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Gold/Mining/Energy : SOUTHERNERA (t.SUF) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gord Bolton who wrote (3192)	5/6/1999 12:42:00 PM
From: Gord Bolton	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 7235

More diamond politics marekinc.com International Canada's ambassador to the UN, Robert Fowler, leaves for southern Africa this weekend to investigate why sanctions against UNITA's rebels are not working. Mr. Fowler is chairman of the UN Security Council's Angola sanctions committee. He intends to visit South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, the DR Congo and Angola over a three week period.He then intends to set up two panels of experts for a period of six months to investigate UNITA's illegal trade in diamonds and fuel, how it manages its finances, and the processes by which the rebels get their weapons. In the mean time, the U.S. is apparently sponsoring a resolution in the Security Council urging countries to honor the sanctions against UNITA. UNITA has questioned whether the Fowler investigation can be thorough and unbiased, suggesting that the UN does not have a good record concerning transparency in Angola. UNITA has pointed out, for example, that the UN has not yet published its report on the death of UN special envoy Beye, there has been no public report about the losses of UN Flights 806 and 806A in central Angola, and there has been precious little reporting by MONUA's Human Rights Division on the widespread human rights violations in Angola. The Government of Angola has reportedly provided Mr. Fowler with a three page letter pointing fingers of blame for gun-running to UNITA on Zambia and South Africa. On March 12, NCN pointed out that Fowler's investigation is a curious one. Fowler previously traveled to Europe and southern Africa, meeting with diamond industry officials, receiving advice from them on how to tighten the screws on UNITA, seeing the diamond monopoly led by De Beers as a central player in the sanctions process, a "linchpin." De Beers has offered to direct the attention of the UN to the specific areas where diamonds are being used to buy weapons. NCN pointed out at the time that De Beers has an interest in disrupting diamond supplies from Angola and therefore has an interest in disrupting UNITA's diamond trade. It is not clear why the Canadian ambassador is so keen on working so closely with De Beers. It is also not clear why the UN does not direct all this energy to establishing a dialog with UNITA with a view toward bringing UNITA and the dos Santos government back to the negotiating table. On the surface, it would appear that the UN has given up on the notion of any further dialog with UNITA.