Money is the fuel of conflict. Without it, there is no way to sustain a military. In many poor countries, the sale of natural resources is the only means of financing an insurgency. In recent years, there has been increasing concern about the sale of illegal stones, "conflict diamonds," which have financed wars in Africa. Efforts to stem that trade made progress recently when governments reached agreement on a regulatory scheme to limit the sale of such diamonds. The success of the program depends on governments and consumers taking their responsibilities seriously.

It is estimated that about 5 percent of the world's rough diamond trade, worth about $420 million, consists of "conflict diamonds." Many, if not most, of these gems come from Angola, and have been used by rebel forces to finance their insurgency against the government there. Guerrilla organizations in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo have also relied on the sale of stones to fund their armies. But marketing the diamonds requires accomplices: Neighboring governments, traders and diamond merchants throughout the world are all complicit in the trade. Shutting it down requires enforcement at every level.

Fortunately, there is now a mechanism for regulating the trade. Growing concern about the deadly effects of conflict diamonds led to a unanimous United Nations General Assembly resolution that called for "urgent and careful consideration to devising effective and pragmatic measures to address the problem of conflict diamonds." A year and half ago, the government of South Africa initiated "the Kimberley Process," to come up with ways to cut off the trade.