Diamonds are a Force for Positive Change

“We continue to prudently manage the revenue from the sale of diamonds and to effectively use such revenue to educate our people, provide potable water, health care and build a network of infrastructure such as roads, telephones and rural electricity,” Botswana’s Foreign Minister Mompati S. Merafhe told the U. N. General Assembly this week.

Merafhe was in New York for the U.N.’s 61st annual meeting. “This is the good that diamonds have and continue to do,” he told the assembly.

With 65 percent of the world's diamonds mined in Africa, Merafhe stressed the importance of the diamond trade to African countries including Botswana. “Diamonds have and continue to do good in Botswana. The diamond industry in Botswana has been at the cutting edge of human development and transforming lives for the better, in all fields of human endeavor.”

During a visit to Japan this summer, Botswana’s president delivered the same message to one of his countries biggest diamond clients.

In recent months countries and organizations, including De Beers, are emphasizing the economic benefits these countries derive from diamond mining. Among the benefits they cite are free education and health care. The southern African countries, where diamond mining is regulated, fear that talk in the West about Conflict Diamonds will cause a decrease in retail sales, resulting in an economic downturn.