(Rapaport…November 8, 2002) Former members of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) are back at work mining diamonds and selling them outside of the official system, according to a report in the Mail & Guardian of Johannesburg.
Diamond digging is going on around Capembe, one of two areas in southeast Angola housing former UNITA fighters and their families as part of the peace agreement that ended the civil war.
All Angolan diamonds are supposed to be sold through the Angola Selling Corporation (ASCORP). And the Kimberley Process rough diamond certification plan will take effect in January. Whether the former rebels know or care is another matter.
“If someone comes along, they will sell, but there is no marketing system,” said Colonel Raul de Almeida, the UNITA officer in charge of Capembe.