Banned CAR diamonds intercepted in Antwerp

Antwerp--Belgian authorities reported Friday that they recently seized a shipment of rough stones that potentially are conflict diamonds from the Central African Republic.

There has been a Kimberley Process-instituted ban in place on rough exports from the Central African Republic, which is in the midst of a brutal civil war, since May 2013. It is reported that the rebel groups that overthrew President François Bozizé are using diamonds from the country’s alluvial mines to fund their operations.

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The Belgian Federal Public Service (FPS) Economy, the authority charged with ensuring all rough shipments to Europe are accompanied by legitimate KP certificates, said they discovered a “suspicious” shipment of rough diamonds two weeks ago and asked the KP Working Group of Diamond Experts to inspect the rough.

The Working Group then compared digital images of the “production footprint” for rough diamonds from the Central African Republic--meaning the color, assortment and type as well as size and quality distribution--with the rough discovered in Antwerp. They concluded that there is a “high probability” that the shipment originated from the Central African Republic, the FPS Economy said.

The KP Working Group of Diamond Experts has a “production footprint,” or typology, mapped out for rough diamonds from a number of productions areas worldwide that are hotspots for conflict or strife, concentrating specifically on production from alluvial mines. The KP started using footprints in 2006, when Ghana came under scrutiny for possibly accepting shipments of rough from the Ivory Coast, which was banned from the diamond trade at that time.

The Antwerp World Diamond Centre said the investigation into the source of these diamonds from the Central African Republic is ongoing.

Following the discovery of this shipment, the AWDC issued a statement urging diamond centers worldwide to implement strict controls on import and export procedures, pointing out that the controls it had in place allowed it to detect this shipment from the Central African Republic.

The AWDC cited a recent report from the Enough Project, which stated that diamonds from the Central African Republic still are entering the diamond pipeline illegally in some countries, mostly through forged KP certificates.