Many African diamonds still bloody

Kimberley Process can identify where diamonds originate but it is largely ignored.

By Tristan McConnell - GlobalPost
Published: June 24, 2009 21:17 ET
Updated: June 25, 2009 16:33 ET
Page 3 of 3

It is also important as a model for the control of other resources that fuel wars and prop up abusive regimes across Africa, such as coltan and other minerals in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

But Smillie says that signatory states are more interested in the fig leaf that the Kimberley Process provides than in taking the action needed to make sure diamonds do not sustain wars and undermine stability in fragile countries. “I used to give the Kimberley Process
seven out of 10, but not anymore,” said Smillie.

Annie Dunnebacke, a spokesperson at the London-based resource advocacy organization Global Witness, said: “The clock is running out on Kimberley Process credibility. The work it was set up to do is vital — it would be scandalous if uncooperative governments and industry
succeeded in hobbling it into ineffectiveness."

While Global Witness and Partnership Africa Canada continue to engage with the Kimberley Process, for Smillie the endless frustrations proved too much to bear.

“It’s really hard to admit that something that you’ve given 10 years to doesn’t work, but I can’t keep pretending it works when it doesn’t,” he said.

More GlobalPost dispatches on diamonds:

Diamonds are forever?

Today blue is the color of money

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