In ‘Diamond controls in Venezuela: 100% KP, non-compliant,’ Venezuela’s diamond exports are avoiding Kimberley Process controls, and 100% of annual production is being smuggled out of the country. In ‘Kimberley Process 2006: Collapse averted’ PAC investigations in Brazil during 2005 and 2006 had uncovered massive diamond fraud under KP certification. A PAC study of KPCS implementation in Guyana found voluminous and systematic diamond smuggling. A UN Security Council report stated that Ghana had been certifying conflict diamonds from Côte d’Ivoire. In ‘Suddenly this winter: Diamonds, diamonds everywhere – A guide’ With the end of the worst diamond wars in Africa, the media and many of the campaigning NGOs lost interest in the diamond issue two or three years ago. A few, but not many, take an interest in the current diamond challenge: the poverty and human security issues faced by Africa’s one million-plus artisanal diamond diggers. In ‘Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana: KP takes tough stand on conflict diamonds’ a United Nations Expert Panel report released in October, stated that an estimated $9 – 23 million dollars’ worth of conflict diamonds have been exported from Côte d’Ivoire’s rebel-held diamond fields over the past year. Ivorian diamonds are under UN embargo, and are the only official source of conflict diamonds at present. The UN report stated that a significant proportion of the diamonds was being laundered through Ghana, where KPCS controls were said to be completely inadequate. ‘Conflict diamonds: What percentage?’ a war of numbers has erupted recently over the percentage of diamonds that are and were “conflict diamonds”. In ‘Blood diamond: What the reviewers say’ history has taken a lot of liberties, merging various dates and events. But it does show the horror of what Sierra Leone went through in all of its gruesome detail. As a comment on Africa, its failure to find more than a few adult Sierra Leoneans who are halfway decent only adds to a long catalogue of stereotypical films about the continent.
