Crackdown on 'blood' diamonds

[Chris Burford <cburford@xxxxxxxxxx>]

This Guardian report is rather obscure on the financial interests behind
this new policy.

> The diamond industry, afraid of consumer reaction against "blood"
> diamonds, has promised tougher scrutiny but the UN report concludes that
> this is inadequate.

In fact it it in the interests of De Beers to participate in this plan to
maintain its hegemonic control over the diamond trade. Such reforms as
follow are by no means opposed to the principle of monopoly.

It is still progressive.

Chris Burford

London



Crackdown on 'blood' diamonds

African leaders trading gems for arms must be punished, says UN panel

Ewen MacAskill and David Pallister Wednesday December 20, 2000

The United Nations is finally to mount an onslaught on the trade in "blood"
diamonds from Africa, according to a report into the links between gems and
arms leaked to the Guardian.

The uncompromising report recommends a series of punitive measures against
west African countries linked to the civil war in Sierra Leone.

The 58-page report also points a finger of blame at Switzerland, a transit
point for almost half the rough diamonds entering Britain. Switzerland is
listed as "country of origin", even though it produces no diamonds of its own.

The UN panel recommends that a first-ever international embargo on diamonds
should be applied to Sierra Leone's neighbours, Liberia and Gambia.

The panel singles out Charles Taylor, the president of Liberia, saying he
"is actively involved in fuelling the violence in Sierra Leone, and many
businessmen close to his inner circle operate on an international scale,
sourcing their weaponry mainly in eastern Europe".

It adds: "In short, Liberia is actively breaking [UN] security council
embargoes regarding weapons imports into its own territory and into Sierra
Leone. It is being actively assisted by Burkina Faso. It is being tacitly
assisted by all the countries allowing weapons to pass through or over
their territory without question, and by those countries that provide a
base for the aircraft used in such operations."

Additional measures against Mr Taylor include the immediate grounding of
all Liberian-registered flights and a travel ban on him and his inner circle.

Widening the net, the panel proposes giving Guinea and the Ivory Coast six
months to introduce proper certification schemes proving their diamonds are
clean. If they do not, they too will face an international diamond embargo.

The panel also wants increased scrutiny of diamond exports from Uganda, the
Central African Republic, Ghana, Namibia, Congo-Brazzaville, Mali, Zambia
and Burkina Faso.

The report is due to be published in New York tomorrow after being
scrutinised in the UN security council, which will meet again next month to
discuss implementation.

The diamonds and arms trade have long been intertwined in Africa. In March,
Robert Fowler, the Canadian ambassador to the UN, carried out an initial
investigation into diamond smuggling by the Angolan rebel movement Unita,
which led to the naming of individual businessmen involved in illicit trade.

The diamond industry, afraid of consumer reaction against "blood" diamonds,
has promised tougher scrutiny but the UN report concludes that this is
inadequate.

The report estimates that the rebel movement in Sierra Leone, the
Revolutionary United Front, which has gained notoriety for chopping off the
arms and legs of victims, deals each year in diamonds worth between £25m
and £125m, more than enough to sustain its forces.

Ranged against it is the Sierra Leone army supported by a UN force and a
British contingent. The bulk of the RUF diamonds leaves Sierra Leone
through Liberia, the report said. "Such trade cannot be conducted without
the permission and involvement of Liberian government officials at the
highest levels."

The report castigated the failure of the industry world-wide to come up
with a proper method for determining the origin of diamonds and for
tracking their movement. The report found that in 1999 Britain imported
£107m in rough diamonds.

"Of this, Switzerland was recorded as the 'country of origin' for 41% or
£44.2m. Switzerland, as a non-producer of diamonds, could only have been
the country of provenance, importing the diamonds from another country," it
said.

It added: "Those diamonds bound for the UK thus become 'Swiss' simply by
virtue of having passed through a Freilager [free trade area]." The country
of origin is lost.

The panel welcomed the scheme started this year in government-held areas of
Sierra Leone which certified that diamonds were mined in legitimate areas.
But the panel concluded that the scheme has to be extended worldwide.