africa: Conflict Diamond Process Faces Credibility Test

A global coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is calling on governments participating in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) to ensure that the scheme has credibility and helps stop the trade in conflict diamonds. NGOs were calling on the governments to strengthen their efforts in the lead up to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) plenary scheduled for April 28-30 in Johannesburg South Africa. The meeting will be the first since the KPCS came into force on January 1, 2003. The three-day session will focus on implementation of the KPCS and will bring together representatives of the vast majority of the governments of diamond producing and trading countries, the international diamond industry and non governmental organisations who have spent the last three years trying to address the issue of conflict diamonds.