(Rapaport…October 25, 2004) Unorganized miners from the Republic Of the Congo (ROC) will continue exporting diamonds through the neighboring Central African Republic (CAR) despite the Kimberley Process ban on the country’s diamond exports, said Louis Marie Djama, the head adviser to the ROC’s ministry of mines, Reuters reported.
The report quoted Djama as saying that the miners neither understand what blood diamonds are, nor do they care about the Kimberley Process.
“They still have to live so they will still keep on exporting through CAR”, said Djama.
The Kimberley Process is an international certification scheme to prevent the trade of “blood diamonds” that fuel wars in Africa.
Djama urged other African countries to play their part in regulating the trade, saying that the CAR had the largest role to play.
Following a complaint from the Democratic Republic of Congo that the ROC, which neighbors it, was exporting conflict diamonds, the Kimberley Process suspended the ROC in July, saying it could not account for the origin of the large quantity of diamonds it was exporting.
(The Reuters report appeared on the website of India’ Economic Times on Monday October 25.)