Kimberley process gets under way

The Angolan council of ministers has passed a decree containing the regulations for setting up a diamond monitoring and certification mechanism in accordance with the Kimberley Process.

The Kimberley Process requires governments and the industry to implement import-export controls to prevent conflict or "blood" diamonds from fuelling human rights abuses and wars.

A report by the official Angola Press news agency noted that the newly created system was aimed at strengthening certification in Angola, a country ravaged for decades by a war fuelled in part by the sale of diamonds.

Global Witness, an NGO based in the United Kingdom that focuses on the links between the exploitation of natural resources and the funding of conflict and corruption, welcomed the government's decree.

However, Corinna Gilfillan of Global Witness believes an independent monitoring mechanism needs to be set up to evaluate country programmes in relation to the Kimberley Process.

"The next step we'd like to see is participants of the Kimberley Process, including Angola, agreeing to regular independent monitoring to ensure that the process is working and not open to abuse," she said.

"There needs to be some accountability in the whole process, and right now we don't see that. We've been pressing for regular independent monitoring," Gilfillan stressed.

The Kimberley Process was launched in January this year and gives governments until 31 July to pass laws and regulations to implement the scheme.

Gilfillan noted that by passing the regulations Angola was merely meeting the "minimum requirements" of the Kimberley Process.