Supermodel Naomi Campbell, recently in the news for her appearance at the war crimes tribunal for former Liberian President Charles Taylor over her alleged receipt of conflict diamonds from him, is back in the news again in connection with diamonds. Russian Oligarch Vladislav Doronin apparently gave Ms. Campbell a diamond necklace worth over $200,000 for [...]
pLiberias Presidential Task Force on Diamonds has decided to intensify its work and to examine how to implement recommendations from last Octobers Kimberley Process review mission report and the report of the Panel of Experts on Liberia, which was presented in December 2009. Both reports note that implementation of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme has [...]
The lack of a coherent and committed international approach to tackling the role of natural resources in conflict is costing lives in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and heightening the risk of further unrest in other fragile states such as C?te d’Ivoire and Guinea, according to a new report from Global Witness. Drawing on Global [...]
Roy M. Belfast Jr., also known as Chuckie Taylor, Charles Taylor Jr., Charles Taylor II and Charles McArther Emmanuel, has been ordered to pay over $22 million in damages to five Liberians who were tortured during the country’s civil war. Taylor Jr. was sentenced to 97 years in prison for crimes related to the torture [...]
The Security Council, which has renewed for 12 months its travel ban on persons deemed to be a threat to the peace in Liberia and readjusted its arms embargo to allow the Liberian Government, as well as the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the country, to receive certain military material for the same time period, [...]
Liberia’s Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy has responded to two separate stories in a recent edition of the New Democrat and Public Agenda newspapers, respectively captioned, “Resource Misuse Conflict Factor – Global Witness” and “Improper Financial Controls at MLME Threaten Liberia’s Reconstruction”. Both papers cite a statement they said was issued by Global Witness [...]
Kimberley Process members must act on the overwhelming evidence of Zimbabwe’s failure to comply with the minimum requirements of the rough diamond certification scheme, say civil society groups, ahead of the Kimberley Process’ annual meeting in Namibia. The Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition, whose members include Global Witness, Partnership Africa Canada and Green Advocates (Liberia), [...]
Today’s Charity Auction held at Christie’s will be the first fundraiser for F.A.C.E.T. (For Africa’s Children Every Time), which was established by Laurence Graff to help address some of the continent’s problems by giving back to the countries from where many of our magnificent diamonds originate, therefore offering opportunities to the youth of Africa. The [...]
The Security Council has extended the mandates for one year of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Liberia and the world body’s peacebuilding office in neighbouring Sierra Leone, both diamond-rich countries. In its unanimously-adopted resolution on the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), the Council authorized the force to assist the West African nation with the [...]
Several countries, namely Angola, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe, appear in the recently released United States Department of Labor report on Child Labor. Angola The report explains that some children in rural areas work in artisanal diamond mining, noting that “Congolese children are [...]
A new transparency law signed by President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, covering oil extraction, mining and other natural resource industries, sets an impressive benchmark for global efforts to fight the natural resource curse and should be emulated by other countries, says NGO Global Witness. The Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (1) Act (LEITI Act), [...]
Mano River Resources Inc. and African Aura Resources Ltd. have entered into the definitive combination agreement in respect of their proposed merger. Mano River will offer 1.57 Mano River shares for every one African Aura share in order to acquire the entire issued share capital of African Aura. The transaction is structured as a merger [...]