Ivor Powell As the world gears up to ban diamonds from conflict zones, the Canadian government is being accused of manipulating a United Nations humanitarian campaign against Africa’s so-called “blood diamonds” to the benefit of its own fledgling industry. The UN’s report, published earlier this year, was initiated and headed by Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, Robert Fowler. The report was produced at a time when production was coming on line in Canada’s Northwest Territories that would give it 15% of the world’s diamond market by 2004. While Fowler tirelessly campaigns against Africa’s conflict diamonds, Canada’s industry promotes itself on the basis of the purity of its product, recently introducing microscopic laser-etchings of polar bears to certify their diamonds. “We want to assure people that Northwest Territories diamonds are genuine conflict-free diamonds – that no one got his arm chopped off for these gems,” said Canadian Minister of Resources Joseph Handley. Fowler, pushing for tightened sanctions, routinely drums up support for his view by warning against the danger for the international diamond business that conflict diamonds pose. On several occasions Fowler has drawn parallels with the Canadian fur industry, which suffered disastrous losses after environmentalists successfully campaigned to cast the business in colours of blood and barbarism. An article published last week in the prestigious Boston Globe newspaper suggests the Canadian industry is reacting out of alarm at the danger that diamonds will become increasingly linked in the public mind to the hideous atrocities of rampaging rebel groups. In a more overt vein, the authoritative New Century Net website notes that the UN Security Council’s only significant initiative over the past year with regard to the 25-year civil war in Angola was to launch a million-dollar study to assess how diamonds were fuelling the Unita rebels. As head of the UN Security Council’s Angola sanctions committee, Fowler is currently spearheading proposals to close legal loopholes in the trade in blood diamonds by creating an international diamond council to certify that only diamonds free of the “blood” taint are traded on international markets. The certification will involve accrediting countries as legitimate dealers and the sealing of diamond packages before being transported to trading centres in Europe. Fowler’s proposals have the backing of South Africa’s diamond mining giant De Beers, which controls 60% of the world trade, as well as the industry’s leading international associations. Among other benefits to De Beers would be that tightening controls would allow for more effective control over diamond prices. Earlier this month De Beers announced a major investment in the recent diamond finds in Canada. The accreditation initiative follows the publication of a damning UN report under Fowler’s name on the ways in which the Angolan rebel movement Unita has funded its war against the country’s MPLA government through diamonds-for-arms deals. Subsequently the UN campaign has widened to spotlight the Revolutionary Armed Front and its Liberian allies in turning Sierra Leone’s mineral wealth into war. Despite international sanctions already in place, Unita continues to move $150-million in rough diamonds per year. The total trade in rough diamonds worldwide stands at around $7-billion, with the cut and polished gems generating more than $75-billion.