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United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council is set to lift a nearly decade-old embargo on Ivory Coast's international diamond trade and plans to relax its arms embargo there, diplomats said Friday. The diamond embargo was declared in 2005 because the stones were helping fund the Forces Nouvelles rebels that controlled the north of the country after a failed coup attempt in 2002 against then-president Laurent Gbagbo. However, the diamond trade is now regulated by the Kimberley Process, of which Ivory Coast is a member, and the UN oversight is seen as redundant. According to a recent report by UN experts, the illegal trade in raw diamonds continues in Ivory Coast, using networks that buy and then illegally export the gemstones via neighboring countries.
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