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The Chairman of the UN Sanctions Committee on Angola Robert Fowler has held a series of "upbeat" meetings in Britain this week with government officials and the diamond giant De Beers, sources told IRIN. At a briefing at the Royal Institute of International Affairs on Tuesday, Fowler said that he would shortly announce the names of members to two specialised
panels on sanctions busting by UNITA rebels, a source at the meeting said.
Fowler acknowledged that what the UN needed was the intelligence capacity to verify the allegations surrounding arms supplies to UNITA and its diamond trade which the committees would provide, the source added.
Fowler leaves Britain on Wednesday and will travel to Antwerp, the European diamond cutting centre. He is due to attend the OAU summit in Algeria this month and will also visit the Ukraine, which has been the focus of reports of arms supplies to UNITA. "Fowler realises that it is impossible to stop the arms and diamonds trade completely, but he can raise the cost significantly to the point where it is achieving collatoral
damage on UNITA's war machine," the source said.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions