(Rapaport…December 12, 2000) Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, at a meeting with Botswana government leaders, pledged U.S. support for the Kimberley process of certification “to make clear which diamonds are legitimate sources of income for economies and which help fuel conflict.” Albright said, following the meeting in Botswana with President Festus Mogae and Foreign Minister Lieutenant-General Mompati Merafh, that the United States understands “the seriousness of it and also the importance of clean diamonds to the economy of Botswana.”
The Botswana representatives expressed their fears that the efforts to stop exports of conflict diamonds might cripple the economies of southern African states like Botswana, Namibia and South Africa – countries that rely heavily on the stability of the legitimate diamond trade.