A Rough Trade

This report was written to stimulate debate and action on a well-known and much-reported issue: the key role that diamonds have played in the Angolan conflict.

There is a dangerous acceptance amongst the international community that the mechanics of the trade in diamonds, particularly from UNITA controlled areas, are beyond any real controls.

Global Witness investigations show that governments flout the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) embargo on unofficial Angolan diamonds (those not sold under the control of the Angolan government diamond parastatal, Endiama).

Furthermore, a lack of understanding and government scrutiny of the functioning of the diamonds trade has resulted in the absence of any serious examination of corporate culpability, allowing many diamond companies to continue to operate without fear that their actions may be called into question by consumers.

For reasons of safety Global Witness has not identified the numerous individuals involved in the trade, interviewed in the course of investigations.

Angolan diamond trade accountability

It is important that the role of diamonds in UNITA’s continued war and the serious lack of accountability within the diamond trade be exposed and understood so that the vital lessons can be learned from the tragedies of the mid 1990’s, including the deaths of an estimated 500,000 Angolans who died as a result of the return to the civil war in this period.

The international community must examine how it has become complicit with diamond barons and what this means for the effectiveness and reputation of the United Nations.

It is time that a business which operates in an arcane way, like a family business, re-assess its operation and accepts that corporate accountability is now an important factor in international business.