Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO: (1) analyzed South Africa's role in the world diamond market and the feasibility of imposing sanctions on South African diamonds; and (2) addressed the effect of U. S. sanctions on Namibia and the implication of removing those sanctions on the enforcement of the remaining sanctions on South Africa. GAO found that: (1) a U. S. ban on South-African-origin diamonds would not hurt South Africa's economy because exports only accounted for about 2 percent of its total exports, and sales of diamonds to the United States represented an even smaller percentage; (2) sanctions against South-African-origin diamonds could prove difficult to enforce because the country of origin for individual diamonds cannot be detected by visual, chemical, or physical tests; (3) U. S. sanctions against Namibia had little economic effect because the United States had a very low volume of trade with Namibia prior to the sanctions' implementation; and (4) Namibia exports and imports through South-African-controlled ports, which allows South Africa the potential to evade sanctions by relabelling its exports and imports to indicate they originated in, or were destined for, Namibia. | Economic Sanctions by U S Government Accountability Office (G, Paperback | Indigo Chapters