UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council lifted a nearly decade-old embargo on Ivory Coast’s international diamond trade Tuesday and also relaxed its arms embargo there.

The diamond embargo was declared in 2005 because the stones were helping fund the Forces Nouvelles rebels that controlled the north of the country after a failed coup attempt in 2002 against then-president Laurent Gbagbo.

However, the diamond trade is now regulated by the Kimberley Process, of which Ivory Coast is a member, and the UN oversight is seen as redundant.

A resolution adopted by the body’s 15 member states terminates “the measures preventing the importation by any state of all rough diamonds from Cote d’Ivoire... in light of progress made towards Kimberley Process Certification.”

According to figures from the European Union, Ivory Coast extracts between 50,000 and 300,000 carats (1 carat = 0.2 grams) of diamonds a year, well behind the world’s top producers. Between 200,000 to 300,000 Ivorians make their living from diamonds, mostly as small-scale miners.

The draft resolution also relaxes the UN arms embargo on Ivory Coast. Heavy weapons would remain under strict controls, but, under the proposed changes, small caliber weapons would be allowed to be supplied to police and gendarmes under prior notification.

Opinion

Editorial

Killing fields
Updated 09 Jul, 2025

Killing fields

Israeli state seeks to ethnically cleanse the occupied territories of their Palestinian inhabitants, and forever obstruct the chances of a viable Palestinian state.
Crypto rush
09 Jul, 2025

Crypto rush

STEP by step, Pakistan is, at least on paper, moving closer to recognising, adopting and regulating cryptocurrencies...
Another plan
09 Jul, 2025

Another plan

FAILING to plan is planning to fail, as the old saying goes. This seems to have occurred in the case of Karachi, a...
Green tokenism
Updated 08 Jul, 2025

Green tokenism

Climate decisions must be based on facts, not politics — guided by independent science and open to public scrutiny.
Cotton decline
08 Jul, 2025

Cotton decline

PAKISTAN’S cotton economy is in a crisis. Production has fallen from a peak of 14m bales 10 years ago to 5.5m ...
Pet problems
08 Jul, 2025

Pet problems

PAKISTANIS’ obsession with exotic pets keeps ending in tragedy. Incidents like the recent lion attack in a Lahore...