Sun City (South Africa): War-ravaged but diamond-rich Liberia appears eager to become party to the Kimberley Process, an international system to outlaw the trade in illicit diamonds.

Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sierra Leone — countries that also have a record of using diamonds to fund and fuel conflict — have already been included.

“We are still gathering statistics. The reduction of the trade in conflict diamonds, can be quantified in terms of the number of countries,” said outgoing Kimberley Process chairman, Abbey Chikane.

However, the positive effects of having hotspots on the world’s conflict or “blood” diamond scene like the four countries were imminent, he said on Friday.

“Liberia can’t be party to the process. They have in the past made an appeal that they participate. But unless the ban is lifted, they cannot be admitted,” he said.

Because of its political situation, Liberia is the subject of United Nation-imposed sanctions that include an embargo on its trade in rough diamonds.

Similar bans have been lifted in Angola, the DRC and Sierra Leone where diamonds been at the centre of bloody conflict between rebels, governments and countries.

Chikane was speaking at the end of three-day review of the Kimberley Process attended by about 70 countries representing the world’s major diamond producers, traders and markets.

“For now, if applicants do not comply, we in the Kimberley Process will have to do everything in our power to assist them to meet the minimum requirements,” he said.

One of the key minimum requirements of the system that came into effect in February is the adherence to an international certification scheme by which the origins and movements of rough diamonds can be traced.

On Friday the conference adopted a voluntary peer review system that will allow for peer review missions to monitor the progress of individual participants, said Chikane.

“The missions will be sent to countries participating in the process with the view on the certification scheme,” he said.

By Friday 45 countries had adopted the system — with applications by Togo, Romania and Bulgaria being accepted at the conference held at the Sun City holiday resort north west of Johannesburg.

Canada was elected to chair the Kimberley Process, that is named for the mining town of Kimberley in South Africa — the country that initiated

the system at the end of 2000 and hosted its first review in April.

South African diamond giants De Beers on Friday praised the South African government for its involvement in the initiative saying it was vital that the diamond industry support the process.

The Process remains a unique collaboration between governments, industry and NGOs,” De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer said in a statement.

It is estimated that conflict diamonds account for about four per cent of production and trade in rough diamonds globally.—dpa