“Diamond Empowerment” is a series of articles, each one a case study, providing an objective overview of the contribution – both realized and still only potential – that the diamond mining industry makes to sustainable development in the countries where it is present.
The ninth article in the series focuses on the Central African Republic, which during much of the 2010s and the first part of the 2020s was considered by the Kimberley Process to be the world’s only remaining source of conflict diamonds.
The article is dedicated to the memory of Dezzou Temba Venceslas Michel Etienne, the Focal Point for CAR in the Kimberley Process, who passed away tragically in April. A committed member of the KP community and a strong advocate for the diamond sector in his country, his contribution to the work of the KP was valued by all who knew him.
RESTORING HOPE FOR PEACE AND STABILITY
Artisanal diamond miners working a pit near Carnot in the Central African Republic. (Photo: Elodie Daguzan)
What the Kimberley Process demonstrated over 11 years, through its careful management of legal diamond exports from the Central African Republic, is that its certification scheme is not only a system to protect the integrity of natural diamonds in the marketplace, but also an instrument that can provide hope and support to countries and people devastated by war and systemic violence.
JUNE 3, 2026
While only a minor producer of rough diamonds in global terms – even at peak production it accounted for well less than half a percent of world production – during the second half of 2010s and well into the 2020s, the Central African Republic was considered to be world’s only verifiable source of conflict diamonds. Today it also is regarded by many as a shining example of the restorative capability of the Kimberley Process.
A landlocked nation in the center of equatorial Africa, with a landmass roughly equivalent to that of France, CAR in many respects epitomizes the plight of African countries born in the waning days of European colonialism. Its borders were drawn up by France, which had begun annexing portions of it to the French Congo in the late 19th Century. In 1903, it was formally established as a separate French colony called Ubangi-Shari. It gained independence on August 13, 1960.
With a relatively small population – in 2024 it stood at only 5.36 million – CAR is nonetheless home to about 80 ethnic groups, who speak a variety of languages and dialects. French remains the official language, although Sango, a creole variation, is also a national and the co-official language.
Despite its vast natural resources, which include uranium, crude oil, cobalt, gold and diamonds, CAR remains among the poorest countries in the world, with the fifth lowest GDP per capita in 2025. Poverty is extremely high, affecting around 71 percent of the population, and it is feared that it will worsen following the withdrawal of USAID this year.
111-year diamond industry
Alluvial diamond deposits were discovered in 1914 near Bria in the eastern part of the country, and again in 1929 in the southwest. Commercial mining and production began in the west in 1931. Alluvial exploitation of the eastern region started in 1943.
Several mainly French-owned companies mined the diamond resources from 1931 until 1960, with diamond production remaining relatively low, with an average output of 75,000 to 100,000 carats per year.
The Central African Republic, with the southwestern diamond mining regions highlighted in yellow, and the eastern diamond mining regions highlighted in blue.
But in April 1961, after independence, the CAR government authorized the Bureau d’Achat to act as an organization of diamond export companies, and also it began licensing artisanal miners who, in turn, hired diggers to exploit the alluvial deposits. Consequently, by the early 1970s production had increased to approximately 450,000 carats per annum.
According to unpublished report by Koyatro (Direction Générale des Mines), the total number of artisanal diamond diggers in the CAR in 2003 stood at about 70,000. They were organized into teams of approximately 10 to 15. Each group was headed by a licensed miner, who was permitted to sell either to a collecteur or directly to one of the registered diamond buying offices in the Bureau d’Achat.
A convoy of vehicles, protected by MINUSCA peacekeeping forces, traveling through the bush in the southwest of the Central African Republic, during the Kimberley Process review visit in September 2024. (Photo: Elodie Daguzan)
The chaos of war and political instability
But the seemingly structured system belied a reality that was considerably more chaotic. From the time it gained independence from France in 1960, the CAR was plagued by political uncertainty and violence.
Building on the legacy of the French colonial government before them, successive CAR presidents traditionally regarded the country’s mining sector as a tool for consolidating power. In 1997, a former prime minister, Jean-Paul Ngoupandé, remarked that “Central African heads of state are first and foremost diamond merchants.”
The Central African Republic Bush War began in 2004 and, despite a peace treaty signed in 2007 and then another in 2011, the civil war resumed in full force in 2012.
Rebel forces relied on revenues generated by the trade in diamonds. Already in 2006, the UFDR (Union des Forces Démocratiques pour le Rassemblement) was financing its military campaign against the government by looting and extorting diamond mines and traders around Sam Ouandja in the east, near the border with Sudan. Following the 2007 peace agreement, UFDR did not disarm, because this would have meant relinquishing control over lucrative diamond mines.
Another one of the rebel leaders, Abdoulaye Hissène, had originally been a diamond dealer. Exiled from CAR, he returned to the country in 2008 to join and eventually lead the CPJP (Convention des Patriotes pour la Justice et la Paix). It sustained its operations by preying on diamond miners around Bria and Ndélé.
By 2012, UFDR and CPJP had grown into powerful rebel factions. They formed the Séléka coalition, which eventually would overthrow the country’s government.
Under the scrutiny of the Kimberley Process
The CAR had first appeared on the Kimberley Process’s radar in March 2003, only months after the launch of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). That month, rebel forces led by François Bozizé, had occupied the country’s capital of Bangui, overthrowing the serving president, Ange-Félix Patassé.
In response to concerns raised by certain KP participants, Bozizé invited a review mission to CAR in June 2003. The mission expressed confidence in the new government’s ability to implement the KPCS, and the case was officially closed at the KP Plenary meeting in Sun City, South Africa, in October 2003.
But trouble was on the horizon, CAR hosted a routine KP peer review visit in April 2008, with the visiting delegation assessing the KPCS control systems in Bangui and visiting the alluvial fields in the southwest of the country. But security concerns prevented an evaluation of the alluvial fields in east. In its report, the review team noted “brief incursions” by armed groups into areas of Sam Ouandja in late 2006 and 2007, but noted that the militants were not there long enough to gain control over diamond mining operations.
Coming into land at Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. (Photo: Elodie Daguzan)
Sanctions and a roadmap for recovery
On March 23, 2013, the CAR civil war took a dramatic turn. Séléka rebels entered Bangui, capturing the presidential palace and forcing President Bozizé to flee. Michel Djotodia, the rebel leader declared himself the new president.
The following month, April 2013, the serving Chair of the Kimberley Process, Ambassador Welile Nhlapo of South Africa, called for enhanced vigilance when it came to diamond exports from the CAR, and a month later an Administrative Decision was reached through written procedure that temporarily suspended the trade in rough diamonds sourced in the country. The AD was confirmed in June at the KP Intersessional meeting in Kimberley, South Africa.
In July 2013, the new CAR government proposed a roadmap to meet KP minimum requirements. Six months later, the KP Plenary meeting in Johannesburg maintained the ban on imports, but it encouraged participants to provide the type of technical assistance necessary to refine and implement the program suggested by the CAR government.
The CAR’s roadmap proposed identifying zones in the country where KP minimum requirements could met and the export suspension could be lifted. To qualify as KP-compliant zone, an area would have to meet four key criteria. These included adequate government control, no evidence of armed groups systematically interfering with the production of trade in diamonds, a security situation that allowed for the free movement of goods and people, and effective government monitoring and traceability mechanisms.
A operational base of MINUSCA, the United Nations-mandated peacekeeping force in the Central African Republic, in Bouar, a town located adjacent to the diamond mining region in the southwest of the country. (Photo: Elodie Daguzan)
Non-compliant zones and ‘green’ zones
But it would take almost two years to begin implementing the roadmap.
In June 2015, the KP agreed to initiate a process that, eventually, would allow for a partial lifting of the embargo. This followed reports of security improvements in the southwest of CAR, which suggested that certain of the mining areas could be considered compliant or “green zones.” They were identified by local committees that had been established in the southwestern regions, specifically to assess compliance and propose zones for KP acceptance.
To oversee the process, a tripartite Central African Republic Monitoring Team (CAR MT) was established. The WDC was represented first by its then Vice President, Stéphane Fischler and when he assumed the role of WDC President, he was replaced by the WDC Secretary, Udi Sheintal.
In April 2016, after a field mission by two representatives from the KP’s Civil Society Coalition and Angola, Berberati was declared the first compliant zone. The formal decision was taken by the KP Plenary, following a recommendation by the CAR MT.
To make its recommendation, the CAR MT relied on information received from a Panel of Experts appointed for CAR by the United Nations Security Council, one of whose members monitored activity in the country’s diamond and gold sectors. Also providing information was MINUSCA (Mission multidimensionnelle intégrée des Nations unies pour la stabilisation en Centrafrique), a UNSC-mandated peacekeeping military force that had been active in the country since September 2014, when it replaced an African Union-led peacekeeping force.
Later in 2016, Boda, Carnot and Nola were added to the list of green zones, and they were followed by Gadzi in 2017. In 2019, with the inclusion of Boganangone, Boganda and Mbaïk, there were eight compliant areas. All were in the southwest of the country, within relative proximity to Bangui. Although certain of the alluvial diamond fields in the east of the country were proposed, they were never accepted.
Oversight by the CAR Monitoring Team
According to the CAR MT’ s initial operational framework in 2015, all rough exports from compliant zones required prior approval from the CAR MT.
Digital imagery and documentation for each shipment were sent for review by a team of diamond experts, to verify the chain of custody and to ensure that the type of goods and the quantities involved aligned with known production in a particular compliant zone.
But the increase in legal rough diamond exports from CAR remained slow, while there were persistent reports of illegal exports, allegedly conflict diamonds, being smuggled out of the country.
In November 2019, at the urging of the United States, a revised monitoring framework was adopted, purportedly to reduce export backlogs and increase the percentage of goods being legally exported. It allowed CAR to ship from compliant zones without prior consent, although monthly reports were submitted to the CAR MT, quarterly inspections conducted to verify compliance.
Legal diamond exports increased, but they still remained considerably below pre-embargo levels.
Residents of Bouar, holding placards calling for the end to export embargos, welcoming the KP Review Mission to the Central African Republlic in September 2024. (Photo: Elodie Daguzan)
Returning to the KP fold
In February 2024, KP Chair Ahmed Bin Sulayem visited CAR to explore the feasibility of a KP review mission. It was key element that needed to be undertaken if CAR was to regain full entry in the diamond trade. Such a mission had been put off for years because of ongoing security concerns.
The review mission eventually took place in September 2024, with security and transportation to sites across the country being provided by MINUSCA. Led by South Africa, the review team included two WDC representatives – Secretary Udi Sheintal and Executive Director Elodie Daguzan.
The review mission’s findings were presented and discussed at the KP Plenary in Dubai in November 2024. A proposal to lift existing embargoes on rough diamond exports from CAR won consensus approval, meaning that the country was readmitted as a full Kimberley Process member.
“Lifting the 11-year-long embargo on Central African Republic, as this Plenary has done, is the right decision,” said Jaff Bamenjo, the then-coordinator of the Civil Society Coalition in the KP.
WDC Executive Director Elodie Daguzan and WDC Secretary Udi Sheintal during the KP Review Mission to the Central African Republic in September 2024. (Photo: Elodie Daguzan)
The road forward
The readmission of CAR ito the Kimberley Process (KP) provided a potentially significant boost to the country’s economic recovery, expanding an officially sanctioned market for the tens of thousands people working in the artisanal diamond mining. Legal trade routes could offer miners fairer prices and reduce their vulnerability to exploitation by armed groups and criminal networks.
It also raised the prospect of increased state revenue from diamond exports, which in theory at least could be channeled into essential public services like health, education and infrastructure. All of those are essential for the voluntary return and reintegration of more than 744,000 CAR citizens who are currently refugees and asylum-seekers in neighboring countries ,and over 500,000 internally displaced persons.
Whether that all comes to be remains an open question. Critics have noted that while full KP readmission addressed the constraint on trade, it did not solve the root causes of the instability and poverty that have plagued the country since independence. The ban was lifted without an actionable plan to address crime and corruption, and the CAR’s legal framework for artisanal and small-scale mining is still fragile.
But what the Kimberley Process demonstrated over 11 years, through its careful management of legal diamond exports from the Central African Republic, was that its certification scheme is not only a system to protect the integrity of natural diamonds in the marketplace, but also an instrument that can provide hope and support to countries and people devastated by war and systemic violence. The KP may not be a panacea to all that afflicts them, but it is most certainly a key component of the solution.
Artisanal miners panning for diamonds near Carnoy in the Central African Republic, in the presence of members of the Kimberley Process review mission in September 2024. Looking on on the right, wearing is the beige hat, is Rufin Benam-Beltoungou, CAR’s Minister of Mines and Geology. (Photo: Elodie Daguzan)