THE United States has joined an international crackdown on the trade in smuggled diamonds that is funding rebel conflicts in Sierra Leone and several other African countries. The Security Council House Appropriations subcommittee voted to require U.S. customs to enforce a ban on the in diamonds from Liberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, and Sierra Leone – other than diamonds from Sierra Leone that carry a government certificate of origin. Sierra Leone’s government has pressed for the ban which it says would reduce arms supplies to rebel forces. Trade in rough diamonds also is being blamed for fuelling conflicts in the Congo, Angola and other African countries. – Reuters