<P> Zimbabwe Diamonds are not considered conflict diamonds by the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme . </P> <P> In July 2010, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme agreed that diamonds from the country's disputed Marange Diamond Fields could be sold on the international market, after a report from the Scheme's monitor a month earlier described diamonds mined from the fields as conflict - free . </P> <P> Global Witness was one of the first organizations to pick up on the link between diamonds and conflicts in Africa in its 1998 report entitled "A Rough Trade". With the passing of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1173 in 1998, the United Nations too identified the conflict diamond issue as a funding for war . The Fowler Report in 2000 detailed in depth how UNITA was financing its war activities, and in May 2000, led directly to the passing of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1295 and the diamond producing countries of southern Africa meeting in Kimberley, South Africa to plan a method by which the trade in conflict diamonds could be halted, and buyers of diamonds could be assured that their diamonds have not contributed to violence . In this resolution the Security Council wrote: </P> <P> Welcomes the proposal that a meeting of experts be convened for the purpose of devising a system of controls to facilitate the implementation of the measures contained in Resolution 1173 (1998), including arrangements that would allow for increased transparency and accountability in the control of diamonds from their point of origin to the bourses, emphasizes that it is important that, in devising such controls, every effort be made to avoid inflicting collateral damage on the legitimate diamond trade, and welcomes the intention of the Republic of South Africa to host a relevant conference this year . </P>

Conflict diamonds financed a civil war in this country in the 1990s