Cleanse 'blood diamonds'.

Byline: The Register-Guard

They're often called "conflict diamonds," but "blood diamonds" is a far more fitting name. They are the illegally traded stones that have bankrolled the wars and uprisings in African nations such as Sierra Leone, Angola and the Congo, trapping them in a mire of violence and poverty.

After years of unnecessary - and deadly - delay, representatives of government, industry and human rights groups meeting in Botswana last week agreed on a system intended to certify legitimately traded diamonds. The aim is to eliminate the market for stones mined in Africa's war zones and marketed by rebels, terrorists and criminal organizations.

Key details must still be resolved and effective enforcement mechanisms put in place, but the agreement marks a critical step toward ending a trade that has kept Africa's killing fields soaked with blood and may be funding terrorism worldwide.

The new agreement would establish a global system to track diamonds as they are shipped from their source countries into the hands of middlemen and on to the companies that process them into polished gems. The United Nations is expected to ratify the agreement as early as next month.

The sooner the better. Fighting continues in Angola, where nearly $4 billion in smuggled diamonds has bought sophisticated arms for UNITA rebels, whose war against the government has cost more than a half-million lives. Until recently, the gem trade in the Congo fueled a war that entangled six nations and that has yet to be fully resolved. In Sierra Leone, rebels have used gems to support their campaign of torture, rape, mutilation and murder, and have reportedly sold them to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, which, in turn, made millions of dollars selling the gems.

It's unfortunate that it took an al-Qaeda link to prod U.S. officials into serious action. For years, the United States has opposed all but anemic controls on diamonds and has seemed oblivious to humanitarian concerns stemming from gem trafficking. Even now, the Bush administration is voicing reservations that the accord could violate international trade regulations.

As for the diamond industry, its primary motivation seems to be a justifiable fear that reports of atrocities from producing countries such as Sierra Leone will taint all diamonds, leading to a devastating consumer boycott.

Regardless of motivation, it's still heartening that an agreement has been reached on controls for a diamond trade that for too long has been tainted with the blood of innocents.