Liberia lifts its moratorium on diamond mining

“As of Monday, people can start applying for mining, selling and broker licenses” for the stones, Deputy Minister of Lands, Mines and Energy Minister Kpandeh Fayia told The Associated Press on Saturday.

Liberia’s diamonds came under U.N. sanctions in May 2001, when ex-President Charles Taylor’s government was accused of using revenues from the stones to fuel war in neighboring Sierra Leone. In an effort to show compliance, the Liberian government placed a moratorium on all mining activities across the country.

The U.N. lifted the sanctions in late April, citing steps taken by the country’s postwar government to ensure regulation.

Liberia’s export industry traditionally has been overwhelmingly dominated by rubber and timber, with diamonds being a relatively minor component. Government officials estimated that, before the imposition of sanctions, about US$600,000 (euro440,000) worth of the gems were being smuggled out of the country annually, with very little going through legal export channels.

In early May, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf formally opened 10 diamond screening and evaluation office in the country, marking the first step toward restarting the industry. The regional diamond offices are supposed to be responsible for recording any diamonds purchased under the new scheme, and for taxing the transactions.

Liberia was wracked by more than a decade of on-and-off fighting that ended in 2003 with Taylor’s ouster in a several-year rebel war. As part of a peace deal, he went into exile in Nigeria.

Taylor is currently in jail facing war crimes charges at a U.N.-backed court in The Hague stemming from his alleged backing of Sierra Leone’s rebels, who terrorized victims by chopping off their arms, legs, ears and lips. His trial is being held in the Netherlands because of fears it could trigger renewed violence in Sierra Leone if it were held there.

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