[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 3 (Monday, January 22, 2001)]
[Pages 202-204]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
 Letter to Congressional Leaders on the Prohibition of Importation of 
Rough Diamonds From Sierra Leone

 January 19, 2001

 Dear Mr. Speaker:  (Dear Mr. President:)

     Pursuant to section 204(b) of the International Emergency Economic 
Powers Act, 50 U.S.C. 1703(b) (IEEPA), and section 301 of the National 
Emergencies Act, 50 U.S.C. 1631, I hereby report that I have exercised 
my statutory authority to declare a national emergency in response to 
the unusual and extraordinary threat posed to the foreign policy of the 
United States by Sierra Leone's insurgent Revolutionary United Front's 
(RUF's) illicit trade in diamonds from Sierra Leone to fund its 
operations and procurement of weapons and by the RUF's flagrant 
violation of the Lome Peace Agreement of July 7, 1999, between the 
Government of Sierra Leone and the RUF. I also have exercised my 
statutory authority to issue an Executive Order that prohibits the 
importation into the United States of all rough diamonds from Sierra 
Leone except for those importations of rough diamonds that are 
accompanied by a Certificate of Origin or other satisfactory 
documentation demonstrating that the rough diamonds were legally 
exported from Sierra Leone with the approval

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of the Government of Sierra Leone. These actions are mandated in part by 
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1306 of July 5, 2000.
     The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary 
of State, is authorized to issue regulations in exercise of my 
authorities under IEEPA and the United Nations Participation Act, 22 
U.S.C. 287c, to implement this prohibition. All Federal agencies are 
also directed to take actions within their authority to carry out the 
provisions of the Executive Order.
     I am enclosing a copy of the Executive order I have issued. The 
order was effective at 12:01 a.m. eastern standard time on January 19, 
2001.
     I have authorized these measures in response to the RUF's illicit 
trade in diamonds from Sierra Leone to fund its operations and 
procurement of weapons and in response to the actions and policies of 
the RUF in failing to fully abide by the terms of the Lome Peace 
Agreement of July 7, 1999. The people of Sierra Leone have suffered the 
ravages of a brutal civil war for nearly a decade. The world's 
conscience has been shocked by the horrific actions of the RUF in Sierra 
Leone during this conflict. The widespread crimes against humanity 
perpetrated by RUF forces include mass amputations, rape, summary 
execution, and forced labor.
     In late May 2000, United Nations Secretary General Annan encouraged 
the U.N. Security Council to consider taking measures to prevent the RUF 
from reaping the benefits of its illicit trade in diamonds that had been 
plundered from Sierra Leone. On July 5, 2000, the U.N. Security Council 
adopted Resolution 1306. The resolution determines that the situation in 
Sierra Leone continues to constitute a threat to international peace and 
security in the region, expresses concern at the role played by the 
illicit trade in diamonds in fueling the conflict in Sierra Leone, and 
decides that all states shall take the necessary measures to prohibit 
the direct or indirect importation of all rough diamonds from Sierra 
Leone to their territory. The resolution, in recognition of the economic 
importance of the legitimate diamond trade to Sierra Leone, further 
decides that rough diamonds controlled by the Government of Sierra Leone 
through a Certificate of Origin regime shall be exempt from the trade 
embargo.
     Military forces of the Government of Sierra Leone and Military 
Observer Group forces provided by the Economic Community of West African 
States were engaged in military operations' in Sierra Leone against the 
RUF until mid-1999. At that time, the Government of Sierra Leone and the 
RUF signed the Lome Peace Agreement, which provides for an end to 
hostilities and the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of 
the insurgent RUF forces. The United Nations Security Council in U.N. 
Security Council Resolutions 1270 and 1289 established the United 
Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) to facilitate implementation 
of the Lome Peace Agreement and to provide security at key locations and 
government buildings and at all sites of the disarmament, 
demobilization, and reintegration programs, among other tasks. The Lome 
Peace Agreement brought an end, sadly only temporarily, to the killings 
and the atrocities perpetrated by the RUF.
     RUF forces have repeatedly violated the terms of the Lome Peace 
Agreement throughout this spring, when they engaged in deliberate and 
unprovoked armed attacks on U.N. peacekeepers and committed serious 
abuses against civilians and international and national aid workers. In 
May 2000, as UNAMSIL expanded its efforts to establish monitoring and 
disarmament sites in or near RUF-controlled territory, RUF forces 
initiated military activity in those areas, killing U.N. peacekeepers 
and capturing or isolating hundreds of UNAMSIL personnel. These actions 
brought the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration processes 
agreed to in the Lome Peace Agreement to a virtual standstill and 
represent a direct hostile challenge to U.S. foreign policy objectives 
in the region, which include restoration of peace in Sierra Leone and 
promotion of democracy and the rule of law throughout the region. 
Failure to respond to this challenge would encourage other potential 
rogue organizations to transgress the rule-based international order, 
which is crucial to the peace and prosperity of the United States.

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     For the reasons discussed above, the RUF's illicit trade in 
diamonds from Sierra Leone and its flagrant violation of the Lome Peace 
Agreement constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the foreign 
policy of the United States. The measures we are taking will serve to 
bring an end to the illicit arms-for-diamonds trade through which the 
RUF perpetuates the tragic conflict in Sierra Leone. They also reflect 
our outrage at the RUF's repeated, widespread, and serious violations of 
the Lome Peace Agreement and the RUF's continuing hostilities against 
the people of Sierra Leone and UNAMSIL personnel.
     Sincerely,
                                            William J. Clinton

  Note:  Letters were sent to J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House of 
Representatives, and Albert Gore, Jr., President of the Senate. An 
original was not available for verification of the content of this 
letter.