* Trade helped fuel Liberia’s 1989-2003 civil war
* Report says Liberia’s capacity to regulate weak
* Liberia issuing forestry permits with limited obligations
By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 11 (Reuters) – Liberia is showing only
limited commitment to efforts to stop the trade in blood
diamonds that has fueled conflicts in Africa, U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report on Tuesday.
The report to the U.N. Security Council said Liberia’s
capacity to control diamond mining and trade – a vital part of
the global Kimberly Process agreed in 2003 to regulate the $30
billion rough-diamond industry – remained weak.
It said Liberia’s presidential taskforce on diamonds had not
met in a year, while its technical committee convened in July
for the first time in seven months.
“Limited commitment to comply with the minimum standards of
the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme for Rough Diamonds
remains apparent,” the report said.
It said the U.S. Agency for International Development had
signaled it would stop funding a program to help the Liberian
government improve compliance with the Kimberley Process, partly
due to Liberia’s lack of commitment to the scheme.
Continued…
