Creating local control points would be a more efficient method

Antwerp, 7 June 2000 — Yesterday, the British Minister of Foreign Affairs Cook proposed to impose an embargo on diamonds from regions in Sierra Leone controlled by the RUF. The Diamond High Council will (HRD) follow every international rule but it does see more efficient solutions. An embargo will be extremely hard to control in Sierra Leone and does not solve the problem in a structural way.

The Diamond High Council takes note of the proposition the British Minister of Foreign Affairs made, to impose an international embargo on diamonds from regions controlled by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). If the United Nations, in following of an embargo on the UNITA in Angola, proclaims an embargo, the HRD will act strictly to the rule, just as in Angola.

Such an embargo will have almost no effect on the diamond market in Antwerp since the trade with Sierra Leone has almost entirely ended quite some time ago. Even if the supposed transit channel Liberia is taken into account, the import is still negligible.

	1997		1998		1999
Sierra Leone	803.000	0.5%	770.000	0.5%	183.000	0.1
Liberia	5.803.000	4.0%	2.558.000	1.9%	1.753.000	1.2%
Total import	143.379.000		133.717.000		149.688.000

(import rough diamond in Antwerp in carat)

The numbers of 2000 illustrate that the import from Sierra Leone decreases with another 350% this year; Liberia falls back to less than half of the amount compared to 1999. Together, they represent no more than 0.5%.

The decrease of those numbers can be attributed to anticipating measures that HRD took regarding diamonds from conflict areas. Since last year additional control mechanisms were created in agreement with the government of Angola. Early in April this year, HRD held conversations with the Ambassador of Sierra Leone. A Belgian delegation was supposed to leave for Freetown at the beginning of May but, due to the circumstances, that trip was postponed.

Imposing an embargo has the advantage that it offers a legal framework that applies for all market players. At present, there is no limitation whatsoever to the trade with Sierra Leone. Because of strict controls in Antwerp, the trade shifts to other centres. In this way, an embargo can be a step ahead. On the other hand, an embargo is no real solution for the problem. In practice, it will be very difficult to maintain, considering the local circumstances. Moreover, it risks harming the one that is to be protected by depriving the legitimate government of the revenues from the diamond trade.

That is why the HRD is a proponent of another solution, as included in its Strategic Plan (www.conflictdiamonds.com). That sees to the creation of a local Diamond Office centralising all export transactions by local governments. The local market has to be thoroughly organised. HRD is prepared to put its know-how and means at disposal. The agreements must be made on a bilateral basis, with respect for the local authorities. That already happened with Angola. The system must now be further extended to other African conflict areas.

HRD again confirms its commitment to attribute to the solution of the African conflicts. The means, however, have to be selected in a pragmatic and proportional way.