News Bureau

June 20, 2018

CAR struggles for diamond exports

Lift up a ban & allow CAR diamond export!

At the juncture of 2018 KP Intersessional Meeting is going on & CAR struggles for diamond exports! Under the leadership of this year’s chair, the European Union, the KP Intersessional should manage to resume CAR’s diamond export. To halt any country’s economy could not be a solution but this can be an encouragement for smugglers to find its’ way.

According to Reuters despite a partial lifting of a ban on its diamond exports, the Central African Republic (CAR) is struggling to restore sales and seeing only a fraction of the tax revenue it once did, its mining minister said in an interview. As a member of the 81-nation Kimberley Process which certifies ethical diamond exports, CAR was banned from exporting diamonds in 2013 after rebels seized power.

In 2016, the ban was partly lifted, with CAR allowed to resume sales from five “green zones” from which the then newly-elected government could enforce the Kimberley Process to certify diamonds are conflict-free.

Mines Minister Leopold Mboli Fatrane told Reuters in a telephone interview the country needs more help including training, as the demands of Kimberley Process administration are holding up shipments for between three and six months.

“It’s a country of conflict. The situation has affected a lot of people, notably the mining sector, which is more than 20 percent of the population,” the minister said, adding the country needed flexibility and practical help to enforce the Kimberley Process. So far this year, Fatrane said official diamond sales of just over $2 million have generated $27,180 in taxes, suggesting the CAR will fall far short of last year’s sales which he said came to around $7.6 million and raised $361,493 in taxes.

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