U.N. Lifts Sanctions On Ivory Coast Diamond Exports

The U.N. Security Council put the diamond export ban in place in 2005.

The U.N. Security Council has lifted an embargo on diamond exports from the Ivory Coast.

The move comes after U.N. experts said the ban had not prevented illegal trafficking in diamonds.

The value of annual illegal trading in Ivory Coast diamonds was estimated at $12 million to $23 million by U.N. experts. Before the ban, Ivory Coast produced about $25 million worth of diamonds per year.

The U.N. reported to the Security Council earlier this month "that the measures and restrictions imposed by the Security Council ... do not prevent the trafficking of Ivorian rough diamonds.

"The group furthermore notes that, in spite of having identified violations of the diamond embargo in its public reports since 2006, the Ivorian authorities have made no progress in combating the smuggling of diamonds nor taken any concrete initiatives to date.”

The Ivory Coast government wants to relaunch the diamond industry as a way of helping in the funding of post civil war rebuilding of the country.