HL Deb 18 February 1999 vol 597 cc86-7WA
Lord Avebury

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether, in pursuance of United Nations Security Council resolutions on Angola, they will take up the recommendations in the Global Witness report A Rough Trade: the role of companies and governments in the Angolan conflict with those to whom they are addressed, with a view to stopping the flow of contraband diamonds onto the market from Angola, and hence the financing of the civil war. [HL931]

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean

FCO officials have met representatives of Global Witness to discuss the findings of their report. The UK is already working actively within the United Nations Sanctions Committee on Angola to promote measures to improve the implementation of sanctions against UNITA, including the ban on the import of diamonds not controlled through the Certificate of Origin Scheme of the Government of Angola.