Ivory Coast to Request Lifting of Diamond Export Ban
March 06, 14 (IDEX Online News) – Ivory Coast is to urge the United Nations to lift its ban on its diamond exports following a positive report from the Kimberley Process (KP), according to Reuters. Ivory Coast in the only country to have a UN export ban on diamonds.
The trade embargo was imposed by the UN Security Council in 2005 following a civil war that took place in Ivory Coast from 2003-2005 that divided the country. The ban was imposed to stop money from diamond sales being used to purchase arms.
Fatimata Thes, the official in charge of the diamond sector at Ivory Coast's Mining Ministry, said the government, led by President Alassane Ouattara, had implemented a system to register diamond workers and track production. She said some 10,000 carats had been stockpiled in preparation for the lifting of the ban. She also said that the lifting of the ban would help the country in its fight against poverty.
"In April, we'll be in New York with the ministers of Industry and Mines to show what efforts we've made and demand the lifting of this embargo which is hurting our population," Thes said, as quoted by Reuters.
Before the embargo, Ivory Coast produced about 300,000 carats of diamonds a year, worth $25 million, experts say.