Angola Beefs Up Security to Prevent Illegal Diamond Mining

Angolan authorities are strengthening security along its 5,000-kilometer border to prevent illegal diamond prospecting, says Jorge Antunes, Luanda’s border police commander.

Antunes says that by the end of April a new cordon will cover about 90 percent of the frontier.

In an interview on Angola’s national radio Antunes said the cordon would be made up of border posts linked by roads, which will be patrolled by about 4,000 specially trained border policemen.

According to the Angolan government, of roughly 290,000 diamond traffickers in the country, 90,000 are foreigners coming from the DRC, Mali, Senegal and Sierra Leone.

Last December the Angolan army started a campaign against diamond traffickers, arresting some 700, half of which were foreigners.

Human rights groups have criticized the army for the treatment the arrested diamond smugglers have been treated.