Officials from Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) met in Dundo, Angola, to discuss issues related to the Kimberly Process (KP) in both countries.
Angop quoted Lunda Norte governor, Ernesto Muangala, as saying that Angola was an example of how KP had contributed to the elimination of the so-called blood diamond, which in the past supported several armed conflicts in Africa.
He said that the diamonds that were once used to finance armed conflicts were now being exploited to boost national reconstruction programmes.
The two-day meeting sponsored by Endiama looked at issues related to the identification of areas of cooperation, illegal immigration in areas of diamond exploitation which poses a threat to national security, cross-border trafficking and the fight against fraud and money laundering.
The Angolan police recently arrested 37 immigrants who were illegally mining diamonds in the central Bié Province.
The immigrants were from the Democratic Republic Congo (DRC), Mali and Congo Brazzaville.
The country’s minister of Geology and Mining, Francisco Queiroz told Rough & Polished last February that illegal immigrants were flooding mining regions.
He said that had brought management difficulties.
Queiroz also said that $150 million was being lost through illegal diamond mining and trading per annum in the country.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
