Experts examine Congo's efforts to stop blood diamonds

By Christian Tsoumou

BRAZZAVILLE (Reuters) - International experts trying to stop "blood diamonds" funding wars are visiting Congo Republic this week to assess its efforts to legalise diamond trading, a mines official said on Wednesday.

The central African country was expelled in 2004 from the Kimberley Process, which regulates the majority of world diamond sales, because it could not account for most of its exports -- which were 100 times more than estimated local production.

Mines Ministry Director-General Louis-Marie Djama said a Kimberley Process team had arrived on Tuesday for a week-long mission to assess the country's efforts to improve traceability.

The team will visit the northeastern region of Likouala, where most of Congo's diamonds are mined, Djama said.

Industry officials say the Congo Republic has been used as a conduit for diamonds mined across its borders in the larger Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola.

Diamonds and other minerals have been at the heart of decades of looting, unrest and civil war in both those countries, acting as a catalyst for the establishment of the Kimberley Process in 2003.

Alain Akouala, spokesman for the Brazzaville government, said in July that a Kimberley Process team was due soon "for a review heralding the reintegration of Congo in the process."

Most of Congo Republic's diamonds are found in alluvial deposits by artisanal diggers who sift earth from pits or mud dredged from pools and river beds.