Angola diamond sanctions failing

Rebels control many of the diamond mines

A United Nations report says more than $1m-worth of diamonds are smuggled out of Angola every day despite a three-year UN embargo on the trade.

The report says Unita rebels, who control many of the country's diamond mines, are responsible for at least 25% of the illegal trade, using the proceeds to fund their long-running war to overthrow the Angolan Government.

Diamond sanctions are not working

It says all the structures for smuggling diamonds remains intact.

The Democratic Republic of Congo remains a vital smuggling route, while South Africa and Belgium are crucial markets or transit points, it added.

Israel, it says, is a laundering point for some illicit imports.

Close loopholes

The report recommends a permanent monitoring group to combat diamond trafficking by Unita.

Mining and smuggling is easy and cheap

But not all the illegal diamonds come from Unita the report pointed out, saying that " other players" were trading gems from mines recaptured from the rebels.

It also called on countries to close loopholes that could be exploited by the rebels.

To get round sanctions, smugglers often transported Angolan diamonds through third countries including South Africa, Cyprus, Tanzania, Burkina Faso or Zambia to diamond-cutting centres in Belgium, Israel and India.

"In an industry that is not required to give clear evidence and data," the report said, neighbouring Zambia is exporting more diamonds than it produces.

It also said that illegally acquired diamonds from Angola are equivalent to the annual output from Namibia or Australia.

'Name and shame'

In March 2000, the UN issued a name-and- shame list of countries used to traffic "blood diamonds" from rebel held areas.

At the time it named Burkina Faso and Togo.

And the new report issued on Monday noted there remain persistent allegations that senior Unita officials use Burkina Faso as a base for deals and contacts

But the report added that the ties between Togo and Unita have weakened due to international pressure.