Consumer Access to a Responsible Accounting of Trade Act, or as many of us know it, the CARAT Act, or the Blood Diamond Bill. As the ranking member of the Human Rights Subcommittee on the International Relations Committee, I fully support the intentions to implement a coding system that would stop the illicit diamond trade. With this, the diamond's origin can be certified in order to sever the funding link that has allowed mercenary groups and so-called rebel groups in Sierra Leone, Angola, and elsewhere to enrich themselves and commit gross abuses against governments and unarmed people.

The illicit diamond trade has assisted a few bad men to create anarchy and chaos on the African continent, but it has made all of us complicit in the crimes against humanity and the suffering that these men create. In order to break that complicity, we need a prompt review of U.S.-Africa policy. We need to pass Tony Hall's bill and we need to implement sanctions against countries and individuals who have already been named as diamond traffickers.

I would also like to ask the committee to seriously consider action against diamonds that are certified as having come from Liberia, as well. While Liberia has not been the subject of any U.N. Security Council resolutions or reports, it is physically impossible for Liberia to produce the diamonds that it says it does. It is clear that Sierra Leone's diamonds are being laundered through Liberia and on to the legal market and then to our jewelry, most likely right here to the United States, since the U.S. consumes two-thirds of all the diamonds produced.

In the Congo, forces allied with Uganda and Rwanda have occupied nearly half that nation, including the Congo River city of Kisangani, a major trading center for the diamonds pulled from the surrounding jungles. The battle is for Mbuji Mayi, the capital of the southeastern province of East Kasai and the center for Congo's diamond mining.

In Angola, sanctions busting led to a report released by the United Nations panel on March 15 carefully documenting the ways in which UNITĂ has been able to circumvent the U.N. sanctions against its trade of diamonds extracted from UNITA-controlled areas in Angola. We all know the objectives of UNITA, to foment chaos in Angola and render it ungovernable. They pretty much were able to do that due to their trade in illicit diamonds. They even went so far as to shoot down U.N. planes carrying individuals committed to making peace.

The resultant Fowler Report of the United Nations Security Council, named after Robert Fowler of Canada who led the investigation team, took the bold step of naming names of individuals and countries that were sanctions busters. Some of the sanctions busters are our allies. If we were really serious about the diamond trade, our leadership could make a difference, and we should lead the effort to implement the Fowler recommendations, not to just study them. People are losing their homes and their lives while this administration studies. Ambassador Harold Jeter acknowledged support for the Fowler recommendations, yet to my knowledge, not much beyond that has been done to implement them.

U.N. Secretary Robert Fowler's report recommends that anyone trading in illicit diamonds will be expelled from the industry and

that any country knowingly involved in smuggling will lose its export accreditation. Under the proposal, all rough diamonds are to be exported in sealed packages certified by the authorities in exporting nations and verified by a new international diamond council, made up of governments, industry, and non-governmental organizations.

At the World Diamond Congress, which took place in Antwerp, Belgium, in July, the International Diamond Manufacturers Association and the World Federation of Diamond Bourses agreed to establish a system of certificates of origin to identify the provenance of diamonds.

The United States and Europe must also begin bilateral and multilateral discussions with Israel, a leading destination for the illicit diamonds. The U.S. must also show leadership and act more swiftly against other countries mentioned in the Fowler Report. Countries such as Burkina Faso, Togo, and Rwanda were named in Fowler's report as being involved in the illegal trading operations with Mr. Savimbi's forces.

Also, another important move in the right direction that was thwarted was the British move to deny the State Controlled Corporate Entity in which the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe attempted to form an autonomous, State-owned, joint venture to market independent of anyone else's control Democratic Republic of Congo's diamonds. I view this as an effort to further entrench the current State and non-State actors and to deny African governments the right to control their own diamonds.

I would like to commend Namibia, a nation that is doing things right. The first thing they did was to deny the mercenary companies a foothold in their diamond industry, and as Congressman Hall has pointed out, we owe passage of this bill to those who depend on the legitimate trade in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and who will be hurt by a consumer backlash against the entire diamond industry.

Why should we care that Africa is being ravaged by war as we speak? Because we bear a good deal of the responsibility for what is happening there. The diamonds that we wear to adorn our bodies and the oil that we pump into our SUVs has a direct bearing on the quality of life that someone in another part of the world in some far-away place. We do not need to hurt people or to allow our allies to hurt people to have diamonds or oil, but too often we do. I know we can do better and we must.

Finally, I would like to call your attention to a very important book that details our Africa policy during the Clinton administration. It is explosive in its content and in its accuracy, from my point of view. I would commend it to all of you and hope that you would purchase it and read it personally and then move to change that which is wrong in our policy and save that which is right. The book is Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa from 1993 to 1999 by Wayne Madsen, just recently published.

Diamond certification is an important step in the right direction to stem the tide so innocent Africans will not continue to die. Making this bill the law of our land is an important step in the right direction.

Thank you very much.

[The prepared statement follows:]

Statement of Hon. Cynthia A. McKinney, a Representative in Congress from the State of Georgia

Mr. Chairman:

Let me begin by thanking the leadership of the Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee for scheduling this important hearing on the role diamonds play in the conflicts of sub-Saharan Africa.

I am pleased to give testimony today with this distinguished bipartisan panel who are imploring you to take decisive action to stem the entry into this country of illicit or "blood diamonds."

I would also like to thank Congressman Hall for his leadership in introducing the Consumer Access to a Responsible Accounting of Trade Act, or as many know it, the CARAT Act; or the "Blood Diamonds" Bill.

I fully support his intentions to implement a coding system the would stop the illicit diamond trade. With this legislation, a diamond's origin can be certified in order to sever the funding link that has allowed mercenary groups and so-called rebel groups in Sierra Leone, Angola, and elsewhere to enrich themselves and commit gross abuses against governments and unarmed people.

The illicit diamond trade has assisted a few bad men to create anarchy and chaos on the African Continent. But it has made all of us who fail to act complicit in the crimes against humanity and the suffering that these men create. In order to break that complicity we need a prompt review of US Africa policy, we need to pass Tony Hall's bill, and we need to implement sanctions against countries and individuals who have already been named as diamond traffickers.

I would also like to ask the Committee to seriously consider action against diamonds that are certificated as having come from Liberia as well. While Liberia has not been the subject of any UN Security Council Resolutions or reports, it is physically impossible for Liberia to produce the diamonds that it says it does: it is clear that Sierra Leone's diamonds are being laundered through Liberia and onto the legal market and then to our jewelry. Most likely, right here to the United States since the US consumes two-thirds of all the diamonds produced for jewelry.

In Angola, sanctions-busting led to a report released by a United Nations panel on March 15th of this year carefully documenting the ways in which UNITA has been able to circumvent the U.N. sanctions against its trade of diamonds extracted from UNITA-controlled areas in Angola. We all know the objectives of UNITA: to foment chaos in Angola and render it ungovernable. They pretty much were able to do that due to their trade in illicit diamonds. They even

went so far as to shoot down UN planes carrying individuals committed to making peace.

The resultant Fowler Report of the United Nations Security Council, named after Robert Fowler of Canada who led the investigation team, took the bold step of naming names of individuals and countries that were sanctions busters.

We should lead the effort to implement the Fowler recommendations, not just to study them. People are losing their homes and their lives while this Administration studies.

U. N. Secretary Robert Fowler's report recommends that anyone trading in illicit diamonds be expelled from the industry and that any country knowingly involved in smuggling lose its export accreditation.

Under the proposals, all rough diamonds are to be exported in sealed packages certified by the authorities in the exporting nations and verified by a new international diamond council, made up of governments, industry, and non-governmental organizations.

Some of the sanctions-busters named by Ambassador Fowler are our allies. If we were really serious about the diamond trade our leadership could make a difference. The U. S. must show leadership and act more swiftly against all the countries mentioned in the Fowler Report including Burkina Faso, Togo, and Rwanda who were named in Fowler's Report as being involved in illegal trading operations with UNITA's Jonas Savimbi.

In the Congo, Uganda and Rwanda have occupied nearly half of that nation including the Congo River City of Kisangani, a major trading center for the diamonds pulled from the surrounding jungles. The battle now rages for Mbuji-Mayi, the capital of the southeastern province of East Kasai and the center for Congo's diamond mining.

Rwanda is "running" diamonds looted from Congo and Angola and wreaking havoc on the people of Eastern Congo in reckless pursuit of its own policies, encouraged

by the United States and the international community, as we all stand and do nothing.

At the World Diamond Congress, which took place in Antwerp, Belgium in July, the International Diamond Manufacturers' Association and the World Federation of Diamond Bourses agreed to establish a system of certificates of origin to identify the provenance of diamonds.

I would encourage them to move swiftly or a boycott of all diamonds might occur. I note that DeBeers is already running ads to encourage Christmas diamond purchases.

The United States and Europe must also begin bilateral and multilateral discussions with Israel a leading destination for the illicit diamonds. The sad fact is that diamonds from Africa have helped to build and enrich the cities of Antwerp, Brussels, Tel Aviv, and New York. Yet Africans remain hopelessly impoverished and are even going backward. Something is terribly wrong with this industry. And that should be addressed too.

Africans should control their precious resources. But the West actively thwarts such efforts. For example, an important move in the right direction was recently halted when the British refused to list on their stock exchange a joint venture between Zimbabwe and Democratic Republic of Congo so that Congo could market its diamonds independent of anyone else's control.

I view this blockage as a direct effort to further entrench the current State and non-State actors and to deny African governments the right to control their own diamonds

Chairman CRANE. Thank you, Ms. McKinney.

The Customs Service has stated that it is impossible to administer the CARAT Act, which requires a certificate of origin where the diamond was mined, given the amount of transshipment that occurs in Africa. Could you please comment on how country of mining can be traced so the requirement is enforceable, to one and all? Mr. HALL. I heard that argument about a year ago and I heard that argument mostly from diamond dealers and DeBeers themselves. They kept saying it the whole year. We cannot do this. We cannot do this. It is impossible. It is very interesting, at the Antwerp meeting of a few weeks ago of which I was at, they passed this global certification program which pretty much says that they can do it and they can do it through a process of once the legitimate diamonds leave the country, they are sealed, they are certified, they are entered, and they stay in this packet. I cannot explain every aspect of it, Mr. Chairman, but the fact is that they can do it. They denied it all year and said it cannot be done, but it is very interesting, they are all saying, or a lot of them are saying that they can do it, and that is what they passed in Antwerp. These are the diamond dealers of the world.

So the fact is that it can be done and it should be done. I do not know why we cannot do it, especially on rough diamonds. If I looked at your shirt and the suit that you are wearing today, the cheese that you are going to eat, I know where that is coming from because it is marked. We can mark diamonds. Because we buy 65 percent of all the diamonds in the world here in this country, we ought to have a right to say, where did this diamond come from? We are not talking about every little diamond, because that is impossible. We are talking about the rough diamonds that are chopped up into pretty sizeable diamonds.

Yes, I believe it can be done. I believe that technology is coming. And I know that diamond dealers believe this because they passed it in Antwerp.

Chairman CRANE. We will later, after you folks, have William Wood, who is the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of International Organization Affairs at the Department of State, testifying after you folks. Someone else here, Miles Harmon, is the supervisory attorney advisor with the U.S. Customs Office. So I would hope that you folks might, if you are not under tight time constraints, have a chance to at least talk to them on that issue to try and resolve it.

Mr. WOLF. Mr. Chairman, on that, we have a paper, too, called "Possibilities for the Identification, Certification, and Control of Diamonds," which we would like to submit for the record.

Chairman CRANE. Absolutely.

[The attachment is being retained in the Committee files.]

Mr. WOLF. And also, as I made the point, in 1998 in Liberia, whose natural resources would only allow the exportation of $10 million of diamonds, they exported $297 million. So the people who bought the $287 million knew that they were buying conflict diamonds, but I will just submit this for the record, Mr. Chairman. Chairman CRANE. Very well.

Ms. MCKINNEY. Mr. Chairman, I would also like to submit some additional paperwork for the record. Studies have been done by Global Witness that talk about bar coding, and also I would like to submit the Fowler Report with its recommendations to the record, as well.

Chairman CRANE. Without objection, so ordered.

[The information was not received at the time of printing.]

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Chairman, the work that is being done by the Canadian Mounted Police, we are going to try to get the origin of that and have that submitted also for the record.

Chairman CRANE. Yes, indeed.

[The information was not received at the time of printing.] Chairman CRANE. Mr. Levin?

Mr. LEVIN. Thank you, and thank you so much for your testimony. I think it would be helpful if in the next few days, as soon as we can get into this, with all the other work that is before us, if you would work with us to work out the issue that Mr. Crane has raised. As I understand the legislation, it would start a certification process before the Antwerp or other public/private proposal is complete. So I think we need to discuss the feasibility of that. You need to help us work through that. That is the first issue. If we can do that, it would be highly necessary and valuable.

Secondly, I think it would be useful if you could work with some of us and USTR relating to the question of WTO consistency, because that has been raised at least indirectly relating to your bill. So let us work in the days ahead on those two key issues.

I do not believe that anybody can challenge the need for action. I do not think anybody can challenge the descriptions that you have given so graphically and to others as to what is going on in Africa relating to this. I think that is unchallengeable. It simply lays down before us the task of determining what we can do quickly, feasibly, effectively. So let us work together on those issues as intensively and intensely as we can.

Mr. HALL. Mr. Levin, I think all of us here at the table are very willing to sit down and work with all of you on this piece of legisla