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Angolan Rebels Get $4 Billion From Diamond Trafficking
Angolan rebels led by Jonas Savimbi have earned some 4 billion U.S. dollars from illegal trade in diamond since the civil war broke out soon after independence in 1975, according to a World Bank report.
The report, issued ahead of the world diamond conference scheduled for early July in Antwerp, Belgium, analyses issues on diamond and its illegal trading on the international market, the Angolan official news agency Angop said Tuesday.
The report named "natural riches that feed civil wars around the world" said that the Angolan rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) had the control over the diamond-rich regions in the country, enabling them to fund the 25-year-old civil war.
After analysing 47 wars around the world since 1965, the World Bank concluded that no armed movement can maintain a long war without economic means, despite the hatred and the factor behind its origin.
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