Six months before elections, ministers have signed a deal on
a trade in banned diamonds
A secret deal signed in February by government ministers in Monrovia would give a mysterious mining company a ten-year monopoly on Liberia's diamond production, according to contract documents obtained by Africa Confidential. The involvement of the Liberian ministers, who face elections in October, was made public by last month's report by a special investigation panel to the United Nations Security Council. The UN banned diamond trading in Liberia, once a main source of income for the region's warlords, in 2001.
Charles Taylor, Liberia's exiled warlord, stands accused of crimes across the region. A 30-page confidential report to the internationally financed Special Court in Sierra Leone al...
Spectacular launches on London's second-tier stock market rely
on odd claims about assets in Africa
White Nile, an oil company set up in London late last year and with a single, disputed, Sudanese asset to its name, tempted eager London Stock Exchange (LSE) punters. The price of ...
