US backs tougher sanctions against UNITA

The United States said on Thursday it was “fully supportive” of a new UN plan to tighten sanctions against the UNITA rebel movement in Angola. “We are behind any effort to beef up compliance with the sanctions against UNITA,” a State Department spokesman told IRIN. The new UN plan, outlined to the Security Council this week by Robert Fowler, chairman of the UN sanctions committee for Angola, seeks to establish a system of certificates of origin for all diamonds produced in Southern Africa to curtail UNITA’s main source income. It also recommends tighter monitoring of the diamond trade, a system of UN customs monitors in the region, and tighter legislation in Southern African nations to outlaw trade with UNITA. US officials said the American ambassador in Angola, Joseph Sullivan, had discussed the issue with Fowler when he visited the country last month during a visit to the region. In Luanda, an embassy spokesman said Sullivan on Wednesday visited Kwanza Sul province south of Luanda with NGOs to see the delivery of humanitarian assistance and for talks with Governor Higino Carneiro.