Global Policy Forum

As 45 countries engaged in the diamond trade this week signed a pact to stem the flow of "conflict" diamonds, former Unita soldiers in Capembe dug on.

In the river at Capembe women do the laundry and children splash around while the cattle take a drink and the men dig for diamonds. Fernando Jose Palanca puts down his pickaxe and stops for a break on top of the hill of grey mud that he and his colleagues have dug up from the river bed.

"The system is the same as before," he explains. "Last year there was no trade because of the war. But there was trade here before the war came to these areas." A former Unita guerrilla, Palanca now lives at Capembe, in south-eastern Angola -- one of the so-called reception centres set up for former rebel fighters and their families as part of the peace agreement signed with the Angolan government in April.

Capembe is conveniently close to the river where the men -- known as garimpeiros -- take turns hacking at the grey mud with a pickaxe, then shovelling up mounds of soil that are then washed to separate the silt from the gravel.

It was informal mining operations of this kind -- known in Angola as garimpo -- that sustained Unita's war effort after the withdrawal of direct support by South Africa and Western countries. The area around Capembe, near Mavinga in the south-eastern province of Cuando Cubango, was particularly well located for trading diamonds across the border in Zambia. Capembe and nearby Matungo are now so-called reception centres for former Unita fighters. More than 70000 demobilised soldiers and their families live in the two areas. And the diamond business has started again.

Palanca said he had found two stones but had not sold them yet, and sounded relaxed about when he would do so. "It depends who needs them. There are traders who move around and we can sell to them here, in the reception area. They have their channels -- they can contact people in other countries who need the stones."

Late last year, before the war ended, Angolan Deputy Minister of Mining, Antonio Sumbula, admitted that $1-million worth of diamonds were leaving Angola illegally each day. Sumbula said only a small part of this trade was being conducted to the benefit of Unita, but independent observers had little doubt that despite United Nations-sponsored sanctions the then rebel army was benefiting substantially from the trade right up until the last months of the war.

Two months ago General Abreu Muengo Kamorteiro -- the former Unita chief of staff who is now deputy chief of staff in the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) -- said "the days were numbered" for former Unita soldiers who are still engaged in illegal diamond digging. But at Capembe and Matungo, garimpo continues with the tacit approval of the officers, from both Unita and the FAA, who oversee the camps.

In 1999 the Angolan government created Ascorp, a 51% state-owned corporation with a legally enforceable monopoly on diamond transactions in the country. One of the reasons for its establishment was to assert control over the activities of the garimpeiros, at a time when the FAA was starting to win back diamond-producing areas formally controlled by Unita.

Ascorp representatives did not respond to enquiries about the situation in the Mavinga areas, but the company is reportedly trying to extend its reach into areas that remained under Unita control until the last months of the war. It is clear, however, that Ascorp has not yet reached Capembe.

The Unita officer in charge of Capembe, Colonel Raul de Almeida, seemed never to have heard of the corporation. "If someone comes along, they will sell, but there is no marketing system," he insisted.

Individual garimpeiros confirmed that they are free to sell to any willing buyer. "I can't say exactly who is receiving money, but the trade is free," said diamond digger Justino André.

There is no apparent logic to the location of the two "reception centres". The sites are more than 40km over sand tracks from the nearest airstrip, in Mavinga, and the transport of emergency food supplies to the two camps has been one of the larger challenges faced by humanitarian organisations in Angola.

Some diplomats in Luanda have speculated that the diamond-rich rivers may have been the real reason for Unita's choice of location.

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