Cautious welcome for scheme to block "blood diamonds"

A total of 52 countries agreed on Monday in Interlaken, Switzerland, to adopt an international certification scheme designed to stop the flow of "blood diamonds" into world markets. The scheme is due to take effect on 1 January 2003. The implementation of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme will mean that all rough diamonds passing through or into a participating country must be transported in a sealed container and labelled with a certificate of origin. A group of NGOs campaigning against the trade in blood diamonds on Tuesday welcomed the move, but they remained "deeply concerned" that a monitoring system was lacking. "You can issue a certificate, but if you don't monitor the system you cannot control the impact of that certificate," Judith Sargentini, the international campaign coordinator with Fatal Transactions, told IRIN. "The paperwork will be ready, but that doesn't mean the system will work," she added. Many countries were against a monitoring system, she said, which could be operated either by an independent auditing firm or a third country. She remained hopeful, however, that further international meetings beginning in early 2003 would lead to a system being put in place. "Otherwise it's a fake," she said. Some countries, among them Botswana, Namibia and the EU members were in favour of a monitoring system, she added. Others such as the Republic of Congo and Central African Republic - considered major diamond-smuggling centres - have not agreed to implement the certification process. Illicitly mined diamonds from conflict zones have been used to finance recent wars in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.