Brussels - Belgium said yesterday it had taken immediate action to enforce a UN embargo on diamond exports from Sierra Leone.
The UN Security Council voted 14-0 on Wednesday to impose an 18-month embargo on all diamond exports from Sierra Leone in a move to cut off funding to rebels in the west African country. "Economics Minister Charles Picque immediately instructed civil servants. . . based at the Diamond Office in Antwerp [the world's largest diamond trading centre] and in charge of delivering licences for importing diamonds into Belgium to ban the entry of Sierra Leone diamonds without a certificate of origin," the ministry said.