(Rapaport…June 12, 2002) Liberian President Charles Taylor has spent more than $150,000 to establish an office that will monitor the flow of conflict diamonds to meet United Nations (UN) demands. The office will be used to collect, monitor and verify funds generated from diamond transactions in Liberia and funds coming into the country from abroad through the Central Bank of Liberia.
The UN has demanded that the Liberian government establishes a central point where diamonds and other minerals leaving the country will be monitored and certificated before exportation. According to Lands and Mines Minister Jenkins Dunbar, the UN Security Council sanctions imposed last year rendered 400,000 Liberians jobless in the mining sector alone.