Sawt Falasteen - C.Africa urges lifting of embargo on diamond exports

The Kimberley Process (KP) regulatory body opened its plenary assembly in Dubai on Tuesday under the presidency of the United Arab Emirates.

The CAR wants a total lifting of the embargo imposed since a political and military crisis sparked civil war in 2013, after decades of violence, instability and coups.

Mines and Geology Minister Rufin Benam Beltoungou highlighted at the opening session his government's efforts towards the return of peace and meeting the criteria for the lifting of the embargo, according to a statement by his ministry posted on Facebook.

He has previously said -- after KP experts visited in September -- that "the conditions (for lifting the embargo) are now met since, on our side, the security problem no longer arises".

In addition, "the minimum traceability requirement has been resolved," he argued at the time.

For the first time since 2015, the expert team was able to see the situation on the ground.

Although the civil conflict lost intensity in 2018, the country still suffers bouts of violence and remains deeply poor.

The team went to several mining sites to verify compliance of extraction and marketing practices with international standards, designed to prevent the export of "blood diamonds" mined in conflict zones.

"I dare to believe the (KP) report will make recommendations in favour of the Central African Republic," Paul-Crescent Beninga, a member of the KP's Civil Society Working Group, told AFP in an interview in the capital Bangui, while expressing caution.

"The dynamic of the delegation of experts was very positive, although that does not mean the outcome will necessarily be a happy one," he warned.

- Slump in gem revenue -

Gem quality diamond deposits make up -- together with gold -- one of the CAR's most precious resources.

Mining and research permits have been issued to Chinese, American, Rwandan and also Russian groups linked to the Wagner mercenary group backing the ruling regime.

The effect of sanctions on the CAR has been deep-seated.

In 2011, two years before a military coup which degenerated into a long-drawn-out civil war, the country officially earned 29.7 billion CFA francs (around $50 million) from 323,575.30 carats of diamond exports.

Last year, the total figure stood at just 324.3 million CFA francs, according to official figures.

The sanctions "should have been lifted as soon as constitutional order was restored in March 2016", Luc Florentin Simplice Brosseni Yali, director general of the KP's permanent secretariat in Bangui, said to AFP.

However, they were only partially lifted in 2015, contrary to what happened in Angola, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone, he added.

Today, a third of the 24 diamond mining zones listed in the CAR have been declared "green" zones allowing them to export, whereas the remaining "red zones" still face sanctions.

"The situation of residents in these production regions is deplorable," Brosseni Yali said.

He said that a return to normal levels of economic activity would aid "the restoration of peace by offering young people a path different from that of weapons".

- 'Contraband' -

During the KP assessment mission, "I saw young people and women kneeling down to ask the experts to lift the sanctions," he said.

Brosseni Yali added that "the restrictions have only penalised the government, not the rebel groups (as) they do not prohibit exploitation of mining fields, only the export of extracted diamonds.

"The artisanal miners operate the sites, sell their production to whoever wishes to buy and the diamonds end up in a contraband system," he said.

During the last UN General Assembly in New York, President Faustin Archange Touadera called for a total lifting of the embargo, emphasising his country was now "relatively stable".

But, despite efforts to expand state authority across the whole country, "the security situation remained volatile... owing to recurrent armed clashes over access to mining sites and influence over main road axes", the latest report from the UN force, MINUSCA, said.

An International Monetary Fund team, for its part, noted progress on the security front after a visit to Bangui in late September.

But it also highlighted "the still unfavourable" business environment, regulatory uncertainty and "persistent insecurity in certain mining areas".

The KP's meeting in Dubai, which runs until Friday, is the second full gathering of the year exclusively held for KP participants and observers.

E.Qaddoumi--SF-PST