(Rapaport…October 13, 2000) As of October 12, the government of Sierra Leone can resume diamond exports after lifting a 3-month ban. The government has begun issuing specially printed certificates and operating an electronic system for monitoring compliance with the UN embargo on the sale of conflict diamonds.
The certificates and the equipment are designed to ensure that no diamonds going to the international market come from mines controlled by the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF).
Earlier in October, the United Nations Sanctions Committee on Sierra Leone agreed to recommend to the Security Council that rough diamonds exported by the Sierra Leone government be exempt from a global embargo imposed in mid-July on Sierra Leone’s diamonds.