EVELYN LEOPOLD, United Nations | Tuesday
INTERNATIONAL diamond dealers are still trading freely with Angolan rebels, whose officials are functioning freely in a number of countries despite sanctions and a ”name and shame” report, says a UN report.
The report, from a panel appointed by the Security Council’s Angola sanctions committee, was the first update since last March on enforcing UN diamond, arms, financial and travel sanctions against Angola’s Unita rebels.
Unita is blamed for continuing the southwest African country’s war and breaking several peace agreements.
”It is clear that international dealers are still prepared to flout sanctions and buy diamonds from Unita, and that it is very difficult, even for those countries with the will to prevent diamond smuggling given that the system of controls on the sales on diamonds is not yet in place,” the panel said.
A March report by the committee alleged that two African presidents, Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo and Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso, had helped Unita leader Jonas Savimbi use their countries for contraband deals.
Rwanda and Uganda were also said to have allowed illicit gem traders to user their territory for deals or allow aircraft with arms shipments to refuel. The report also accused Belgium of allowing the gems to be sold to diamond traders and polishers in its Antwerp market with little difficulty.
All countries involved have denied the allegations and Belgium has set up wide-ranging measures to enforce the sanctions over the past nine months.
The new interim report from the panel, led by Chile’s former UN ambassador Juan Larrain, said Rwanda, Uganda and Burkina Faso had no diamond control mechanism but Togo had issued an executive order banning such transactions.
The report said it was developing profiles of arms dealers, air transport companies as well as insurance firms underwriting planes suspected of violating sanctions.
The rebel diamond trade is estimated to have brought the group some $4bn since 1992. – Reuters