Luanda | Friday
THE Luanda government said this week it regrets a decision by South African diamond giant De Beers to suspend its activities in Angola over a contractual dispute.
Reacting for the first time to the decision announced by De Beers a week ago, the statement said negotiations had been continuing in a cordial manner and the Angolan government had been working with De Beers towards “a procedural model for the trade in diamonds.”
De Beers said on May 24 it had decided to suspend investments and operations because of new legislation introduced by Angola last year on diamond prospecting and marketing.
De Beers has no operating mines in Angola, but it had embarked on a prospecting programme in partnership with Endiama, Angola’s state diamond company, in August 1996.
“It has reluctantly taken this decision following an impasse in its negotiations with the Angolan government, negotiations that it was hoped would have clarified De Beers’ legal rights in relation to mining and marketing contracts and guarantees for future investments in Angola,” De Beers said.
According to the diamond giant, an Angolan government decree last February suspended its contract with the Endiama and introduced new conditions for operating in the diamond sector.
De Beers said it had tried to renegotiate the terms of its deal with Endiama “in the spirit of the new legislation” but to no avail.
“Unfortunately, 14 months after the decreed suspension of the contracts, no agreement has been reached and, therefore, there are no legal guarantees that underwrite the continued operations and future investment of De Beers in Angola,” the De Beers statement said.
Responding, the Angolan government said it had been negotiating in good faith with De Beers and in a goodwill gesture, it had offered to extend the validity of a mining concession due to expire this year.
The statement acknowledged that Endiama had failed to repay a $50m loan to De Beers, but said the state mining company’s operations had been hampered by the continuing civil war in diamond-producing areas.
The statement affirmed that, under the Angolan constitution, all mineral resources are the property of the state – a veiled warning to De Beers that it could not operate in Angola without the cooperation of Endiama. – AFP
ZA*BUSINESS:
De Beers suspends operations in Angola May 24, 2001
Anglo to pull staff out of Angola March 17, 1999