Zambia's diamond smuggling trade thrives

Angolan rebel diamonds still finance Unita rebels, despite UN sanctions

By Ishbel Matheson in Mwinilunga in north-west Zambia

In the lush green countryside along the Angolan-Zambian border, diamond-dealers ply their illegal trade.

"It is just business", shrugs one young dealer, as he waits for his contact, an Angolan seller, to cross the border bridge at the River Jimbe, in full view of soldiers and police.

The embargo has had no effect whatsoever

Businessman Dan Ball

"They are all part of it," he confides, jabbing a thumb in their direction.

"Everyone has a share."

Since the imposition of United Nations sanctions in 1998, trade in diamonds from territory held by Angola's Unita rebels has been illegal.

Butterfly-collectors

But the ban has not stopped foreign visitors coming to this remote north-western corner of Zambia.

They pose as botanists, butterfly collectors or even preachers, but what they are really interested in is diamonds.

A local businessman, Dan Ball, says: "They come up, they scout around, they do their business, and they go away. So clearly, the embargo has had no effect whatsoever".

Some smugglers are Angolan civilians, who walk great distances to the border to sell one or two small gems.

Millions of private prospectors

Others are Unita officers, looking for supplies or funds to support their families.

Sitting outside his house, in the shade of a mango tree, one dealer comments: "There are millions of prospectors working in the diamond fields."

The fields in north-eastern Angola are so rich, that miners can literally scoop them out with their hands.

Financing the rebellion

The Unita rebels, led by Jonas Savimbi, control the operation, and keep the best gems for themselves: the highly-prized pure white Angolan diamonds form their main source of revenue.

President Chiluba embarrassed

Since 1992, Unita has raised an estimated $3.7 bn from the diamond trade.

This has enabled it to sustain a civil war which has killed at least 500,000 Angolan civilians.

A hard-hitting United Nations report last month found that many African countries were paying only lip service to the sanctions regime.

Security chief accused

It said Zambia was being used as a channel for diamond and fuel smuggling.

For the past three or four years, the government has been denying that they were ever involved in aiding the Unita movement

Journalist Dixon Jere

It also named the country's security chief, Xavier Chungu, as having regular contacts with a senior Unita source, and said that Unita personnel were present in Zambia with the knowledge and protection of the authorities.

This embarrassed the Zambian Government, which has long denied accusations that it actively supports Unita.

Official silence

At a recent press conference, President Frederick Chiluba side-stepped questions about the position of his security chief, and simply said the government would be preparing a lengthy response to the United Nations.

But it seems there are elements within Zambia who would like the report hushed up altogether.

A freelance journalist, working for the independent Monitor paper, who reported the findings of United Nations' investigators, has received threats against his life.

The journalist, Dixon Jere, says: "Basically, for the past three or four years, the government has been denying that they were ever involved in aiding the Unita movement.

"Every time the issue came up, they said 'we invite international monitors to come and verify the allegations.'"

'Embarrassing' revelations

"When the report from the United Nations' team came out, it proved the contrary.

"They then used the state-owned media to pretend that Zambia has been cleared, but when I did my story, it more or less exposes them. It's embarrassing for them."

Given the official denials, the diamond traders of north-western Zambia seem likely to be carrying out their business unmolested for some time to come.