Angola Rounds up Foreign Diamond Prospectors

Angolan security forces have arrested 89 illegal diamond prospectors in the central Bie province, the Angola Press reports. The captured prospectors were rounded up in what has become a routine police operation in the area.

They included 68 people from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, six from Mali, five from Mauritania, three from South Africa, two from Chad, one from the Ivory Coast, and one from Gambia. The nationalities of the other arrested prospectors were not released.

Diamond-rich Angola, one of Africa's main diamond producers, last year deported around 300,000 illegal immigrants, mostly from the DRC, accused of smuggling diamonds from the main diamond area of Luanda Norte province.

Angolan Mining Minister Manuel Africano has said the country is losing $1 million a day through the illegal trade in diamonds.

Angola launched a controversial crackdown on illegal immigrants said to be involved in illicit diamond dealing in December 2003 and so far almost 500,000 people have been deported.

However, neighboring governments, the United Nations and human rights groups have all complained about the crackdown, accusing Angolan security forces of brutality in implementing the deportations. There have been reports that some women and children had been raped and forced to walk long distances without food or water.