SAfrica-diamonds,lead
   Diamond countries agree on certification scheme
   ATTENTION - ADDS quotes ///

   PRETORIA, Sept 21 (AFP) - Ministers from diamond producing countries and
main players in the industry agreed Thursday to institute an international
certification scheme they hope will eliminate "conflict diamonds" from
international trade.
    "We favour a simple and effective system that does not place undue
burden
on governments and industry, especially smaller players," said a
ministerial
statement issued in Pretoria where a three-day conference sought to obtain
consensus on anti-smuggling measures.
   But the statement warned that such a system was still some way off
becoming
a reality, as countries such as Angola still needed to develop their
administrative capacities.
   Industry players and countries like Russia were also wary of calls for
an
international body that would oversee the international diamond trade for
reasons of sovereignity, insiders said.
   But British junior foreign minister Peter Hain told reporters that a
UN-sponsored international treaty should be in place by next year to compel
all countries to enforce the system.
   "I don't think this should take very long. There is a world-wide
repugnance
at the diamond trading system that fuels these devastating conflicts," Hain
said.
   The initiative comes amid fears that legitimately mined gems from Africa
may suffer from a consumer backlash against perceptions that diamonds are
chiefly responsible for Africa's many civil wars.
   South African Minerals and Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
announced
that participants had agreed an inter-governmental body should be set up to
monitor compliance with certification.
   Conflict diamonds -- used to fund civil wars in Africa -- are defined as
those sold by rebel movements, but the London-based non-governmental
organisation (NGO) Global Witness criticised that definition as too narrow.
   "We would consider any diamonds coming out of the Democratic Republic of
Congo as conflict diamonds," said Alex Yearsley of Global Witness.
   "Diamonds are obviously fuelling that war -- and the current president
(Laurent Kabila) is using diamonds to keep up his war effort while refusing
to
negotiate a political settlement."
   Hain conceded that some governments benefited from the illegal diamond
trade, and said monitoring mechanisms would be set up to stop governments
from
merely signing diamond certificates.
    International trade laws meanwhile need to be incorporated into the
proposals to implement a "mine-to-finger" system of sealed containers and
standardised certificates of origin.
   To this end, another inter-governmental conference is to be held in
London
in late October that players said would look at ways of assisting African
countries to develop anti-smuggling measures.
   Main industry players say conflict diamonds make up no more than four
percent of the 6.8 billion dollars worth of rough diamonds produced each
year
-- half of them in Africa -- while critics estimate this to be as high as
15
percent.
   Namibian Mines and Energy Minister Jesaya Nyamu warned that the campaign
against diamonds was reaching a crescendo.
   "By Christmas this onslaught on the diamond industry would have reached
a
climax," he said, maintaining that "fanatical NGOs" and the media were
giving
unwarranted publicity to the issue.
   Producing countries are also seeking direct representation on the World
Diamond Council, set up as in industry regulatory body last July, with
sub-Saharan countries seeking to increase their share of the 50 billion
dollar
a year gem trade.
   Most of the profits in the international trade accrue in international
cutting and trading centres like London, Antwerp, Belgium, Tel Aviv and New
York.
   "I am baffled that the governments of producing states of southern
Africa
have not been invited to be members of the so-called World Diamond
Council,"
Nyamu said.
   Governments represented at the conference were South Africa, Namibia,
Botswana, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra
Leone,
Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada, Russia, Burkina Faso,
Tanzania,
Belgium and Lesotho.
   str-bur/hn/jsl

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