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Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/06/29/international1421EDT0643.DTL
Hizballah Extorting Funds from West Africa's Diamond Merchants
(AP/San Francisco Chronicle) Edward Harris - Lebanon's Hizballah terrorist movement is siphoning profits from West Africa's diamond trade, in part by threatening Lebanese diamond merchants, U.S. diplomats charge. Larry Andre, deputy chief of mission for the U.S. Embassy in diamond-rich Sierra Leone, citing interviews by embassy staff with Lebanese merchants, said, "There's a lot of social pressure and extortionate pressure brought to bear: 'You had better support our cause, or we'll visit your people back home.'" More than 100,000 Lebanese live in West Africa, where they have long handled much of the diamond business.