Diamonds buy many friends - and support Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi and UNITA

New Internationalist, Sept, 2000

Jonas Savimbi, the Angolan rebel leader who was once armed and supported by the CIA, fights on with the support of several African leaders, a Lebanese arms broker, a Belgian diamond merchant and many Eastern European dealers, according to a UN report. Savimbi has bought such allies through the sale of Angolan diamonds in violation of a UN embargo, says a panel established by the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee.

The report is particularly critical of the Belgian authorities in Antwerp, the world's diamond-trading centre, stating that `extremely lax controls and regulations' encourage illicit activities. It recommends imposing sanctions against countries, individuals and companies that violate the embargo and calls for a `very substantial bounty' for those who track or identify assets controlled by members of Savimbi's rebel group, UNITA.