afrol News, 23 May - The Antwerp-based World Diamond Council (WDC) has blamed Zimbabwe and Venezuela for their failure to cooperate with the Kimberly Process, an international effort to bar trade in conflict diamonds in the world.

WDC Chairperson, Eli Izhakoff, told a gathering of Kimberly Process members in Jerusalem yesterday that Zimbabwe and Venezuela had asked for help to become compliant.

Sierra Leone and Democratic Republic of Congo have asked Namibia for similar help, Kennedy Hamutenya, Namibia’s Minister of Mines said.

Mr Izhakoff said African countries have now realised the need to work together to stop the trade in conflict diamonds.

He admitted that it is hard to eliminate the smuggling of small but high-value diamonds, but that African countries should be credited for making significant progress over the years.

The London-based Global Witness head said although the trade in conflict diamonds were on the decline, but the compilation of statistics remains a challenging issue.

The three African countries - Central African Republic, DRC and Angola – have been regarded as the most troubling areas now.

The United Nations Security Council last month lifted a ban on Liberian diamond, much to the joy of the country’s leadership. But the Liberian Minister of Mines and Energy, Eugene Shannon, assured colleagues of fighting diamond smugglers.

By staff writer

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