Stockpiled diamonds from the Central African Republic are set to be sold when an export ban is lifted, but Amnesty International has said separating conflict diamonds will likely be impossible.
Workers dig in a diamond mine in the Carnot region of CAR.
Amnesty International
Millions of dollars' worth of conflict diamonds could make it on to the world market under new rules allowing the export of stockpiled gems from the Central African Republic, Amnesty International has warned.
Following a coup, the export trade — previously one of the country's major industries — was banned in 2013 under international rules preventing the trade of "conflict" or "blood" diamonds. The bloody internal conflict that followed the coup led to thousands of deaths and saw the forced takeover of several mining regions.
The group of militias, collectively known as Séléka, was ousted the following year and a new interim administration took over — CAR is scheduled to have elections next month. But during the conflict, and the pillaging, killing, raping, and looting by militias following their fall has been linked to an estimated 5,000 deaths and the displacement of tens of thousands of families.
The international ban didn't affect buying or selling of diamonds within CAR, meaning the country's two major buying houses — the only bodies licensed to export diamonds — have stockpiled tens of thousands of carats of diamonds, ready to sell.
Diamond sifting boxes for sale in Berberati, CAR.
Amnesty International
By international agreement, the export ban on diamonds from CAR is in the process of being partially lifted, allowing diamonds from these stockpiles to be sold into the USA, Europe, India, and China — the major markets for diamonds.
However, both U.N. investigators and Amnesty field researchers have concluded that in many cases middlemen for the two diamond houses were unable to ensure their stock had not originated from mines operated directly by militias, or from mines in militia-controlled areas, whose owners were being extorted for proceeds by the violent gangs.
"The main diamond collectors in Berberati, Hassan Ali Fawaz and Bassem
Bahim, told the Panel that they could not give assurances that their diamond
purchases did not benefit armed groups," the U.N. Expert Panel report states.
"Another collector in Berberati, Ahmed Adnan, told the Panel he never visited any mining site to verify the security conditions," it continues.
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