UN Panel Says Illegal Diamond Trafficking Still Financing CAR Conflict

(IDEX Online News) – The ongoing conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR) is still being partially funded by the illegal trafficking of diamonds into neighboring countries, including Cameroon and Chad.

The Kimberley Process (KP) banned the export of rough diamonds from CAR in May 2013.

In its report, the CAR sanctions committee, the U.N. Security Council's panel of experts says that all sides in the conflict are profiting from the trade in diamonds, with an estimated 140,000 carats of diamonds, worth $24 million, having been smuggled out of the country since the export ban was put in place, reports Reuters.  

Among the incidents highlighted in the report is a case of 40-carat stone being smuggled out through the Cameroonian town of Kenzou.

Despite the movement through Cameroon, the report does not directly implicate Cameroon authorities in the trade.

The report recommends that the Security Council urge transitional CAR authorities to suspend diamond-trading houses that purchase the gems from areas "under direct or indirect control of armed groups," reports Reuters.