As the doors to legal trade swung shut, neighbouring Cameroon became an outlet for laundering Central African Republic diamonds into the global marketplace. Cameroon had only joined the Kimberley Process in 2012, and the government launched campaigns in the border towns to educate Kimberley Process officials about spotting conflict diamonds. When the conflict broke out in 2013, the country was exporting $62.1-million a year in rough diamonds, which was its leading export. Here in Kentzou, hundreds of Muslims like him collect and sell Central African diamonds from areas controlled by the Muslim militia Seleka. “With a potential Cameroonian diamond production of only 5 000 carats, these almost certainly include Central African diamonds,” IPIS said in its report, Diamonds in the Central African Republic.

Source: The North Africa Journal September 07, 2016 13:14 UTC