A Renowned Independent Journalist in Angola, Rafael Marques, Published Recently a Report

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre highlights

reported abuses in Angola’s diamond industry and obtains company responses

18 October 2006

The report Operation Kissonde: The diamonds of humiliation and misery, by independent Angolan journalist Rafael Marques (also available in Portuguese), describes “profoundly sadistic” abuses by security companies employed by diamond firms in Cuango, Angola, including killings, beatings, sexual abuse and torture. Marques has worked on human rights and humanitarian issues in Angola for many years, and was previously representative of the Open Society Institute in the country. In 2000 he received the Percy Qoboza Award for Outstanding Courage from the National Association of Black Journalists of the U.S. The European Parliament awarded him the Freedom Passport.

According to the report, Cuango, in Lunda-Norte province, northeast Angola, is a magnet for migrant workers seeking opportunities in prohibited artisan diamond mining (known as garimpo). It is also home to three major diamond-mining enterprises, all joint ventures:

• the Sociedade de Desenvolvimento Mineiro, SDM – a joint venture of Angola’s state diamond company ENDIAMA and Odebrecht;
• the Sociedade Mineira do Cuango, SMC – joint venture of ITM Mining, ENDIAMA and Lumanhe;
• the Sociedade Mineira Luminas – joint venture of Nofar Mining (which is part of Lev Leviev), ENDIAMA and Twins Ltd.

These three enterprises use the security firms Alfa-5, Teleservice, and K&P Mineira respectively to guard their operations. K&P Mineira also provides security services for Sodiam, the Angolan company with the exclusive right to market diamonds in Angola. Sodiam is part of a joint venture with Lazare Kaplan International (LKI) for the purchase of diamonds recovered from the illegal diamond trade.

According to the report, the security firms use extreme methods to curb the garimpeiros (unauthorised diamond miners). These methods include beating them with shovels, clubs and machetes, and undressing them then making them circulate naked in public. Alfa-5 employees have allegedly forced the victims to carry out homosexual acts. The report describes in detail the cases of a number of victims, including:

• Franciso Pinto, reportedly beaten unconscious by K&P Mineira guards for fishing in the River Lumonhe, on the grounds that the river and fish in it are part of the diamond firms’ concession;
• Óscar Neves, reportedly hit in the eye with a rifle butt and then whipped by Teleservice, for washing in the River Cuango.

The report also alleges the use of forced labour as a form of punishment, and provides photographs to support the cases.

The report includes responses by two of the security companies, Alfa 5 and Teleservice. Both firms admit that there may have been a few unfortunate cases that “blemished the company’s good name” (Alfa 5), but maintain that this practice is not widespread. According to the report, K&P Mineira declined Marques’ requests for an interview.

The role of the Resource Centre

Before posting the Operation Kissonde report on our website, we identified and contacted relevant managers at the headquarters of the diamond companies, inviting them to submit their comments to include alongside the report on our website and in our Weekly Update. Our Update is sent to 3300 opinion leaders worldwide, including people in the media, business, the UN and other international organizations, governments and NGOs. Consistent with our usual practice, we told the companies we would post their responses in full and that if they declined to respond we would indicate that fact in the Update.

Eventually all five companies sent a response: ENDIAMA (Angola), ITM Mining (Angola), Lazare Kaplan International or LKI (USA), Lev Leviev (Israel), and Odebrecht (Brazil). Rafael Marques then issued rejoinders to LKI and to Odebrecht. The full company responses and the rejoinders are available here, together with links to Financial Times and Reuters articles about the report. We invited LKI and Odebrecht to comment on the Marques rejoinders if they wished to do so. Odebrecht said that it does not have anything further to add; we have not yet heard from LKI.

What the companies said

In his report, Marques states that, “despite their effective public relations propaganda, the diamond companies do nothing to reduce the misery of the local populations in the area…Without work or other alternatives, the local people become exclusively dependent on garimpo. They are easy prey in the politics of the fight against garimpo…” In their responses, each company takes issue with this allegation, referring to its philanthropic and social initiatives in the region. Yet the extent to which they comment on the specific human rights abuses detailed in the report varies significantly.

LKI downplays the role of security companies in its operations, saying that it uses these services “as a matter of necessity” only to protect its personnel and assets. The company also says it is unaware of any problems at the premises its security personnel are assigned to. In his rejoinder, Marques says he finds it difficult to accept such assertions, since “security is the key aspect for any operation in the diamond areas.” He also challenges LKI’s claim that it is fully compliant with “all local and applicable international laws and standards, including the Kimberley Process,” noting the ambiguity of Angolan laws controlling the diamond sector.

Odebrecht calls the accusations in the report “unfounded” and “unreliable,” and contends that neither it nor SDM have “any record” of the alleged human rights abuses. In his follow-up, Marques asserts that in a meeting he held with representatives from Odebrecht and SDM, none of the attendees refuted the report’s accounts of human rights abuses.

Lev Leviev and ITM (ITM response page one; ITM response page two) both underscore the positive impact of their investment on Angola’s development. Lev Leviev elaborates upon the steps it has taken with Angolan companies to fight the trade in illegal diamonds, which it says “caused severe damage to the Angolan economy.” ITM distances itself from SMC, asserting that since SMC has “independent management,” it is not responsible for what SMC does – although it does acknowledge that ITM is one of SMC’s associates. Both companies stress that they do not condone any acts of violence against people.

ENDIAMA promises to take action. In its response, the company condemns “violent acts against the people leveled against individual members of security companies” and states its commitment to working with the local authorities to “verify the constant reports and the mechanisms for its prevention so that such acts do not happen again.” ENDIAMA says it strives to have a positive impact on the lives of the employees and communities where it operates and requires the same approach by all its business partners, including the private security companies. It also refers to a process underway to set up legal artisan co-operatives of miners currently working illegally. Marques chose not to send a rejoinder to ENDIAMA’s response given that the company recognises the need to investigate and stop the abuses.

Comments on the Resource Centre work

Commenting on the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre’s work on this issue, Rafael Marques said that it was “helpful in stirring up the debate on the diamond industry and its security measures, which is having an impact in Angola.” Several of the diamond companies thanked the Resource Centre for providing them the opportunity to respond. We will continue to monitor the situation in Cuango and draw attention to further developments, in an effort to encourage respect for human rights.