EA’s unholy nexus: Diamonds, guns and money-laundering

They have a very high value to weight ratio and can be easily transported. Flows of funds from diamonds cannot be easily accounted for.

Widespread smuggling renders official export data misleading.

Data derived from imports by partner countries are not reliable either since many diamonds are smuggled to third countries before being officially shipped to diamond centres.

The UN Panel of Experts on Illegal Exploitation of the DRC have repeatedly reported on Congolese troops and militias connected to Ugandan politicians and military collaborators operating extortion and racketeering networks.

Militias responsible for plunder are sometimes disbanded, only to be replaced again and again by new military networks.

Christian Lukusha, an expert with Justice Plus, a human-rights NGO based in Bunia, reports that, “The Congolese military works with Ugandans, including senior government oficials. And they ship timber and minerals across the border at both Arua and Mahagi. It’s completely clandestine.”

A peculiar feature of the mining industry in the DRC is that poorly controlled artisanal mining, especially widespread in the Kasai region, accounts for 70 per cent of the national diamond production.

Thus, in spite of being the world’s third-largest diamond producer in terms of output, the country is ranked only seventh in terms of value.

The rebel-held area accounts for about half of the country, with illegal exports of gold, diamonds and various agricultural products used to finance ongoing instability and looting.

According to the Panel of Experts report of October 16, 2002 Uganda had set up a “Congo desk” run by a Lebanese diamond merchant. An Israeli diamond dealer then took over from him. Later still, the “Congo Desk” replaced the Israeli with a Lebanese, backed by comptoirs (middlemen) in Kisangani.

In addition, Rwanda has had a military presence in eastern DRC since 1996.

Likewise establishing informal networks to plunder, extort, and terrorise, top Rwandan officials transport diamonds from Kigali to Belgium on an international airline.

Mafia networks of Lebanese and Indian traders, many of them reorganised remnants of the Mobutu era, act as middlemen, backed by a variety of military structures.

Diamonds enter the international market through Belgian, Israeli and Russian buyers.

Many of these buyers work for the multinational diamond conglomerates, concerns such as Lazare Kaplan, De Beers, and Emaxon.