AFP, Windhoek | Wednesday
OFFICIALS from the world’s biggest diamond producing countries met in Windhoek to find ways of curbing the trade in conflict gems, but their two-day conference got off to a false start with Sierra Leone and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) failing to attend.
The Namibian director of mines, Kennedy Hamutenya, played down the absence of the DRC and Sierra Leone, both ravaged by diamond-fuelled wars, saying the two countries supported efforts to combat the trade in “blood diamonds.”
Officials from Angola, Botswana, Belgium, Russia, Israel, India, Canada and Australia, Namibia, Britain and the United States are expected to finalise proposals on how to halt the illicit trade, the newspaper said.
Their proposals will be forwarded to a special ministers’ meeting in Pretoria from September 19 to 21 where mining ministers are expected to announce practical measures to stop the trade in war gems.
Preparatory meetings similar to the two-day gathering in Windhoek have in recent months been held in South Africa, Botswana, Angola and Britain.
Hamutenya said countries in southern Africa had taken the initiative to address the problem as their economies relied heavily on diamonds and “conflict diamonds” threatened to harm their trade.
“Claims that diamonds from war-ravaged countries in the region, Angola and DRC, are being used to fuel and sustain conflicts threaten to harm the diamond trade in the entire southern Africa.”
“We have decided to address the issue before it gets out of hand.”
He said the countries was planning “practical measures to minimise trade in ‘conflict diamonds'”, but added: “We cannot completely eradicate the trade.”