By Tim Franks BBC correspondent in Brussels

The European Commission has announced proposals to clamp down on the trade in diamonds from conflict zones.

They are called "blood diamonds" because they have helped fuelled some of the most violent and intractable wars in Africa.

Thursday's proposals from the European Commission are an attempt to dry up that source of funds for the conflicts in Sierra Leone, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The EU wants to certify diamonds

The plan is that European Union states will only accept diamond imports which have been certified not to have come from rebel-held areas.

Uncut diamonds would have to be transported in tamper-proof containers.

The scheme closely follows a process developed two years ago by South Africa, but which so far has not prompted much action.

The big problem will be in the monitoring.

Officials accept that the current proposals do not provide for robust supervision.

Given the fact that the European Union doesn't even trust some African countries to distribute food aid, trusting them to authenticate the provenance of diamonds may prove even more difficult.

But the proposals are, at least, a belated attempt to stem the flow of blood money - money which has caused misery and death on a vast scale.