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GABORONE - The global conflict diamonds watchdog pledged on Thursday to step-up efforts to eradicate the last vestiges of illicit gems that have fueled civil wars after taking action against alleged black-market activity by Ghana and agreeing to release secret production data.
Campaigners said the tougher action may have been prompted partly by the upcoming Hollywood film Blood Diamond which the industry fears could prompt a wave of negative publicity about how gems financed wars in Africa.
"We were perhaps the most pessimistic and gloomy at the onset, but were very pleased with the outcome," said Ian Smillie, a campaigner with Partnership African Canada, on the final day of the annual meetings of the Kimberly Process watchdog in Botswana.
"There were some fairly big breakthroughs on issues that had been hanging fire for up to a year and had been very divisive."
The Kimberley Process was organized six years ago to screen out illicit gems, but campaigners recently called for loopholes to be closed after uncovering a stream of black market diamonds flowing from war-hit Ivory Coast.
The grouping of 46 governments and the European Union threatened to expel Ghana over allegations it was certifying illicit gems from Ivory Coast.
Under the decision, Ghanaian exports will have to be approved by an expert provided by industry group the World Diamond Council during a three-month probationary period when it will strengthen monitoring mechanisms.
Ghana's representative said the government had not knowingly certified smuggled gems, but acknowledged that some could have slipped through cracks in the system.
"Our major problem is internal controls and manpower. People could have smuggled outside of the government channels," Director of Mines Biagya Yakubu told Reuters.
If thrown out, Ghana would not be able to certify any of its own diamond output and would have to reapply to rejoin the group.
Ivory Coast topped the agenda of the meeting since it is the last source of black-market diamonds being smuggled out by rebels following earlier devastating civil wars in Angola, Liberia and Sierra Leone partly fueled by illicit gems.
Up to 200,000 carats of rough diamonds a year from the rebel-held north of Ivory Coast worth US$23 million ($34.5m) are being smuggled out, mostly into Ghana, where they are being certified as legitimate despite a United Nations embargo, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have said.
Secretive industry
In a ground-breaking decision, members also agreed to publish production and trade statistics for the first time, helping to open up a secretive sector.
Annual data for each producing member will be published six months after the end of the year, allowing outsiders to see if a country's exports are higher than production and might include black market gems.
The Kimberley Process, as part of a three-year review, also agreed that governments would have to take responsibility for greater oversight of their diamond sectors.
Kimberley Process member governments only certify rough or unpolished diamonds, but campaigners say controls over polished gems and the final jewelry are still not tight enough.
Corinna Gilfillan, a campaigner with NGO Global Witness, disputed some elements of a recent public relations drive by the jewelry industry to counter possible negative publicity from Blood Diamond, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and due in cinemas next month.
She said a system of voluntary warrants to ensure conflict diamonds did not creep into the supply chain during polishing and manufacturing had few teeth.
"It's more of a PR campaign than something backed up with concrete policy measures," she told Reuters.
- REUTERS
