In July of 1998 the sanctions of the UNO were imposed on Angola. The sanctions were aimed at cutting off diamond export from the country. The returns were used to finance antigovernmental movement UNITA. According to the UNO, the UNITA's diamond returns in the last eight years totaled from $3 to $4 billion. The sanctions prohibited the country export of rough diamonds without a certificate verifying their origin.

The decision was made after several years of the UNO missions work aimed at maintaining peace in the region. The first mission was launched in 1989 and got the name UNAVEM I. The Mission was established on December 20, 1988 with the purpose of controlling withdrawal of Cuban troops northward and finally their total withdrawal from Angola according to the schedule agreed upon by Angola and Cuba. Then there were missions UNAVEM II and III, whose purpose was regulation of moot pointsand provision of national reconciliation on the basis of the peace treaty in Angola, signed May 31, 1991 and the Lusaka Protocol, signed November 20, 1994 between the government of Angola and National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).

In 1997 the UNAVEM Mission becomes MONUA and this is when the UN imposes its sanctions against the "bloody" diamonds. However, on January 17, 1999 the UN Secretary General admitted in his report that there is no other coice but to cease the MONUA Mission as the opposite parties are unwilling to look for peace ways. Since 1945 the Un has conducted 47 peace-maintaining operations. Currently operating are 15 UN missions. The cost of such an operation is nothing compared to the damages, financial and human losses caused by conflicts. Out of one dollar spent by government for military activities less than 0.25 cents was used for peacemaking by the United Nations Organization. Nevertheless, almost two dozens of such operations unfortunately gave the grounds to the English researchers B. Russel and J. Satterline to state that the sporadic activation of the UN peacemaking forces is nothing more than "improvization" as they were marked by amateur actions, numerous cases of order breaking and lacked strict organization standards.

The UN cannot be said to be influencing the world mineral markets directly but indirect effect is always present. In a number of cases in order to cut off the possible financial channel of supporting military actions, the organization may impose partial sanctions up to economic blockade. One of the most well-known examples of such blockade is the economic embargo against Iraq. Just recently a Russian tanker "Volgoneft - 147" fell victim to the blockade when it was apprehended by the USA Military Forces on suspicion of transporting Iraq oil. Though it turned out virtually impossible to prove the cargo was being transported from Iraq or Iran oil-processing plant, it all resulted in a grave scandal.

The problem of identification rises in the cases of "bloody" diamonds, too. Chairman of Saction Committee of the UN, Canadian Ambassador Robert Fowler, who is in supervises the matter of illegal diamond supplies, suggests that special UN observers should be brought in to world diamond exchanges for better control of rough diamonds supplies. His position is shared by a number of public non-governmental organizations: Canadian "Partnership Africa Canada" (ÐÀÑ) and British Global Witness. However, many researchers consider the idea impossible as the problem of the diamonds identification is still unsloved. While identification of emeralds is now possible due to the newly discovered analysis method (as the Russian Jewellery Network reported in the information bulletin), diamonds and especially brilliants are not so easily verified. There exist several indirect methods of indentifying the origin of diamond origin through the analysis of its inclusions, but their reliability is still under discussion.

We have already mentioned public organizations that had taken upon themselves the peacemaking the regions after the UN withdrawal. It would be a mistake to say that the UN has totally ceased its peacemaking activities but we need to acknowledge that it is under the pressure of the non-governmental organization that in 1999 was launched such a large campaign on helping Angola in its humanitatian problems. On several occasions governments succumbed to the voice of these organizations, for example, Great Britain, USA and Canada made statements concerning the urgent steps that should be taken against the bloodshed in Africa. In its turn De Beers, which controls about 70% of world diamond sales, considers the illegal diamond flow a potential threat to its ability to regulate world diamond prices. Thus, in late 1999 in addition to the UN sanctions De Beers and International Diamond Manufactures Association (IDMA) impose a total embargo on purchase of Angolan diamonds. A while later the USA introduces the CARAT bill which prohibits import of diamonds without origin indication.

The embargo, however, has its reverse side. Already in November at the business forum in Yohanesburg Chairman of De Beers Nicolas Oppenheimer encouraged the world community not to take African diamonds as "contageous". He stressed that in 1998 the amount of Angolan diamonds at the market did not exceed 1.5%. That means that a customer's chance of purchasing a "bloody" diamond equaled 1/100. Thus too aggressive a fight against the "bloody " diamonds will lead to boycotting of all African produce and may prove counterproductive for countries involved in civil wars. For example, such diamond mining countries as South African Republic and Botswana.

While negative sides of the "antidiamond" campaign are obvious, effectiveness of embargo is not so easily seen. In his report to the UN Robert Fowler pointed out the effectiveness of restriction measures after the January inspecion of Angola. However, the UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi says that the action did have any serious effect on the rebels' financial support. Apparently, it is more difficult to blockade Angola than Iraq. On the other hand, Coordinator of Humanitarian UN Mission in Iraq Hans fon Schponek insisted that the sanctions first of all influence the civilians, and the UN Securiry Council should make distinguish between helping lay Iraq citizens and solving the disarmament problem. The statement resulted in his dismissal from the position. The USA and Great Britain accused fon Schponek of accepting the side of Iraq by calling the world community to cancel the UN sanctions towards Bagdad imposed after the Iraq's invasion in Kuwait in 1990. Thus, the efficiency of ecomonic measures is still under discussion not only among independent observers but inside the Organization itself. The need for reforms became obvious aslo to Secretary General of UN Kofi Annan who touched upon the issue at the 51 session of the General Assembly of the UN. The report (À/51/25) is quite considerable in size: 200 pages. It was written on the threshold of the new millenium and contains suggestions on the most far-reaching reforms in the 52-year history of the UN existence. To be frank, it concerns a number of ticklish issues which have already given rise to unfavourable criticism on the part of several political observers.

Nevertheless, the UNO is an open organization and its activities are reported by several special agencies as well as in the Internet. There is great number of sites and pages dedicated to the UN work, including the official site of the Organization available in a number of world languages - www.un.org. The site provides all kinds of useful information.

In this little report we touched upon the issue of the UN economic sanctions and peacemaking activity. Although for most people the organization is associated with promoting peace and security, a great portion of the UN resources is allocated to the fulfillment of a Charter obligation to promote higher living standards, full employment and conditions for better economic and social development. In particular, the organization does annual researches into strategically important directions of economic development for most "unhappy" countries with a rich mineral resource base where the ore extracting and processing industry is decisive for the economic prosperity of the nation. In some cases special recomendations are provided to help develop better economic and social climate for these countries.

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