Madame President, We believe this resolution is a necessary and critical step to assist the Government of Sierra Leone in reestablishing authority over its diamond-producing regions. Efforts are already under way to help the Government of Sierra Leone to establish a certification system. The United States is working in cooperation with the United Kingdom and others to support this endeavor. We will vote to adopt this resolution, but we do so with reservations on the timeframe. We are concerned about the negative implications of putting in place time-limited sanctions.
Sanctions are difficult for member states to impose within their own national legal systems.
They become more difficult to implement if turned off and on. We believe the diamond boycott should stay in place until the Government of Sierra Leone's control over the diamond regions has been fully established. We favored the establishment of benchmark criteria to be met before sanctions could be lifted. This resolution links the removal of sanctions to the arbitrary passage of time, rather than to fair and reasonable compliance with requirements established by the Council. In this case, the change in behavior is the end of the RUF's use of diamonds to fuel its war machine and human rights abuses and the full control of the government over its national resources.