Washington, DC — Wednesday's 408 to 6 vote by the House of Representatives to combat the selling of "conflict diamonds" used to finance wars or acts of terrorism may owe part of its success to a softening of the Bush Administration's opposition to the measure.
The "Clean Diamonds Act" is compromise legislation that empowers the President to sanction countries refusing to adopt a system for tracking diamonds to ensure they are from legitimate sources.
The admnistration's shift came after reports began surfacing that Osama Bin Laden and his followers made millions of dollars by purchasing raw diamonds from rebels in Sierra Leone at rock-bottom prices and then reselling them at much higher prices.
Human rights groups had wanted the act to require mandatory sanctions, but that was opposed by the administration, on grounds that it might complicate relations with nations whose cooperation is needed in the anti-terrorism fight. The administration also suggested that stringent controls might conflict with international trade rules.
"This bill will go a long way in saving lives," Rep. Tony P. Hall (D-Ohio), one of the sponsors of the House measure told fellow lawmakers during debate Tuesday. "This is an historic step to introduce transparency to the diamond trade and take the profits away from people respoonsible for carnage in Africa."
The bill has not yet been taken up by the Senate.
"The new bill includes a large degree of presidential discretion," Physicians for Human Rights said in a statement Monday. "It is our hope and expectation that the Congress's interest in stopping the flow of blood diamonds to the United States will be matched by the Bush Administration."
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Millions in Africa have been maimed or killed in civil warfare financed by the sale of diamonds.
Meanwhile, Thursday, after 20 months of often contentious talks, 30 nations meeting in Gaberone, Botswana also reached a deal on conflict diamonds that would seem to complement the House measure that passed Wednesday. The agreement requires that all shipments of rough stones contain certificates of origin. It sets up a global system to track diamonds as they are shipped from their source countries into the hands of middlemen and on to the firms that process them into polished gems.
The estimated values of worldwide rough diamond production was $7.5 billion in 2000. Of that total, about 3 percent were conflict diamonds, originating in Sierra Leone, Angola and Congo.
Two thirds of the diamonds sold worldwide are purchased in the United States.
