Diamond areas short-changed by development, says report

Angola is likely to produce diamonds worth nearly US $900 million this year, but little of that money will be spent on development in the diamond producing areas, according to a new report. The report by Partnership Africa Canada noted that "three years of peace is enough time for an oil-rich, diamond-rich government to have made wider social investments in the diamond areas and to have produced development policies that are more supportive of Angola's artisanal miners". In the northeast provinces of Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul, which account for a large portion of Angola's diamond production, the local population were dispossessed of land rights and enjoyed few social services. The second 'Diamond Industry Annual Review' noted that "in 2004 a new Land Act was promulgated, reinforcing the state's ownership of land, and hence the existing Special Regime for the Daimondiferous Mineral Reserve Zones, which sets out land access rights in mining areas". As such, "there are no rights of access to, or residence in, active mining areas ... [and] villages can be relocated to make way for mines". The report noted that "with 145 concessions awarded in 2004 alone, the restrictions [in Mineral Reserve Zones] could involve large areas of the national territory, affecting a considerable proportion of the population". Christine Gordon, editor of the review, told IRIN, "The poverty and resentment in the Lundas, and growing resentment of the mining industry, needs to be addressed by both better and more planned investment into the region. More attention needs to be paid to the ways in which people are informed about their rights, because they are being dispossesed and it's legal, but are they getting the recompense they deserve?" A seperate report, 'Angola's Deadly Diamonds', produced by human rights activists earlier this year, accused the police and diamond company security firms of serious abuses including murder, beatings and arbitrary detentions. It called on the international community to boycott Angolan gems. The report's authors - journalist and civil rights campaigner Rafael Marques, and lawyer Rui Falcao de Campos - said in a statement that the violence was linked "to lawlessness and corruption that ensure only a privileged few benefit from the region's diamond wealth". Kinsukulu Kama, chairman of the Group for Environment Beneficiency and Culture, a local NGO, said, people living in the Lundas "have nothing - no potable water, no electricity, no roads and so on". "What we have to do ... is conduct studies concerning land and diamonds and the relationship between the two", he added. However, access to the isolated diamond-rich areas - which government forces and UNITA rebels had battled to control during the 27-year civil war - was difficult and expensive for local organisations. "With all the developments going forward, [Angola's mining sector] could rival Botswana in five years," Gordon noted. "It may well be bigger ... but the system remains weak." Attempts to get comment from Angolan authorities were unsuccessful. For the full report go to: www.pacweb.org