leone, with very little actually going to benefit the poorest in society. The increasing sense of unfairness in the country was tapped into by one Foday Sankoh who formed the RUF (Revolutionary United Front), and he started an armed insurrection to overthrow the existing political classes in 1991.

The RUF's tactics were brutal, they would sweep into areas killing all of whom who were not prepared to support them and cutting off the arms or legs of those who offered any form of resistance, whilst also decapitating the heads of community leaders. This included children who were merely crying as they saw their parent's slaughtered.

The insurrection was funded by what were to be known as Blood Diamonds, and by the time it ended in 2002, 50,000 were dead and nearly two million people had been displaced.

Even today many children in Sierra Leone are still coming to terms with being forced to murder their family and friends after being kidnapped and forcibly enlisted into the rebel cause.