De Beers sees threat of blood diamonds

By Dick Durham, CNN.com Europe writer

LONDON, England (CNN) -- In 1948, De Beers adopted the marketing slogan, "A diamond is forever." Now such stones often carry a more sinister label: "blood" diamonds.

"Blood" or "conflict" diamonds have fuelled wars in at least three African countries.

As the world's largest diamond producer, De Beers has expressed fears that its business could suffer as a result of these stones finding their way into legitimate markets.

De Beers has been mining diamonds for more than 100 years and operates mines in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Tanzania.

De Beers defines conflict diamonds as "diamonds which originate from areas in Africa controlled by forces fighting the legitimate and internationally recognised government of the relevant country."

REFERENCE Conflict Diamonds: Trade fuels bloody wars   • Timeline of conflict   • De Beers sees threat   • Tracking technology   • CNNitalia: Diamonds special   • In-depth: Congo war Your Business, Your World:   • Polishing an image   • Monopoly isn't forever   • From mine to market   • Conflicts in Africa

But as De Beers spokesman Andrew Lamont told CNN, "There is a great danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. We have heard the siren calls that diamonds could go the same way as the fur trade. But diamonds don't kill people, people with guns kill people, and these guns are supplied from the West."

In May 2000, De Beers gave written testimony on conflict diamonds before the U.S. House Committee on Africa.

Their testimony stated: "De Beers knows all too well the deleterious effects that conflict and political instability often have on potential large-scale investors. ... Having spent hundreds of millions of dollars on on advertising its product, De Beers is deeply concerned about anything that could damage the image of diamonds as a symbol of love, beauty and purity."

The company told Congress that from its own estimates, 3.7 percent of the world's rough diamond production, or $255 million, came from areas under rebel control.

Alex Yearsley, campaigner for the human rights organisation Global Witness, has said his group believes the number is closer to 8 percent and that, according to observers in the diamond capital of Antwerp, Belgium, the number could be as high as 10 percent.

However De Beers, in its testimony, said it took issue with "the grossly inflated figures used to describe the dimensions of the problem by some non-governmental organisations and commentators."

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, De Beers estimates $35 million of rough diamonds were produced by rebel controlled areas in 1999.

De Beers voices the fears of legitimate diamond-producing nations such as Botswana, South Africa and Namibia about the campaign against conflict diamonds. They say consumer confidence could be eroded and, at worst, could lead to a consumer boycott which they say would ruin the economies of Botswana and Namibia.

"It is too easy to seek pat solutions to this as we sit comfortably off in the developed world while those in the undeveloped world have their jobs at stake," said Lamont. "One million people are involved in the diamond industry in India alone."

In 1998 both the U.N. and the European Union embargoed all conflict diamonds coming out of Angola, and De Beers says it has adhered to "both the letter and the spirit" of the ban.

De Beers also embargoed the buying of all Angolan diamonds, reviewed its buying operations in West and Central Africa and subsequently ceased all buying operations outside its own African mines. The company now issues guarantees that none of its diamonds originate in conflict areas. It withdrew its buying operations from Sierra Leone and Liberia 15 years ago.

De Beers also has backed the plan for global certification of rough diamonds agreed at the World Diamond Congress in Antwerp in July 2000.

"We want to ensure that if somebody goes to buy a diamond from a jeweller's shop, they know that when they put it on the finger of their loved one, they are not pledging a diamond that has cut off the finger of a child in Sierra Leone or Angola," said UK Foreign Office Minister Peter Hain.

Yearsley said that what is needed is "a history of the diamond from the mine to the finger."

"Buyers have got to be able to ask to see a chain of warranties from the mines to the traders, the cutters and polishers, to the retailers," he said.

But Amnesty International campaigner Salil Tripathi said certification is not enough.

"What is required is an independent body with an oversight into the whole trade," Tripathi said. "It must be public and transparent."

Liberian trade with rebels may draw sanctions
December 20, 2000
U.S. bars Liberian officials from entering country
October 11, 2000
Diamond industry approves ban on war-related gems
July 19, 2000
U.N. Security Council bans sale of Sierra Leone diamonds
July 5, 2000
200,000 hungry, frightened citizens of Congo diamond town trapped amid fighting
June 9, 2000
Diamonds are Sierra Leone war's best friend
May 24, 2000
Lust for diamonds kills thousands
January 12, 1999

U.N. information on conflict diamonds in Africa
De Beers Canada, Information on Conflict Diamonds
Global Policy Forum, Diamonds in Conflict
Global Witness
Amnesty International
Diamond Information Center

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