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Sharad Mistry
Mumbai, Oct 6: De Beers, the diamond mining and marketing giant, today announced an embargo on all diamond purchases by its marketing offices around the world from Angola, currently in the midst of a civil war. United Nations too has imposed sanctions against Angola.
`Mindful of its responsibilities and its relations with the Angolan government, which is its partner in all its diamond buying and prospecting activities in Angola, De Beers has never bought diamonds from UNITA,' De Beers said in a statement.
Announcing its decision in London today, De Beers managing director, Gary Ralfe said: ``De Beers would continue to urge its clients, among the world's leading diamantaries, to adopt a similar policy and to support this initiative in the conduct of their own business.''
The company's purchases of Angolan diamonds on the open market have already dropped to negligible levels, De Beers said and added, the company has for sometime been considering further action, namely worldwide embargo on all Angolan diamond purchases to reinforce the sanctions against UNITA in line with its commitments to the Angolan government.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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