Liberia Fails Kimberly Certification Process; Illegal Mining Dominates Diamond Industry

By: Jeremiah Sackie Cooper       Gmail:jeremiahcooper105@gmail.com                                                                                                                                                                    

Liberia: A new assessment report has revealed that Liberia has fallen short of the Kimberly Certification Scheme due to regional diamond regulatory offices across the country being in deplorable condition. 

The assessment was done by Green Advocates International (GAI); a non-profit rights-based organization across the nine (9) Government Regional Diamond Offices (RDOs) across Liberia. 

The assessment began late 2023 and lasted for about four months, with a keen focus on the effectiveness of the nine RDOs responsible for preliminary diamond valuation and recording.

The primary objective of the assessment was to evaluate the state of the RDOs established under the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), commonly known as the Kimberley Process (KP).

These offices were established to prevent the illicit trade in diamonds and to ensure the responsible mining, sourcing and trading of diamonds in Liberia. They were established to assist Liberia in implementing effective internal controls on diamond production and trade to prevent conflict diamonds from entering the legitimate diamond trade.

The Kimberly Process is an international multi-stakeholder trade regime which entered into force in 2003 to increase transparency and oversight in the diamond supply chain hoping of eliminating trade in conflict diamonds, defined as rough diamonds traded by rebel groups to prosecute and fuel conflict. Liberia was banned from trading diamonds as a result of the 14 years of civil war. It was a measure taken by the UN Security Council to prevent diamonds from funding further instability in the country and the region. 

Liberia joined the international diamond trade after joining the Kimberly Process in September 2007 with a commitment that Liberian diamonds will promote peaceful development rather than fuel conflict.

In order to strengthen internal controls over the diamond trade in Liberia, the nine (9) RDOs were established in the main diamond producing regions of Liberia and provided with the necessary equipment for the preliminary valuation and recording of diamonds.

The regional diamond offices were established in Bahn, Ganta and Gbarpa in Nimba County; Tubmanburg in Bomi County; Camp Alpha and Weasua in Gbarpolu County; Lofa Bridge and Kavilahun in Gbarpolu County; and Kakata in Margibi County.

But now, these offices are lying in waste, with all of the once-equipped regional diamond offices across the country in deplorable conditions, pointing to the failure of the Kimberly Process in Liberia.

Green Advocates’ assessment identified several factors responsible for the closure of the government diamond offices, including inadequate funding, lack of operational capacity, overdue rent owed by the government to property owners, staff retiring without replacement, and staff abandoning their posts due to lack of logistical support from central government.

Due to the dysfunctional regional offices., diamond mining in Liberia is largely self-regulated by local diamond miners, who either travel to the Government Diamond Office in Monrovia to register their diamonds, contact Regional Diamond Officers who are willing to come out of their homes to help process their diamonds, contact diamond brokers or simply smuggle their diamonds out of the country given the porous borders

This act has led to the free movement and trade of diamonds in Liberia, undermining the implementation of the Kimberly Process, which requires a transparent diamond supply chain.

The assessment further indicates that the inability of the Government of Liberia to regulate and secure the mining of diamonds is causing harm to legal diamond mining operations. There is huge competition between licensed miners and illicit diamond operators.

The situation has left licensed diamond operators frustrated over the way diamond operations are handled in the country. They noted that the process has been abandoned by the government.

“Diamond mining in Liberia is now a challenge, unlike before. It is now done under cover and the mining industry is getting dominated by illicit miners. Anyone can mine diamonds in Liberia without regulation. We are no longer able to show our diamonds because there is no government supervision, so any illicit diamond miner with a large and valuable diamond can run away and sell it before anyone knows,” lamented a licensed diamond miner in Bahn, Nimba County, who preferred anonymity.

The assessment quotes local miners as saying that their work has become difficult because they have to constantly travel to Monrovia to obtain licenses and record their diamonds. They called on the Liberian government to reopen the Regional Diamond Offices, address the challenges that led to their closure and restore the integrity of the Kimberly Process in the country. 

The miners believe that making the diamond offices operational in the various mining regions would help prevent diamonds from falling into the wrong hands. At the same time, the miners are calling on the Liberian government to establish a diamond buying house at the local diamond offices.

A local miner in Garpa, Nimba County, said: ‘We used to just run to the local diamond office here to record and examine our diamonds, but for the past few years we have been taking our diamonds to Monrovia. So it is important for the Liberian government to reopen the local diamond offices because it will help stop people from mining without licenses. We also want the Liberian government to set up a special department to buy diamonds from miners. This will help stop miners from selling to people with bad intentions”.

At the same time, one pensioner who served as a former Regional Officer in a major mining district said: “This is a huge region: we used to receive over 500 pieces of diamonds a day, but the process has slowed down since I retired in 2020. We were previously told by the Ministry of Mines and Energy that we were retired and would be replaced. But it was surprising that the ministry told us to go back to work after we were retired”.

He added: “We told them that we cannot be retired and continue to work. Since then, this office has been empty and there are no government officials to look after the mining activities in this area”.

The report concludes that to attract and retain investments in the diamond sector, Liberia has to uphold the integrity of the Kimberly Process in the country by implementing effective internal controls on diamond production and trade designed to prevent conflict diamonds. Failure to do so could have far-reaching consequences for the country’s diamond industry and its international reputation.

The closure of the Regional Diamond Offices (RDOs) in Liberia greatly affects internal controls of rough diamonds, in terms of traceability and enforcement.

Under the KP regime in Liberia, the exporter of diamond has to provide conclusive evidence that the rough diamonds meant for export have been mined in Liberia. The closure of all the Regional Diamond Offices across the country means there are challenges for effective Data Collection, Analysis and Reporting by the Government of Liberia. And without improved internal controls, it is difficult to ensure that only rough diamonds produced and traded in compliance with Liberian legislation and the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) enter the legitimate global diamond trade.