Smugglers defy conflict-diamonds ban in CAR

By Bloomberg | China Daily | Updated: 2015-03-25 07:46

Diamond smuggler Akani Natacha Glawdys tilts a tiny gem in her palm and smiles as a sparkle ripples through the rough yellow rock.

"See?" she asks excitedly in a room at the Relais des Chasses hotel in the Central African Republic capital, Bangui. "A bit cloudy, so not the best, but still good." If it were clearer, the stone could fetch as much as $2,000 from local traders who export to buyers in Europe, she said. The gem's opacity means it will only fetch $700.

Gladwys, 34, is part of a trafficking network that unashamedly flouts a diamond-trading ban imposed on her country by the Kimberley Process, a global gem-verification group formed to halt the outflow of precious stones from conflict zones. It is a sign of the complete chaos in Central African Republic, the only country among 22 diamond producers to be covered by a ban.

The embargo was imposed in May, 2013, two months after an alliance of mainly Muslim militias known as Seleka overthrew President Francois Bozize, a Christian.

The takeover was marked by the widespread killing of civilians and other crimes, Human Rights Watch says. The United Nations says more than 2.5 million people need urgent humanitarian assistance.

The Kimberley Process banned the trade in Central African Republic gems because, the group said, there was no way to determine whether conflict diamonds had been eliminated from the country's shipments. The Kimberley Process represents 81 countries, including the US, the European Union, Russia, China and South Africa.

Even before the ban, millions of dollars' worth of diamonds left Central African Republic via the black market. High taxes on diamonds - 12 percent compared with 3.25 percent in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo - led to about 30 percent of output being smuggled to Cameroon or Sudan's Darfur region, according to the International Peace Information Service, or IPIS, an Antwerp, Belgium-based research group.

The illegal diamond trade continues to flourish, according to a UN panel of experts on Central African Republic. Since the ban was introduced, at least 140,000 carats of diamonds valued at $24 million have been smuggled out of the country, said Aurelien Llorca, coordinator of the UN panel.

"Illicit diamond revenue is used to buy arms, pay soldiers and enrich rebel leaders of the main militia groupings: Seleka and a mostly Christian force," Kasper Agger, a Central African Republic analyst with the Washington-based conflict-resolution group Enough Project, said.

Diamonds in Central African Republic, which ranked as the world's 10th-biggest producer by value in 2012, have funded successive military regimes since the country gained independence from France in 1960. Rulers have treated the industry as a "cash cow", imposing high taxes on exports and demanding a share of production to help sustain political support, according to IPIS.

Under the rule of Jean-Bedel Bokassa, who seized power in January 1966 before proclaiming himself emperor with a diamond-encrusted crown a decade later, production plunged by more than half to about 290,000 carats, according to IPIS.

The diamond and gold industry in Central African Republic relies on as many as 100,000 informal, or artisanal, miners. At least 600,000 people - about 13 percent of the country's population - depend at least partly on the industry for their income, according to the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based advocacy group.

The country's diamond trading has traditionally been run by Muslims, who have used their shared religion and Arabic language to create networks in neighboring countries such as Sudan and Chad, Thierry Vircoulon, Central African Republic project director for ICG, said in Nairobi, Kenya.

Bozize's October 2008 purge of the industry, in which diamonds, cash and equipment were confiscated, pushed many disgruntled Muslim traders and diggers to join rebel ranks, he said. That ultimately led to the government's downfall five years later when Seleka fighters seized Bangui.