UN Extends Rough Diamond Ban on Cote d’Ivoire

Posted in News by Admin on October 29th, 2009

The U.N. Security Council extended sanctions another year that have long been imposed upon Côte d’Ivoire and warned that the divided nation continues to pose a threat to international peace and security for the region. The 15-member Council voted unanimously to ban exports of rough diamonds and to maintain an arms embargo. The Council pledged to review these measures again no later than three months after a free, fair and transparent presidential election is held. The schedule for an election has slipped numerous times since 2005, and is currently planned for November 29.

In a resolution written today, the Council called upon the U.N. peacekeeping operation in Côte d’Ivoire and the French forces that supports it, to fully uphold the arms embargo on the country. Independent military ‘zone commanders’ of the Force Nouvelles still control and exploit natural resources in the north of the country, providing both motive and means to sustain territorial control in northern Côte d’Ivoire, the report said.

Earlier this week a U.N. group of experts reported seven separate cases in which the government and the Forces Nouvelles acquired arms and related material in breach of the sanctions. It was particularly concerned by the systematic transfer of weapons and ammunition from neighboring Burkina Faso to the Forces Nouvelles-controlled north of the country, which may be linked to cocoa smuggling. The group also found the absence of effective border controls that allows rough diamond trade to continue from Côte d’Ivoire, and to extend, almost seamlessly, into Burkina Faso and Mali. There was additional concern that rough diamonds were being  illegally exported through Guinea and Liberia.