Culled from the Independent Newspaper of 26-28 December,2000

UN ACCUSES GAMBIA OF EXPORTING "BLOOD" DIAMONDS
Calls for first-ever international embargo against Jammeh regime

The Gambia has been accused by the United Nations of exporting "blood"
diamonds to the international market dealing in the commodity. The UN has
since called for sanctions against The Gambia and Liberia the two countries
mentioned in a damning UN report on the role of diamonds in funding
worsening conflicts in the sub-region and elsewhere in Africa.  The report
catalogues a host of African countries including The Gambia as facilitators
of the trade inb diamonds from conflict zones like Sierra Leone whose
diamond has been banned (except those fromthe Sierra Leone government).

The report prepared by a five-man panel was taken to the United Nations
Security Counciul where diplomats had begun drawing upmeasures against The
Gambia andLiberia.  The expert panel established by the Security Coucil to
investigate the link between the illicit diamond sales and arms traficking
called for an "immediate embargo on trade in diamonds from the Gambia".

The report indicates that "although the Gambia has no diamond mines and no
reputation as a diamond-dealing nation, it has become a significant
exporter,with most of the gems believed to be obtainable in Sierra Leone".
If the embargo against The Gambia is enforced it will be the first
internatiuonal move against the six-year old government.

Meanwhile, according to the GRTS the Secretary of State for Finance and
Economic Affairs Famara Jatta and the Secretary of State for Trade, Industry
and Employment Musa Sillah have denied the link between The Gambia and the
export of diamonds.  The GRTS quoted them,as saying that the country's
export review does not recveal any export of diamonds.  The state officials
reportedly told GRTS that statistics in the UN report may have come from
countries where diamonds are sold.  "It would therefore be unfair for the
United Nations to impose any form of embargo on The Gambia" one of them was
quoted as emphasising.

Although no report has been made yet concerning arrests of individuals
connected with trafficking of diamonds across the Gambian border, there has
been international suspicion that The Gambia was candestinely involved in
the export of what has now been condemned as "blood" diamonds,the source of
which was undisclosed at the time.

Meanwhile, bolstered by the scathing UN report,the United States and Britain
are said to be considering sanctions on Liberia's diamond exports and
aircraft because of what CNN and Reuters News Agency  say is its
"gems-for-guns" trade with RUF rebels in Sierra Leone.

The report also blames Burkina Faso for "playing a major role in smuggling
banned arms to the RUF" and suggested that the UN investigate the country's
last five years of weapons traffic. It also recommends that the
tradingactivities of several African nations bemonitored.  Ghana, Mali and
Namibia are among six African countries making up the UN "watch list" of
suspect-countries.

END

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