By Charles W. Corey
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Bipartisan representatives from the U.S. Congress joined with 73 non-governmental organizations February 14 to protest the worldwide trade in "conflict" or "blood" diamonds, which is fueling several wars in central Africa.

At a news conference at the National Press Club, the lawmakers and NGO representatives, along with several Africans, also called for congressional passage of The Clean Diamonds Act, soon to be introduced as legislation before Congress, which seeks to prevent illegal trade in diamonds.

"Conflict" or "blood" diamonds are those mined in territory now under rebel control. They are then sold illegally to buy arms, many of which are used against civilian populations in the central African region.

In outlining the legislation, Democratic Congressman Tony Hall said the bill "insists that America's trading partners enforce laws against illegal smuggling so that American consumers stop unwittingly underwriting the wars over diamonds," which are supporting conflicts in Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Angola.

Hall, a longtime advocate for human rights, famine relief, and humanitarian causes, said the legislation "aims to bring relief to the victims of these wars" by designating that any contraband seized entering the U.S. market can be sold - - to pay for prosthetic limbs and microcredit projects and to provide other relief to war victims.

The legislation, he said, would also impose civil and criminal penalties stiffer than those in draft legislation proposed earlier by the diamond industry. The act would establish an independent presidential commission to provide consumers with a seal of approval, certifying that their diamonds have not come from Africa's war zones, Hall added.

Hall said that many Americans, who "see diamonds as tokens of love, commitment, and glamour, are amazed to learn that many are really symbols of butchery, amputations, sexual slavery, rapes," and the forced servitude of children in rebel gangs.

"Today," he noted, "soldiers and rebels will earn approximately $37 million trading blood diamonds and tomorrow they will earn" the same amount. According to figures supplied at the press conference, the rebels earn an estimated $200 million a year in revenue by trading illicit diamonds, which is used to fuel the senseless wars.

The legitimate diamond industry, Hall said, claims it is "horrified" by "blood" diamonds. But in his opinion the reality is that the industry is "terrified" that its image might be tarnished by the illegal trafficking and the resultant suffering by innocent civilians.

Seven months ago, Hall recalled, the diamond industry vowed to cooperate with African leaders to end the trade in conflict diamonds. "It made a solemn vow to act immediately, and it promised the human rights community a watertight system no later than Christmas 2000. That has not happened," Hall said, adding that "we are not even past the talk phase at a time when tens of thousands or more refugees are facing misery and death as these wars widen."

According to Hall, "Rebels could not have turned their contraband diamonds into ready cash without this industry's complicity."

Americans can do something about the trade in blood diamonds, because Americans buy 65 percent of all diamonds marketed worldwide, Hall said.

Joining Hall on the podium were conservative Republican Congressman Frank Wolf of Virginia and Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney of Georgia.

Wolf pledged to do all he could to gain passage of the legislation, and he called on the Bush administration and Secretary of State Colin Powell to immediately "address this issue. Too many people have suffered and continue to suffer."

Since 1998, he said, soldiers of nine African countries "have been battling in the Congo" for the diamonds. "All sides are participating," he said, with "allies even fighting allies within the Congo borders" over them.

Cargo planes full of diamonds are taking off daily from Kisangani and Goma and are returning with arms purchased with the revenue from those diamonds, Wolf charged.

Muctarr Jalloh, a 27-year-old victim of the warfare in Sierra Leone, also spoke in support of the legislation.

Jalloh was caught by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in Kono on April 19, 1998. He said the rebels amputated his right arm above his right wrist and cut off his right ear because he was a student and, as such, a "perceived enemy" of the rebel group.

Jalloh, his right hand now a steel hook, said the war in Sierra Leone is "not tribal or religious" as some have suggested. It is "simply a war over diamonds." But the revenue those precious stones produce, he said, has brought "no joy or prosperity to my country, but only pain, misery, and poverty."

More than 20,000 innocent men, women, and children have been mutilated by the RUF in the pursuit of diamonds, he said, adding that none of them did anything to deserve the injuries they sustained in the fighting.

"Living a normal life in Sierra Leone can never be possible as long as blood diamonds" can be exported illegally, he said. If Americans stop buying the diamonds, he said, "the war will end today."

Jalloh was accompanied by a four-year-old girl and an eight-year-old girl. Both had had an arm hacked off above the elbow by rebels in Freetown in 1999.

A representative from Amnesty International -- one of the NGOs that sponsored the event and have endorsed the soon-to-be-introduced legislation -- cited diamond industry statistics showing that just 4 percent of the industry's worldwide output can be classified as "conflict" or "blood" diamonds.

If that is so, he said, it should be worth controlling 4 percent of the industry's profits to "stop children from experiencing a lifetime of misery."

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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