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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: Kinshasa inaugurates national diamond certification programme

NAIROBI, 9 January 2003 (IRIN) - The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) officially launched its national diamond certification programme on Tuesday, as part of its participation in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, which took effect on 1 January 2003.

The DRC was among 52 countries that agreed on 4 November 2002 in Interlaken, Switzerland, to adopt the international certification scheme designed to stop the flow of "blood diamonds" into world markets.

The implementation of the Kimberley Process will mean that all rough diamonds passing through or into a participating country must be transported in a sealed container and labelled with a certificate of origin.

"From today forward, all diamonds not accompanied by the certificate of origin will be seized by the customs officials of importing countries," Jean Louis Nkulu, the DRC minister of mines, was quoted as saying by La Tempete des Tropiques Kinshasa-based newspaper.

He urged all Congolese involved in the diamond trade, including miners and vendors, to follow the legal channels that have been put in place for diamond export - culminating in certification by the Centre d'evaluation et d'expertise des substances minerales precieuses et semi-precieuses au Congo, the government bureau responsible for national mineral oversight.

Illicitly mined diamonds from conflict zones have been used to finance recent wars in Angola, the DRC, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

Themes: (IRIN) Economy

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