Diamond trade in conflict with human rights - report

Angola's diamond mining industry continues to profit an elite few, despite claims by the authorities of increased efforts to spread the benefits. A recent report commissioned by the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies (ISS), said residents in the country's diamond-rich northeastern provinces - Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul - continued to feel discriminated against by industry players, and excluded from the wealth generated by the region's mineral resources. The report, "War, Peace and Diamonds in Angola: Popular Perceptions of the Diamond Industry in the Lundas", said that since the end of the armed conflict in 2002, very little had been done to adequately regulate the diamond trade. "The management of Angola's diamond industry retains many of the characteristics that it acquired during the period when the diamond fields were both a prize and a weapon in the civil war," the report noted. During the 27-year conflict, analysts pointed to UNITA's control of mineral resources as one of the main reasons for the former rebel group's ability to sustain its opposition to the government. According to the ISS study, a widely held perception in the Lunda provinces was that the authorities had deliberately discriminated against residents by refusing to issue diamond-buying licences to them, and said mining companies had provided few jobs for the local population, choosing instead to employ Angolans from elsewhere in the country. The vast majority of residents in the Lundas belong to the Lunda-Chokwe, the country's fourth largest ethnic group. While the Ovimbundu, the Mbundu and the Bakongo were historically associated with the main players in Angolan politics, the Lunda-Chokwe were essentially marginalised from political arena. According to the report, the ethno-linguistic difference had given rise to a feeling of political and economic exclusion among the local population in the Lunda region. They also felt that a substantial part of the region's diamond production was leaving the country through illegal channels. The lack of formal employment placed the majority of locals involved in the diamond industry "at the lowest level", as "garimpeiros" - the Angolan term for artisanal diamond diggers - and their efforts were often hindered by government troops or private security companies employed to protect diamond fields. "When doing garimpo, you have to stay very alert - if someone says the security is coming, you have to run. If you are caught, they put you in jail, and to get out you have to pay US $50," one digger said in an interview. In some cases, garimperios have alleged they were threatened, beaten or forcibly removed by members of the army or by private security companies employed to guard diamond mines. The situation was made worse in the "absence of any functioning system of policing and prosecution", the report noted. The researchers highlighted the often questionable role of the military in the diamond trade and mentioned incidents where generals in charge of mining operations had allegedly used government troops to defend their personal interests. The local population saw little difference between a soldier and a private security guard, given the hostile treatment they had experienced. Despite the region's obvious mineral wealth, social services in the Lundas were virtually non-existent. Although many foreign companies professed to have social responsibility programmes, the study found that "there is little evidence of any recent social investment in the areas where these corporations are most active". The most vocal opposition to the alleged rights abuses in the region had been the PRS [Social Renewal Party], which has had to fend off harassment and extra-judicial detention by the police. The party documented the murder of three of its activists in Lunda Norte within a space of six months, from late 2002 to early 2003, allegedly by police agents. Civil society organisations were weak in both provinces, said the report, which contributed to the lack of knowledge about the region and the hardships experienced by residents. The effectiveness of the much-lauded Kimberley Process, which was set up to put pressure on countries to keep "blood diamonds" out of the global trade, was also questioned. Although peace had been achieved in Angola, the diamond trade in the Lundas showed that there were no guarantees that diamond resources would be exploited in a manner that respected basic human rights. "Perhaps it is time to rethink the idea of what constitutes a "blood diamond", the report concluded.