President puts tighter controls on diamond mining

President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah announced tighter government controls on diamond mining in Sierra Leone in a keynote address to parliament on Friday. He said the government would "rigorously enforce existing diamond mining and trading legislation" and would "invite an internationally acclaimed diamond mining company to "determine and recommend the conditions which must be implemented in order to bring maximum revenue to Sierra Leone." Diamonds are Sierra Leone's main export. However, the majority of gemstones mined are still smuggled out of the country. Independent estimates value Sierra Leone's annual production of diamonds at US $200 million to US $400 million. However, last year officially recorded shipments were worth just over US $40 million. The diamonds are mined by thousands of small companies and individual prospectors who sift through the gravel of former river beds in search of gem stones. A struggle for control of the main diamond mining area in southeastern Sierra Leone fuelled the country's brutal civil war from 1999 to 2001. The government collects a three percent tax from diamond dealers who submit their stones for valuation at the government's Gold and Diamond Office.