Angola's Elite Continue to Enjoy Diamond Wealth

The economic benefits of the Angolan diamond industry continue to be enjoyed by a tiny privileged while residents of the country’s diamond-rich areas report a feeling of exclusion from the wealth created by the sector, according to a report by South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies (ISS).

The report, entitled War, Peace and Diamonds in Angola: Popular Perceptions of the Diamond Industry in the Lundas, said that few if any steps have been taken to satisfactorily regulate the diamond trade since the end of the civil war in 2002.

The ISS report said that the administration of the country’s diamond industry continues to show many of the features it displayed in the years of armed conflict when diamond territories “were both a prize and a weapon in the civil war".

The UNITA rebel group's control of mineral assets during the 27-year war is cited as a major reason for its ability to prolong its opposition to government forces.

According to the ISS study, many in the northern diamond-rich Lunda provinces felt the authorities discriminated against them by not issuing diamond-buying licenses and said that instead of providing jobs for locals they employed workers from other parts of the country.

Residents of the Lunda provinces also believe that many of the area's diamonds were being illegally exported.

Unable to find legal employment, most of the locals in the diamond industry became diamond diggers and were frequently harassed by government troops or private security firms protecting the diamond fields.

The report also identified the dubious part in the diamond trade played by security forces where senior army officers in charge of mining operations allegedly used soldiers to defend their personal interests.

The ISS also said there were almost no social services in the diamond-rich areas and despite announcements of social responsibility programs by many foreign companies there was scant evidence of any such investment in the areas.

Meanwhile, the report also criticized the efficacy of the Kimberley Process that was established to prevent conflict diamonds from reaching the global trade.