Plans to curb diamonds trafficking

The Lunda Norte provincial government plans to end clandestine diamond prospecting and trafficking by encouraging agricultural activity, Angolan television reported. The broadcast, monitored by the BBC, said that the government also aimed to create employment and better control of the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), through which the majority of foreigners arrive in Lunda Norte in search of diamonds. The province’s governor Gomes Maiato was quoted as saying that until the border with the DRC was protected, efforts to combat clandestine prospecting and diamond trafficking would be fruitless. Maiato added that the construction of schools and hospitals in different municipalities were part of the local government’s plans to improve social services in the province.