De Beers ban on rebels' diamonds

De Beers is cutting sales of so-called "conflict diamonds"

By the BBC's Karen Hoggan

The world's biggest diamond company, De Beers, is to guarantee that the diamonds it buys and sells do not come from rebel-controlled areas in Africa.

Diamonds sold by forces fighting against legitimate and internationally recognised governments are known as "conflict" diamonds and have proved an important source of funds for such groups.

From Monday, all the boxes of rough diamonds that De Beers sells will carry a guarantee that they are not from these areas.

De Beers sells about 70% of the world's diamonds - so what it does can have a huge influence on the international market.

The company holds sales at its Central Selling Organisation in London 10 times a year.

A small and select group of clients - cutters, polishers and dealers - fly in from all over the world to buy the boxes of rough diamonds.

UN Sanctions

In 1998 the United Nations introduced sanctions to try to put a stop to diamond sales by the rebel Unita movement in Angola.

Over the years these have been an important source of funds for Unita - prolonging the war and costing many lives.

Last year De Beers said it would no longer buy suspect Angolan diamonds and took other steps to ensure the source of its stones.

The campaign group Global Witness has lobbied to get De Beers and the rest of the industry to stop trading in conflict diamonds - not only from Angola but also from elsewhere in war-torn African countries.

The group welcomed the introduction of a De Beers guarantee - which means the company will not buy diamonds from countries where they cannot be sure of the source.

Now Global Witness plans to try to persuade smaller players in the market, like some manufacturers and retailers, to end their involvement in conflict diamonds.