Editor’s Note
This report highlights the persistent challenge of informal diamond trafficking along the Cameroon-CAR border, underscoring how porous frontiers and illicit networks continue to undermine formal governance efforts in the region’s mining sector.
Nearly 5,000 carats of diamonds are produced each year along the border between Cameroon and the Central African Republic (CAR). This information comes from Daniel Mackaire Eloung Nna, the Permanent Secretary of the National Secretariat for Monitoring the Kimberley Process.
Despite measures taken by public authorities, this production is difficult to channel into formal circuits. According to mining sector experts, the causes are porous borders and traffickers who scour the mining fields of both countries, thereby feeding informal marketing circuits.
This diamond exploitation along the border tarnishes Cameroon’s image. The country is often accused of being a hub for trafficking precious stones from the Central African Republic.
An example is the report made public on December 2, 2016, on the eve of a Kimberley Process evaluation mission in Cameroon. Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), a funding mechanism, stated:
The Cameroonian side immediately contested these allegations. To demonstrate its good faith, it authorized a field investigation mission by Kimberley Process experts. The Kimberley Process is an international mechanism to trace diamonds traded worldwide, aiming to prevent these precious stones from financing armed conflicts.
It is worth recalling that 1,791.37 carats of rough diamonds were produced in Cameroon in 2018. These rough diamonds came from 18 operating mines based in the East Region of Cameroon, as revealed by agents of the National Permanent Secretariat of the Kimberley Process, Cameroon Section.