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The Central African Republic (CAR) sought to convince the regulatory body for global diamond trading to lift all restrictions against it, ending an export embargo in place for over a decade. The Kimberley Process (KP) regulatory body opened its plenary assembly under the presidency of the United Arab Emirates.
The Central African Republic (CAR) sought to convince the regulatory body for global diamond trading to lift all restrictions against it, ending an export embargo in place for over a decade. The Kimberley Process (KP) regulatory body opened its plenary assembly under the presidency of the United Arab Emirates.
The CAR wants a total lifting of the embargo imposed since a political and military crisis sparked civil war in 2013, after decades of violence, instability and coups. Mines and Geology Minister Rufin Benam Beltoungou highlighted at the opening session his government’s efforts towards the return of peace and meeting the criteria for the lifting of the embargo.KP experts visited the CAR in September and the conditions (for lifting the embargo) are now met since, now the security problem no longer arises, says the minister. In addition, the minimum traceability requirement has also been resolved, he argued at the time. For the first time since 2015, the expert team was able to see the situation on the ground.
Although the civil conflict lost intensity in 2018, the country still suffers bouts of violence and remains deeply poor. The team went to several mining sites to verify compliance of extraction and marketing practices with international standards, designed to prevent the export of “blood diamonds” mined in conflict zones. Gem-quality diamond deposits make up – together with gold – one of the CAR’s most precious resources.
Mining and research permits have been issued to Chinese, American, Rwandan and also Russian groups linked to the Wagner mercenary group backing the ruling regime. The effect of sanctions on the CAR has been deep-seated.
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In 2011, two years before a military coup which degenerated into a long-drawn-out civil war, the country officially earned 29.7 billion CFA from 323,575.30 carats of diamond exports. Last year, the total figure stood at just 324.3 million CFA francs, according to official figures. The sanctions “should have been lifted as soon as constitutional order was restored in March 2016”, Luc Florentin Simplice Brosseni Yali, DG of the KP’s permanent secretariat.
The KP’s meeting in Dubai, which runs until Friday (15th November), is the second full gathering of the year exclusively held for KP participants and observers.
