Russia and West join forces to tackle trade in 'blood diamonds' despite feud over Moscow's diamonds
United States and its Western allies are feuding with Russia over its diamond production, but they joined forces Wednesday to keep supporting the Kimberley Process, which aims to eliminate the trade in "blood diamonds" that helped fuel devastating conflicts in Africa.
At a U.N. General Assembly meeting, its 193 member nations adopted a resolution by consensus recognizing that the Kimberley Process, which certifies rough diamond exports, «contributes to the prevention of conflicts fueled by diamonds» and helps the Security Council implement sanctions on the trade in conflict diamonds.
The Kimberley Process went into effect in 2003 in the aftermath of bloody civil wars in Angola, Sierra Leone and Liberia where diamonds were used by armed groups to fund the conflicts.
Zimbabwe's U.N. Ambassador Albert Chimbindi, whose country chaired the Kimberley Process in 2023, said in introducing the resolution that it would renew the General Assembly's «commitment to ensuring that diamonds remain a force for inclusive sustainable development instead of a driver of armed conflict.»
It was true in 2003 and «remains true now,» he said, that profits from the diamond trade can fuel conflicts, finance rebel movements aimed at undermining or overthrowing governments, and lead to the proliferation of illegal weapons.
The European Union's Clayton Curran told the assembly after the vote that the Kimberley Process «is facing unprecedented challenges» and condemned «the
