Liberia Accepted into Kimberley Process, May Export Rough Diamonds

Following the United Nations Security Council’s decision to remove the ban on Liberia’s rough diamonds, the African country was admitted as a participant in the Kimberley Process. The European Community, the current chair of the Kimberley Process, announced the decision on Friday.

The UN ruling came after an expert mission to the country concluded that Liberia had met the conditions for admission into the Process. 

Now that the diamond embargo has been lifted, and the country admitted to the Kimberley Process, Liberia will be able to export its rough diamonds legally to other KP members. The KP chair, however, noted that Liberia will continue to be closely monitored. 

This leaves Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) as the only diamond producing country subject to UN diamond sanctions.

“This first concrete achievement of the Kimberley Process in 2007 demonstrates the Commission's commitment to move forward in ensuring that diamond trade promotes peaceful development rather than fuels conflict,” said the EC’s Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

Liberia has been subject to UN diamond sanctions for six years, because of its civil war, financed in large part by conflict diamonds from Liberia and neighboring Sierra Leone.