Sean Cohen is urging the diamond industry to clean up its act, but has himself had dubious Angolan dealings
David Le Page A leading South African figure in the international campaign to ban conflict diamonds himself smuggled diamonds out of Angola as recently as three years ago. At the time the source of such diamonds was invariably
Unita, then feverishly rearming in advance of a new insurrection against the MPLA-led government.
Sean Cohen, who has spearheaded the campaign against conflict diamonds both in South Africa and abroad, runs a small diamond business, Rand Diamonds, in Johannesburg. He is also the head of the International Diamond Manufacturers’ Association (IDMA), and one of De Beers’s 17 South African sightholders, or preferred traders. He and Minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka together represented South Africa in Antwerp at the World Diamond Congress last week. The congress approved a nine-point plan for curbing the conflict diamond trade backed by the IDMA and the World Federation of Diamond Bourses.
“The feeling of everybody was that conflict diamonds are not acceptable,” Cohen told the Financial Times of London after the congress. By its own account, his “IDMA is comprised of 10 member organisations, which collectively employ over 800E000 diamond cutters worldwide. The IDMA enjoys a long-standing record of supporting human rights and the dignity of all individuals, regardless of their race, gender or national origin.”
“Conflict diamonds” are diamonds mined or traded by rebel movements opposing legitimate governments. Cohen told the Mail & Guardian this week he imported “six or seven” packets of diamonds from Angola. The last was received on July 8 1997. This he conceded after initially saying the last of his purchases was made in 1995. But he would not produce any of the documentation that would normally have accompanied such trades, saying he did not see the need to do so. A United Nations Security Council resolution (1173) of June 1998 required the Angolan government to develop a certificate of origin scheme for diamonds legitimately being exported from that country. Cohen’s trading preceded the certificate of origin scheme by a year. But at the time he claims to have done business, an invoice from the Angolan state diamond company, Endiama, should still have accompanied any diamonds leaving Angola. Besides running the Angolan state mines, Endiama is also responsible for licensing all independent Angolan diamond buyers.
Alex Yearsley of human rights organisation Global Witness in London on Wednesday confirmed that in 1997 all official exports were done through Endiama, the Angolan state diamond company.
Two sources close to the Diamond Board said on Wednesday that the board had records of Cohen’s imports – the import certificates which he has refused to produce – but that the records appear to be incomplete. The only evidence of origin is a statement saying “Angola”. There is no attached Angolan documentation. Nor is there any confirmation of the Diamond Board estimate of value by the government valuator, a standard check on Angolan imports that was initiated in 1997.
According to a formal statement made by Cohen to the M&G, his company was approached in late 1996 by an Angolan citizen who claimed to be authorised by the Angolan
government to purchase diamonds in Angola. Cohen sent two representatives, whose names are known to the M&G, to Angola to check the value of any diamonds purchased at source. The buyer and Cohen’s representatives operated, the latter intermittently, in Luanda. Each shipment was cleared through South African customs on arrival.
Unknown, but unfortunate, events (by Cohen’s account) then unfolded. Cohen claims he lost money and decided he no longer wanted to do business with the buyer.
He refused to reveal the name of the buyer to the M&G, even when assured it would not be published. He said the buyer had taken great exception to the ending of the business relationship, and that the publication of the buyer’s name would pose a threat to his (Cohen’s) life. “We have no reason to believe that the diamonds were not legally obtained in Angola or that there was any prohibition on our purchasing same,” he said. “At that time [1997], we all believed Angola had a bright future,” he told the M&G. However, by June 12 1997, the UN Security Council was already expressing concern at the “critical situation in the peace process”, and placing restrictions on Unita flights, freezing Unita funds in other countries and halting the sale of mining equipment into any areas not under government control.
Cohen’s is not the only South African company that appears to have been doing business with Unita, directly or indirectly, in 1997. A UN report into sanctions-busting in Angola, released in March, names Johannesburg company De Deckers as having bought large quantities of Unita diamonds – packages worth at least $4-million apiece – and having sold them to De Beers between 1993 and 1997. De Deckers admitted the truth of these reports.
De Beers claimed in 1998 that it had never bought diamonds from Unita. But De Beers’s now total embargo on Angolan diamonds was initiated only in October 1999.
According to Yearsley: “Everyone knew perfectly well Unita diamonds were going through the official process. They would have been bought up by the official buyers, working for De Beers, Maurice Tempelsmen, Steinmetz. They would have their buying licence from Endiama.” Cohen is close to De Beers, meeting regularly with key personnel and having been one of a few local recipients of a Millennium Diamond Box – specially branded diamonds sold at a premium last year. He is said to have recently made a $1- million profit on a blue diamond sold discounted to him by De Beers.
Cohen on Wednesday afternoon referred all further questions to his attorney, Michael Krawitz, who made no reply to telephonic and faxed enquiries.