Twenty-five years after major diamond-producing countries and international companies set up a system to trace where diamonds come from, the district that became synonymous with the trade - Kono in Sierra Leone - is still waiting for what the industry pledged. In Kono, the epicentre of the former 'blood diamond' trade, the industry's promises remain far from being fully realised.

A war funded by diamonds

Sierra Leone's civil war ran from 1991 to 2002 and claimed more than 120,000 lives. Alongside the dead, thousands of civilians were mutilated during the conflict.

The illegal trade in what became known as blood diamonds helped keep the fighting alive:

• •The illicit trade is estimated to have brought in up to $125 million a year
• •Much of that money was used to fund the fighting

A parallel economy and a scandal exposed

Control of Sierra Leone's diamond mines was itself a prize worth killing for. A deadly battle for the mines gave rise to a parallel economy that major international firms supported.

The scandal reached a global audience through cinema. The 2006 film 'Blood Diamond', starring Leonardo DiCaprio, raised public awareness of what had happened.

The Kimberley Process and the image clean-up

The industry's answer began a quarter of a century ago. The Kimberley Process grew out of a series of negotiations in which the major diamond-producing countries and international companies established a system to trace the origin of diamonds, aimed at keeping conflict diamonds off the market.

The industry had been accused of complicity in the conflict. It has since sought to clean up its image, pointing to ethical trade and local development.

Kono today

It is against those claims that Kono is measured. In the district that stood at the centre of the former blood diamond trade, the industry's promises of ethical trade and local development remain far from fully realised.