IRIN Focus on new sanctions monitoring mechanism

An air of optimism surrounds a new panel of UN-appointed experts tasked with monitoring international sanctions against the Angolan rebel movement UNITA. The five-member team, which arrived in Angola on a fact-finding mission this week, is to take further the investigations of a previous Panel of Experts on sanctions violations. Analysts told IRIN that the new, smaller team, is strengthened by the inclusion of two women: Lena Sundh, former Swedish Ambassador to Angola, and Christine Gordon, a British journalist who has reported on the diamond industry for at least a decade. “The good thing is that there’s two people on the panel who really know about Angola and who are committed to the country,” commented Charmian Gooch, a senior researcher for the London-based lobby group, Global Witness. Panel confident In Belgium, Mark Bockstael, a manager for the Antwerp-based Diamond High Council (DHC), said members of the new panel appeared “pretty confident” and “pretty positive” when they met in late July. The team is led by Chilean Ambassador, Juan Larrain, and also includes Zimbabwean diplomat James Manzou, and Ismail Seck, from Senegal, who has worked for INTERPOL. Bockstael believes Gordon’s presence on the panel could provide invaluable input into the effectiveness of sanctions on UNITA diamond flows. “The big advantage about the new team,” Bockstael told IRIN, “is that they have someone who knows something about the diamond trade.” Bockstael alleged there were problems of coordination and communication with the previous panel. Nevertheless, he admitted that the DHC had noted a change in the diamond trade because of the sanctions. “We do not have any more information that UNITA diamonds are coming into the Antwerp market,” he said. “Even the rumours about UNITA diamonds have also stopped, which is a pretty good indication.” Sanctions-busting Belgium’s compliance with UN sanctions has been welcomed by the Angolan government. Shortly after meeting with four members of the new panel on Tuesday, the minister of geology and mines, Manuel Antonio Africano, told reporters that Belgium had pledged to assist the Angolan government’s attempt to “further complicate Dr Savimbi’s life”, the UNITA leader. The minister said UNITA rebels were slowly being pushed into a corner with the help of the international community. However, countries already named and shamed in the Panel of Experts report on sanctions violations in March are allegedly continuing to flout the embargo on arms, fuel, diamond sales, financing and travel for UNITA officials. Luanda has a copy of a UNITA member’s passport which was issued by Togolese authorities in May. Recently, Angola’s vice-minister for foreign affairs, Georges Chicoti, accused Togo of continuing to break sanctions despite UN resolution 1295, adopted by the UN Security Council in April. “Togo has always lied,” said Chicoti. “According to the information we have, Togo has continued to be one of the major buyers of arms for UNITA but as well, one of the major traders of smuggled diamonds from UNITA.” Last week, a new UNITA defector, Georges Eugenio Kassesse, said in Luanda that Burkina Faso was also continuing to assist UNITA’s war-effort. He said that arms in Togo had been sent to Burkina Faso and then to UNITA areas in Angola. “It is from Burkina Faso that diamond sales, pilots and plane hiring can be effected ... UNITA’s external (wing) continues functioning despite the international sanctions,” said Kassesse, who fled Lome in July. Impact of sanctions However, a senior UNITA source told IRIN that individuals who formerly traded diamonds and arms with the rebels on a regular basis are now “in touch” less frequently. “They know they are being watched,” the source said, “so they have to take care.” He said that UNITA was receiving less money for its diamonds and was having to pay more for weapons and fuel. A member of the diamond industry confirmed that UNITA receives roughly half the market price (US $200/carat) for its diamonds, which tend to be lower in quality. “Judging by the military situation and the government’s gains, sanctions have had an impact,” said Bockstael. Paradoxically, Global Witness believes UNITA diamonds may still be leaving the country through the Angolan government’s own system. Gooch told IRIN that “huge quantities” of diamonds continued to be smuggled out of Angola. She said that while they were not necessarily all from UNITA areas, the public have seen no proof to show that all the diamonds leaving the country are ‘clean’. “The immediate task for the new panel is to look at the Angolan government,” said Gooch. “They need to get to the diamond-buying areas, the Lundas, look at the structure from top to bottom and find out who are the buyers, how many buyers are out there and what they are buying.” But time is against the new panel. The team have six months to visit all the countries listed in the March Experts’ findings and, according to Larrain, others that were not visited by the previous panel. Appointed less than two weeks ago, the team has less than three months to produce its first report and present it to the Security Council. “We have a very short space of time to perform our duty,” admitted Larrain. “We will try to do our best.”