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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Bangui's diamond verification system satisfactory - NGO says

NAIROBI, 23 September 2003 (IRIN) - The Central African Republic has performed satisfactorily in applying an international diamond certification scheme, known as the Kimberly process, designed to unsure that all stones reaching the global market do not originate from illegal mining in conflict zones, Partnership Africa Canada reported.

"The CAR actually has a very good internal tracking system," it reported.

The partnership describes itself as a coalition of Canadian and African NGOs working jointly on issues of human rights, human security and sustainable development. In its September report, it said a Kimberly Process Review Mission to CAR found that although diamond imports from the CAR "far outstripped" the country's production capacity, the main reasons for the differential were fraud and tax evasion. For example, it said, in 2002, the country produced 461,200 carats while importing countries recorded 1.3 million carats as being from the country.

However, it said, since April 2003 - the month after Francois Bozize overthrew President Ange-Felix Patasse - "a number of loopholes have been plugged, including the practice of awarding 'presidential concession' which were outside normal control procedures."

[More on the CAR diamond issue on www.pacweb.org (http://www.pacweb.org/e/pdf/other_facets_11.pdf)pdf Format]

Theme(s): (IRIN) Economy

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