Switzerland to step-up checks on origins of diamonds

Fritz Schmucki, the director of the Swiss Finance Ministry department responsible for the issue, said the government wanted to reach an accord with importing firms by February next year on better controls.

The Swiss airports at Zuerich and Geneva are regarded as central to the international diamond trade. Switzerland imports annually diamonds worth between two and three billion francs. During the first half of this year diamonds worth 1.9 billion francs were imported and diamonds worth 907 million dollars exported.

The United Nations has repeatedly accused warring parties in Angola and Sierra Leone of financing their civil wars with so-called "blood diamonds". The United Nations Security Council has banned the trade in diamonds from Sierra Leone which are not certified by the local government.

Switzerland also banned in September last year the import of diamonds from west African countries bordering Sierra Leone.

(kil/dpa)