Kakfwi retracts De Beers 'blood diamonds' charge

Northwest Territories leader Stephen Kakfwi has retracted his accusations that the De Beers Group deals in diamonds that come from conflict zones gems that are often called "blood" or "conflict" diamonds.

Kakfwi told CBC News Business on Wednesday that his accusations held no water. "I regret the statements that I made," he said. "They were not accurate."

"I tried to retract the comments but that was not done. I guess we just got a little passionate at the moment," he said.

Kakfwi charged Monday that De Beers mixed all of its diamonds together to hide the identity of its diamond sources because he said some of their diamonds came from "dubious" sources.

De Beers immediately denied that it mixed diamonds to conceal their origins and said it had no dealings with warlords in Africa.

Kakfwi said he would be meeting with De Beers officials later in the day.

De Beers has a controlling interest in the Snap Lake diamond property in the Northwest Territories.