RoC Bows to Kimberly Ruling, Halts Diamond Exports

Following the Kimberley Process decision to remove the Republic of Congo from its list of member states, the country suspended all diamond exports in compliance with the ruling, promising to clean up its trade.

RoC’s Mines and Energy Minister, Philippe Mvouo, has reportedly told parliament last Thursday  “All export activities have been suspended,” after a KP review mission accused the country exporting millions of dollars in smuggled gems.

“The findings of the review mission are clear,” Tim Martin, chairman of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, said in a statement. “The Republic of Congo cannot account for the origin of large quantities of rough diamonds that it is officially exporting.”

The suspension of the ROC “was necessary to safeguard the credibility and integrity'” of the certification process, Martin said at the time.

Mvouo blamed artisanal producers, ‘diggers’, for being neither organized nor controlled.

No doubt worried over the loss of diamond income – mostly exporting and producing taxes estimated by Mvouo at up to 400 million CFA francs ($736,000) annually - President Denis Sassou Nguesso is pledging to purge the country's diamond trade of smugglers.