VARIOUS: DELEGATES FROM DIAMOND-PRODUCING COUNTRIES MEET IN SOUTH AFRICA TO TRY AND HALT TRADE IN "BLOOD DIAMONDS".

Record ID: 483548

  • Title: VARIOUS: DELEGATES FROM DIAMOND-PRODUCING COUNTRIES MEET IN SOUTH AFRICA TO TRY AND HALT TRADE IN "BLOOD DIAMONDS".
  • Date: 31st October 2003
  • Summary: (W5) SUN CITY, SOUTH AFRICA (OCTOBER 31, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: EXTERIOR OF THE LOST CITY, SUN CITY 0.04 2. CU: SCULPTURES OF WILD ANIMALS AROUND THE ENTRANCE 0.09 3. GV/MV: VARIOUS OF THE DELEGATION AROUND THE CONFERENCE HALLS (2 SHOTS) 0.15 4. MV: DELEGATES PICKING UP CONFERENCE MATERIAL 0.18 5. MCU: FLAGS OF MANY COUNTRIES IN CONFERENCE HALL 0.22 6. MV/GV: VARIOUS OF CONFERENCE IN SESSION (3 SHOTS) 0.30 (W5) RIVER AREA, ANGOLA (FILE) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 7. VARIOUS: AERIAL OF HUGE AREA BEING OPEN-CAST MINED BY UNLICENSED MINERS; VARIOUS OF UNLICENSED MINERS DIGGING OPEN-CAST MINES; VARIOUS OF MINERS SIFTING PEBBLES FOR DIAMONDS (6 SHOTS) 0.53 (W5)SUN CITY, SOUTH AFRICA (OCTOBER 31, 2003) (REUTERS -ACCESS ALL) 8. SOUNDBITE (English) CAMPAIGNER ON DIAMONDS FOR GLOBAL WITNESS ALEX YEARSLEY SAYING: "Really the entire diamond industry has changed forever, and for the better. There's still a long way to go, a lot of improvement to be made. But now you won't be able to see what happened in the 1990's in Angola and Sierra Leone, were rebels such as UNITA were able to make hundreds of millions of dollars worth of diamonds a year, buy huge amounts of arms." 1.11 (EU)FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE (FILE) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 9. GV/MV/GV: SOLDIERS WITH MACHINE GUNS PATROLLING STREETS; SMOKE RISING FROM BUILDING (3 SHOTS) 1.26 (W5) JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (FILE) (VNR - ACCESS ALL) 10. MV/CU: DIAMOND CUTTERS FROM DE BEERS; CLOSE-UP OF SOME DIAMONDS BEING CUT AT DE BEERS FACTORY (5 SHOTS) 1.50 (EU) KISANGANI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (FILE) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 11. GV/CU/GV: DRC SOLDIERS ARRESTING REBELS AT AIRPORT; ARMS SEIZED FROM REBELS; TANK MOVING ALONG STREET (3 SHOTS) 2.07 (EU)ANTWERP, BELGIUM (FILE) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 12. VARIOUS: TRADERS AND DEALERS AT DIAMONDS HIGH COUNCIL (6 SHOTS) 2.34 (EU)TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (OCTOBER 30, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 13. GV/PAN: PAN OF TRADING HALL AT ISRAEL DIAMOND EXCHANGE 2.51 14. MCU/CU: DIAMONDS BEING WEIGHED; CLOSE-UP CARAT COUNT ON SCALE; CLOSE OF FIFTEEN CARAT LOOSE DIAMOND (3 SHOTS) 3.15 15. GV: SHMUEL SCHNITZER, PRESIDENT OF ISRAEL DIAMOND EXCHANGE, PRESIDENT OF WORLD DIAMOND FORCES SEATED AT INTERVIEW 3.22 16. SOUNDBITE (English) SHMUEL SCHNITZER, PRESIDENT OF ISRAEL DIAMOND EXCHANGE AND PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD FEDERATION OF DIAMOND FORCES, SAYING: "We are going to tighten the monitoring on the Kimberley process systems, so we should come to a situation soon where there will be no opportunity for anyone who wants to violate the Kimberley process regulations to succeed. In other words, every single diamond that will be exported from Africa, Russia, Canada, never mind what diamonds are produced, if it is not coming with a Kimberley process certificate, meaning that it is conflict-free for sure, this stone will not be able to enter any of the manufacturing centres in the world, not in Israel, Belgium, South Africa, etc.. We feel that now everything is closed, there is no chance for the conflict diamonds to spread anywhere." 4.23 17. LV: WIDE OF ISRAELI DIAMOND TRADING EXCHANGE 4.26 (EU) LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 18. GV/PAN/MV/CU: INTERIOR JEWELLERS SHOP; CUSTOMER BEING SHOWN RING; CLOSE UP OF PEARL RING FRAMED WITH DIAMONDS (3 SHOTS) 5.03 19. GV/PAN/CU: DIAMOND CUTTERS AT WORK; DIAMOND AND PEARL EARRINGS ON WORK BENCH (3 SHOTS) 5.37 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 15th November 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SUN CITY AND JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA/ RIVER, ANGOLA/KISANGANI, DR CONGO/FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE/ANTWERP, BELGIUM/TEL AVIV, ISRAEL/LONDON,UNITED KINGDOM
  • City:
  • Country: Angola Belgium England South Africa United Kingdom Sierra Leone Israel
  • Reuters ID: LVA1QWI0CI5DWYETGTWTTU647ZRZ
  • Story Text: A global group of diamond-producing countries
    meeting in South Africa has set new measures to stem the
    trade in "blood diamonds"


    Delegates to the three-day meeting in Sun City said
    on Friday (October 31) that their decisions were helping to
    stem conflicts by halting the trade of "blood diamonds" - a
    major source of funds for rebels across the continent.

    "Blood", or conflict diamonds have funded wars in
    countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola and the Congo,
    in recent years.

    The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, set up
    this year after three years of negotiations, is aimed at
    stopping altogether the trade in "blood" or "conflict
    diamonds".

    A U.N. report on the stripping of natural resources in
    the Democratic Republic of the Congo this week named
    several well known international companies as complicit in
    the trade.

    Diamond giant De Beers has said it was outraged by the
    report, which links the
    firm to the sale of "blood diamonds" from the Congo and
    said it had no control over where clients bought the
    precious stones.

    Members of the Kimberley Process group, which includes
    some 70 producer and importer countries, industry players
    including De Beers and non-governmental organisations,
    passed a pact paving the way for individual countries to
    volunteer for review by their peers.

    On the fringes of the meeting the diamond-rich
    Democratic Republic of Congo said it signed a pact with
    neighbouring Congo Republic on Friday which it hopes will
    stamp out illegal trade on possibly the world's biggest
    diamond smuggling route.

    The DRC's minister of mines has said his country had
    the capacity to export 750 million U.S. dollars worth of
    uncut diamonds a year.

    Formerly rebel-held areas, now officially under
    government control as war subsides, could yield another 50
    million U.S. dollars worth of stones, crucial for the
    devastated country as it seeks to rebuild after five years
    of war, estimated to have killed three million people.

    "Really the entire diamond industry has changed
    forever, and for the better. There's still a long way to
    go, a lot of improvement to be made. But now you won't be
    able to see what happened in the 1990's in Angola and
    Sierra Leone, were rebels such as UNITA were able to make
    hundreds of millions of dollars worth of diamonds a year,
    buy huge amounts of arms", said Alex Yearsley from watchdog
    group Global Witness.

    In Tel Aviv, President of the Israeli Diamond
    Exchange Shmuel Schnitzler said "We are going to tighten
    the monitoring on the Kimberley process systems, so we
    should come to a situation soon where there will be no
    opportunity for anyone who wants to violate the Kimberley
    process regulations to succeed. In other words, every
    single diamond that will be exported from Africa, Russia,
    Canada, never mind what diamonds are produced, if it is not
    coming with a Kimberley process certificate, meaning that
    it is conflict-free for sure, this stone will not be able
    to enter any of the manufacturing centres in the world, not
    in Israel, Belgium, South Africa, etc.. We feel that now
    everything is closed, there is no chance for the conflict
    diamonds to spread anywhere."



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