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Note: This document is from the archive of the Africa Policy E-Journal, published
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Africa: Conflict Diamonds, 1
Africa: Conflict Diamonds, 1
Date distributed (ymd): 011130
Document reposted by APIC
Africa Policy Electronic Distribution List: an information
service provided by AFRICA ACTION (incorporating the Africa
Policy Information Center, The Africa Fund, and the American
Committee on Africa). Find more information for action for
Africa at http://www.africapolicy.org
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: Continent-Wide
Issue Areas: +economy/development+ +security/peace+
SUMMARY CONTENTS:
This week and last, in Gaborone and Washington, campaigners for
tighter control over "conflict diamonds" gained ground with an
agreement in the multilateral Kimberley Process, to be presented to
the UN later this year, and with passage of the compromise Clean
Diamonds Trade Act in the US House of Representatives. Activists
stress, however, that there are still many gaps which can only be
filled if there is strong government action over the next year.
This set of two postings contains a selection of relevant
background documents and links. In this posting, reports and
statements from the UN's Integrated Regional Information Network
(IRIN), Physicians for Human Rights, the Fatal Transactions
Campaign, and Partnership Africa Canada. Another posting today
contains additional links on conflict diamonds, and an IRIN summary
of the latest monitoring report on sanctions in Angola.
+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
UN Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)
AFRICA: Tentative agreement reached to stop trade in "conflict
diamonds"
IRIN-SA, Tel: +27 11 880-4633; Fax: +27 11 447-5472; Email:
IRIN-SA@irin.org.za
[This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's
IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect
the views of the United Nations. For further information, contact
e-mail: IRIN@ocha.unon.org or Web: http://www.irinnews.org . If you
re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this
credit and disclaimer.]
JOHANNESBURG, 29 November (IRIN) - Delegates attending talks on
"conflict diamond" in Gaborone, Botswana have reached a tentative
agreement to help stem the trade in the illegal gems that are
fuelling conflicts in countries like Angola, Sierra Leone and the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
Alex Yearsley from the campaign group Global Witness who is
attending the discussions told IRIN: "We have almost reached a
final agreement, and we will be ready to present it to the United
Nations in December for a resolution to be tabled in the General
Assembly."
The UN has defined "conflict diamonds" as "diamonds that originate
from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate
and internationally recognised governments, and are used to fund
military action in opposition to those governments".
Yearsley said that although Global Witness was not "fully
satisfied" with the agreement, the organisation was however
"greatly encouraged". He said that issues surrounding the
monitoring and evaluation of a certification scheme still needed to
be "worked on".
"There are also still some issues surrounding WTO (World Trade
Organisation) compatibility as some countries are not completely
happy with this part of the agreement," Yearsley said.
Diplomatic sources told IRIN that it was important to recognise the
progress that had been made in the last 18 months. "The terrain
that has been covered is impressive," one western diplomat said.
The Gaborone meeting is part of the Kimberley Process aimed at
developing a system to prevent conflict diamonds from making their
way on to the open market.
Meanwhile, news reports said that the US Congress had on Wednesday
approved a bill to prevent the sale of conflict diamonds. Reports
said that a companion bill has been introduced in the Senate and
was also expected to pass.
Under the bill, the US president would have the authority to
sanction countries that refused to adopt a system for tracking
diamonds to ensure they were from legitimate sources. The
legislation effectively makes the United States the first country
to regulate the diamond industry.
Reports said that once enacted the law would go into affect
immediately and included an estimated US $10 million over two years
to help poor countries set up certification systems.
Statement of Physicians for Human Rights
on Conflict Diamonds Legislation
November 26, 2001
http://www.phrusa.org
The Clean Diamonds Trade Act that is expected to be passed by the
House of Representatives this evening is a compromise negotiated
between Congress and the executive branch. Physicians for Human
Rights, while noting that this measure is considerably weaker than
the bill HR2722 that our organization has endorsed, welcomes the
passage of this legislation as a bridge to the enactment of diamond
control regimen negotiated by the Kimberley Process. Once this
legislation is enacted into law, the United States can proudly
claim to be the first country in the world to have put in place
diamond import controls that are linked to an international regimen
to exclude conflict diamonds from the legitimate trade. Physicians
for Human Rights appreciates the diligence and commitment of the
bill's chief sponsors, Rep. Tony Hall, Rep. Frank Wolf, Rep. Amo
Houghton, Rep. Charley Rangel, and Rep. Cynthia McKinney, and
expresses its thanks as well to the Republican and Democratic
leadership of the House of Representatives for bringing this
measure to the floor before adjournment. ...
The United States is legally bound to implement UN Security Council
Resolutions that prohibit the importation of diamonds from
rebel-controlled Sierra Leone, rebel-controlled Angola, and
Liberia. But such international embargoes are impossible to
implement absent a coordinated international control regimen. The
Kimberley system of rough diamond controls that is in its final
stages of negotiations is a system whereby countries agree to adopt
standardized packaging and import/export controls on diamonds, and
agree only to trade with countries that have themselves adopted the
standardized controls. This clean and closed trading system is the
only way that blood diamonds can be squeezed out of the legitimate
trade.
The compromise Clean Diamonds Trade Act that is expected to be
enacted this evening contains a number of welcome features that
will help push the Kimberley Process to completion and encourage
the United States and other governments to put in place its
requirements at the earliest possible date. In this regard we note
that the new bill includes a large degree of presidential
discretion. It is our hope and expectation that the Congress's
interest in stopping the flow of blood diamonds to the United
States will be matched by the Bush Administration. The waiver and
exclusion authority contained in the bill are meant to protect the
United States against challenges at the WTO, not to provide a safe
harbor for conflict diamonds.
Africans have long been at risk from conflict diamonds. Now that
the linkage between blood diamonds and bin Laden has been exposed,
Americans are also at risk. With the passage of HR2722 the Bush
Administration will have the tools in hand to take strong action at
home and support a strong international regimen to end the trade in
conflict diamonds.
PRESS RELEASE
22 November 2001
World-wide diamond certificate out of reach ....
governments should practice what they preach.
Fatal Transactions, c/o NIZA, PO Box 10707, 1001 ES Amsterdam The
Netherlands, phone: +31-20-520.6210; fax: +31-20-520.6249; email:
ft@niza.nl; http://www.niza.nl/fataltransactions
Fatal Transactions consists of five non-profit organisations:
Global Witness in the UK, Medico in Germany, Intermon in Spain,
and Novib and NiZA in the Netherlands.
The establishment of a world-wide agreement against conflict
diamonds is in serious need of some cardiac massage, concludes the
Fatal Transaction campaign against conflict diamonds. Ministers of
diamond producing and importing countries and the European
Commission were supposed to ratify an agreement on certification
of diamonds, on November 29 2001 in Gaborone, the capital of
Botswana. But the latest situation suggests that hardly any
ministers will be present. For two years negotiations have been
taken place between governments, the diamond industry and NGOs to
stop the fuelling of armed conflict through sale of blood
diamonds. Now that the end is in sight various governments are
watering down the agreement, which is now simply a list of
recommendations. Although there is a broad consensus to stop the
trade in conflict diamonds, governments prepare for some last
minute opt-outs.
'Governments should practice what they preach and not leave the
responsibility to stop armed conflicts with diamond jewellery
buying consumers' says Judith Sargentini, co-ordinator of the
Fatal Transaction campaign against conflict diamonds. The
terrorist attacks on New York have shown that the world is small,
but Africa is still too far away for western countries to reach
out. NGOs demand that governments set aside their differences,
demonstrate their solidarity with the people in Angola, DRC and
Sierra Leone and agree in Gaborone to a world-wide certifications
scheme of diamonds.
The governments taking part in this so-called Kimberley Process
will again send their diplomats for a new game of scrabble, but
ministers will not fly in when the outcome is not of substance.
This game can go on for years, to the cost of thousands of
innocent Africans. The European Commission, that planned to send
Commissioner Lamy or Patten, will keep its hotshots on ice and
will await the outcome of the two days negotiations. It is vital
that the USA government reviews its problems with the issuing of
re-export certificates of unpolished diamonds leaving the USA, as
well as with the cost and the paperwork for an international
secretariat monitoring the implementation of such regulations.
The General Assembly of the UN, 56th session, taking place in
December, awaits a proposal for world wide certification scheme
for diamonds. Chances are that the meeting will end up where it
started: everyone seeing the need to stop civil wars and armed
conflicts in Angola, Congo and Sierra Leone, but exporting and
importing countries being afraid of their market position, leaving
the African people to suffer.
Other Facets News and Views on the International Effort to End
Conflict Diamonds
Number 3 October 2001
[Other Facets, a periodic newsletter about the international effort
to end diamond-related conflict, is a joint publication of
Partnership Africa Canada (Ottawa), the International Peace
Information Service (Antwerp) and the Network Movement for Justice
and Development (Freetown). Views expressed in Other Facets are
those of the authors and editorial staff alone.
For more information: Partnership Africa Canada, 323 Chapel St.,
Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 7Z2, Canada;
e-mail:
hsda@partnershipafricacanada.org,
http://www.partnershipafricacanada.org
CONFLICT DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER?
Major NGO Disappointment with Kimberley Process 'Clearer than Seals
and the Fur Trade'
Representatives of 32 governments, along with industry and NGO
representatives, met in London during the week of September 10 to
continue discussions on a global certification scheme for rough
diamonds. This was the eighth meeting in the 'Kimberley Process',
which began 16 months earlier at the initiative of the Government
of South Africa. According to the final communiqu‚, the London
meeting successfully reached agreement in principle on a wide range
of contentious issues: the creation of an international data base
on production and trade in rough diamonds; effective enforcement of
the provisions of the certification scheme, including credible
monitoring and oversight; industry self-regulation; information
sharing, and a wide range of other issues long debated by those
demanding an end to conflict diamonds.
'What was actually agreed at the London meeting, however, is
slightly different,' says Ian Smillie, Research Coordinator for
Partnership Africa Canada. 'There was general agreement on the need
for re-export certificates, for independent international
monitoring of national control mechanisms, and for an international
data base. This seems like a step forward, but apart from
"agreement in principle" on these topics and most others, there was
lengthy debate about virtually every detail. In the end, there were
actually more words, phrases and sentences left in brackets than
before the meeting. In fact a lot of what was agreed in principle
was agreed in principle more than a year ago, and was debated all
over again in London.'
More than 180 NGOs in 40 countries, led by the London-based
ActionAid, signed a petition in advance of the meeting saying that
self-regulation of the proposed certification system would not be
credible or acceptable. All references to external monitoring of
national systems and the proposed industry chain of warranties,
however, were either bracketed or removed from the negotiating
text. 'Everyone in this process submitted their views, in writing,
before the London meeting,' says Smillie. 'We then debated much of
the proposed document in plenary, we broke into groups to
consolidate the discussions, and then we went back into plenary
where it was all opened up again. It is now proposed that we go
through exactly the same process for the next meeting in Luanda at
the end of October.'
Several key issues were not discussed at the meeting, including the
authority under which a certification scheme would operate. In
addition, the EU raised an unexpected obstacle on the last
afternoon of the meeting, saying that national controls in and
between EU member states would violate EU legislation on open
borders. 'There are many government officials and industry
representatives working in good faith at these meetings,' says
Smillie, 'but for others, the Kimberley Process is a series of dry
abstractions, to be addressed with no sense of urgency or
compassion. They do not seem to appreciate that we are dealing with
the lives of innocent people in Africa, and in so doing, we may
actually save an industry that has been invaded by thieves,
warlords and killers.
'I say may,' Smillie continued, 'because you have to remember that
for those NGOs in search of an issue, diamonds are almost
heaven-sent. Their connection to three brutal wars is clear. The
industry, dominated by one big company, is not regulated in any
meaningful way. It epitomizes the globalization problem that has so
exercised young people on the streets of Seattle, Prague and Genoa.
It is a much clearer issue than seals and the fur trade.'
The Kimberley Process was mandated by the United Nations General
Assembly to develop a 'simple and workable' international
certification system for rough diamonds, creating minimum standards
for producing, exporting and importing states, including
transparent measures for ensuring compliance. Two further meetings
will be held before the participants in the process are expected to
report back to the General Assembly in December.
Destabilizing Guinea:
Report Connects Taylor, Cross Border Attacks and Diamonds
A new report, published in October by the Diamonds and Human
Security Project, makes a direct link between murderous
cross-border attacks into Guinea in 2000 and 2001 by Sierra Leone's
Revolutionary United Front, and Liberian President Charles Taylor's
expansionist economic ambitions. The report, entitled
'Destabilizing Guinea: Diamonds, Charles Taylor and the Potential
for Wider Humanitarian Catastrophe' was written by Lansana Gberie,
Project Research Associate, after two trips to Guinea earlier this
year. The report traces the development of Guinea's diamond
industry from the first discoveries in the 1930s to the development
of an export certification scheme earlier this year. It focuses,
however, on the reasons behind the devastating RUF attacks into
Guinea's forest region, which resulted in major loss of life and
human dislocation, and serious damage to the region's
infrastructure. The author says that Guinea's conflict, like the
apparently waning conflict in Sierra Leone, is largely over
resources - a rapacious and mercenary campaign for wealth. Because
of their small size and high value, diamonds figured prominently in
RUF thinking, and that of their Liberian mentors. They had hoped
for a repeat of what they had accomplished earlier in Sierra Leone.
This reality has been largely overlooked by analysts because,
unlike the case in Sierra Leone, diamonds have historically not
been a major factor in either the Guinean economy or Guinean
politics. Guinean diamonds, however, are real, and they are a
significant magnet for others.
The report is available on the website of Partnership Africa
Canada:
http://www.partnershipafricacanada.org (click on resources
and follow the links). Hard copies may be ordered for US$5.00 from
Partnership Africa Canada, 323 Chapel St., Ottawa, Ontario, K1N
7Z2, Canada. Discount available for bulk orders.
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by
Africa Action (incorporating the Africa Policy Information
Center, The Africa Fund, and the American Committee on Africa).
Africa Action's information services provide accessible
information and analysis in order to promote U.S. and
international policies toward Africa that advance economic,
political and social justice and the full spectrum of human rights.
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