The toy seller, in this case, had syringes, which they usually do, next door to the diggers, which is obviously what you would expect.

MONUC also followed up on the arrests of some 26 street children in Mbuji Mayi on 19 January, after authorities ordered a clean up following renewed tensions between diamond diggers and street youths.

An older technology features vast strip mines, huge diggers, and trucks carting oily dirt to industrial scale pressure cookers that drain off the bitumen. A newer technology leaves the surface untouched by pumping steam into the subsoil.

And finally, I had received a document that I had accomplished my apprenticeship successfully, that I had behaved morally, and this document was given to me by the Guild of Roof Coverers, Rail Diggers, Oven Setters, Chimney Sweeps and Potters.

Such an arrangement would have negative consequences for market competition, deny diggers a fair price for their goods and, ultimately, encourage the smuggling of diamonds to more favourable markets in neighbouring countries, thus undermining the credibility of Kimberley Process certification schemes in those countries.

The Panel has received reports from UNMIL that clashes between rival groups of diggers armed with machetes have occurred close to the border with Sierra Leone. The Panel is concerned that as the stakes rise in mining areas, individuals may resort to the use of small arms to resolve disputes.