(RAPAPORT…MARCH 29 2000) According to Reuters, De Beers launched its latest trade sale on Monday, guaranteeing for the first time that its diamonds are “rebel free.” De Beers Central Selling Organization supplies 70 percent of the world’s rough supply and fears a world boycott based on allegations that diamonds are funding wars in Africa.
A March 16, United Nations Report implicates two African Presidents and a dozen countries as helping Angola’s UNITA rebels smuggle diamonds to buy arms and oil to fund their 25 year civil war. “We have to continue to give consumers the confidence that the diamonds they are buying are not funding conflict,” said CSO director Mike Farmilow.