Leading world diamond producer De Beers is set for an imminent return to the Democratic Republic of Congo, from which it withdrew in 1999 amid concern over the export of so-called ”blood” diamonds, a report said on Wednesday.
The company plans to re-enter the central African country following the signing of a peace deal in April to bring to an end five years of bloody civil war, the group’s managing director Gary Ralfe told the Financial Times.
”As part of our overall growth strategy, we will resume prospecting in the Congo as soon as we can negotiate a re-entry with the authorities,” he told the London-based newspaper.
De Beers pulled out of the country following increasing concerns about the ethics of dealing in diamonds mined from nations wracked by internal conflict.
An international initiative backed by the United Nations called the Kimberley Process, named after the South African diamond mining area, has aimed to eradicate the trade in ”conflict diamonds”.
It is intended to distinguish between legally and illegally-mined diamonds, thus ending the trade in gems extracted by rebel movements or their allies to finance conflict against legitimate governments.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is due to be cleared under the Kimberley Process as a legitimate diamond producer later this month, the FT said.
But despite the swearing-in of a transitional government in the country, French-commanded European Union troops remain deployed under a UN mandate to keep peace and rebels still control large areas.
”The unrest is now confined to the east, not in the diamond producing area of Kasai,” Ralfe told the Financial Times.
”Clearly we want our diamonds to be totally untainted.”
Rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda launched a bid in August 1998 to topple the Kinshasa government of Laurent Kabila, who was assassinated in 2001. – Sapa-AFP