The tools available to West African law enforcement agencies are not up to the task.
level of sophistication of criminals operating in the extractive industry, notes a report by the Group
Intergovernmental Action Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA).
The document notes in particular that "the unregulated nature of the trade in rough diamonds and gold
continue to exacerbate the situation, especially for certain countries where diamonds or gold
represent a significant share of gross domestic product (GDP) or total exports, with
underdeveloped formal systems".

Entitled "Money laundering and terrorist financing linked to the extractive industry sector in
West Africa", this report, a copy of which was obtained by APS, has 77 pages.
He underlined that strengthening the regulation and transparency of the extractive industry and the
mining sector will not only help countries to combat these phenomena, but also to increase
their incomes and improve their budgetary situation.

In the report, Matthew Byme, senior legal adviser to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), argues
that the lack of transparency of transactions in the extractive industry and the mining sector in general has
been identified as a major impediment to tax collection.
Mr. Byme believes that the implementation of the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) standard strengthens the
transparency of transactions and should be beneficial for the general supervision of trading in
precious stones and metals, including for tax audit.

"The objective of implementing an anti-money laundering and anti-money laundering framework
terrorism (AML/CFT) is to detect and/or prevent the commission of underlying crimes such as fraud,
drug trafficking, arms smuggling or corruption," the report said.
He recalls that "according to several reports published in the media and international organizations,
links are being forged between money laundering and the illegal export of minerals such as
diamonds".

In economies where currencies no longer have value, diamonds and gold are mainly used
as a means of circulating cash, notes the document.
"Counter-terrorism analysts and specialists point to the fact that terrorist groups
Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah have used rough diamonds from West Africa to fund their activities,"
underlines the document.

He points out that the "Global Witness" think tank has presented evidence which confirms that Al-Qaeda is
involved in the rough diamond trade since the 1990s.
Similarly, a report by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States of America
established "a link between certain residents of West Africa and descendants of the Middle East living in
Gambia, Ghana and Sierra Leone to provide support to terrorist organizations such as
Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah".

“The impact of this criminal activity on the economic and social stability of society, as well as on the
state security is a serious concern," according to the GIABA document.

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