AFP, Luanda | Tuesday
ANGOLA’S government is cracking down on domestic diamond traders, giving small-scale miners 60 days to register their informal businesses and start paying taxes, say government officials.
Authorities want to eliminate the parallel market in diamonds, which provide a major source of government funding.
The latest push is part of a broader government program to boost the economy and increase the government’s tax earnings off the precious stones, said a mines ministry official.
Between August 1999 and May 2000, Angola’s government made $31m off taxes on the diamond industry, compared to only $4m in 1995.
Some small-scale diamond miners, known here as “garimpeiros,” have already formalized their businesses and received government permission to dig for diamonds in the Malanje region, 400km east of Luanda.
But in reality the government has little control over many of Angola’s rich, diamond-producing regions, where the rebel Unita controls the countryside. Unita relies on diamonds to fund its guerrilla war against the government.
In theory, diamond miners may only legally sell the gems to the Angola Selling Corporation (ASCORP), which is the only company authorized to buy the stones and sell them overseas.
Diamond production shot up 26% last year compared to 1998, after the government won control of the Lunda region. In 1999, Angola produced 2.2 million carats in government-held regions.