Industry closer to curbing 'blood diamonds'

2001-11-01 22:06

Colin McClelland

Luanda - The diamond industry edged closer on Thursday to agreeing ways to curb illegal exports of so-called "blood diamonds" from war-torn Africa but reservations by the United States still hung over a possible deal.

Officials and industry experts from 25 countries ended their latest round of talks known as the Kimberley Process in the Angolan capital Luanda with broad agreement on a certification scheme to ensure that exported diamonds carried proof that they came from legitimate mines.

Under the proposed scheme, certificates to verify the origin of each package's contents would accompany each shipment of stones, with additional certificates from each country traversed, delegates said.

But the United States - the world's biggest jewellery market - raised concerns that the proposed certificates could be incompatible with World Trade Organisation rules.

"The question is whether this sets up a closed system and if a country which did not issue a certificate would not be able to import or export," an official US delegate told Reuters.

The United States does not have existing control and certificate schemes for its commodities like in Belgium or Switzerland which similarly don't produce diamonds but are important gem markets.

"So what is being asked of us is a little bit harder," the delegate said. It may take longer, he added.

The United States imports about 10% of the global rough diamond trade or about $700 million worth. It exports about a third of those, equal to $210 million.

"We intend to comply with the fundamental obligations to adopt systems of control designed to eliminate conflict diamonds from the trade," the US delegate said.

The Kimberley Process is a diamond industry attempt to stem the trade in illicit diamonds that fuel the war chests of rebels in gem-rich countries such as Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sierra Leone.

The industry fears a potential consumer backlash against diamonds if they become associated with funding rebel movements that fan destructive wars across the world's poorest continent.

There was agreement on "the precise content of the certificate to accompany shipments of rough diamonds, which lies at the heart of the scheme", said a statement released at the end of the three-day conference said.

The industry also agreed on "a range of internal controls to give effect to the international certification scheme as well as on detailed provisions on co-operation and transparency".

The next meeting of the Kimberley process will be in the southern African state of Botswana, the world's biggest diamond producer, on November 26.

A formal certification scheme will be presented to the United Nations in December.

- Reuters