"UN blacklists CAR diamond firm", 21 Aug. 2015

The United Nations on Thursday slapped sanctions on a diamond firm from the Central African Republic and three militia leaders for undermining security in the troubled country. A UN sanctions committee imposed an assets freeze on the Badica/Kardiam firm for providing support to armed groups in the Central African Republic through illegal trading in diamonds and gold. The action followed the seizure by Belgian authorities in May 2014 of diamond parcels sent to Badica/Kardiam's representative in Antwerp in violation of a 2013 ban on diamond trading, the committee said...The sanctions committee slapped a global travel ban and an assets freeze on anti-balaka militia leader Alfred Yekatom...Yekatom commanded a "large group of armed militiamen present in the PK9 neighborhood of Bangui" who controlled a dozen checkpoints...An anti-balaka commander for the province of Lobaye, Habib Soussou, was added to the sanctions blacklist as was a former Seleka general, Oumar Younous, described as a diamond smuggler close to former president Michel Djotodia. Under Soussou's command, targeted killings, clashes and attacks on aid workers have taken place in Lobaye province, the committee said. Younous, who has a Sudanese passport, is cited for his role in the illegal diamond trade from the Central African Republic to Sudan.