Cannes, May 22: Indian diamond dealers have told The Telegraph that they are worried that a movie currently being made by Warner Bros Pictures, called The Blood Diamond and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, could seriously damage their trade.

“If this film comes out two weeks before Christmas, as is the plan, it could affect sales because this is when diamond jewellery is brought as presents,” said a highly-placed Indian diamond source.

Recently, Indian traders in Antwerp established a dominating presence on the Diamond High Council by winning five of the six elected seats on its 11-member board.

Traditionally, companies dealing with high jewellery have been happy to lend their wares to stars who turn up at events such as the Cannes Film Festival or the Oscars.

The Indian dealers are apprehensive that if the Hollywood thriller concentrates on the procurement of “conflict diamonds” from Africa, it is more than likely there will be an adverse global effect on sales ? especially in the pre-Christmas period.

Diamonds may be Preity Zinta’s best friend, as she told The Telegraph last week. But conflict diamonds are defined as “diamonds that originate from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognised governments, and are used to fund military action in opposition to those governments, or in contravention of the decisions of the Security Council”.

On December 1, 2000, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution on the role of diamonds in fuelling conflict, breaking the link between the illicit transaction of rough diamonds and armed conflict.

It recognised that “conflict diamonds are a crucial factor in prolonging brutal wars in parts of Africa, and underscored that legitimate diamonds contribute to prosperity and development elsewhere on the continent.

In Angola and Sierra Leone, conflict diamonds continue to fund the rebel groups, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola and the Revolutionary United Front, both of which are acting in contravention of the international community’s objectives of restoring peace in the two countries.”

The Assembly had suggested ways of distinguishing a conflict ? or blood diamond ? from a legitimate one. A well-structured “Certificate of Origin” regime can be an effective way of ensuring that only legitimate diamonds reach the market, it said.

Warner Bros has not disclosed too many details about The Blood Diamond. In Cannes, the well-informed Hollywood Reporter said the film is “set against the civil war chaos of 1990s Sierra Leone”.

It adds: “Leonardo DiCaprio plays Danny Archer, a South Africa mercenary who teams up with a poor fisherman on a quest to recover a pink diamond that can transform both their lives. In prison, Archer meets Solomon Vanbdy, a Mende fisherman who was taken from his family and forced to work in the diamond fields, where he discovered and hid the extraordinary rough stone.”

The Reporter says other cast members include Jennifer Connelly ? Oscar winner from A Beautiful Mind ? and Djimon Hounsou and goes on: “With the help of an American journalist, the two men trek through rebel territory to recover the gem. Their journey could save Solomon’s family and give Archer the second chance he thought he would never have.”

Indian dealers do not at all like the plot of this film, which is being directed by Ed Zwick.

The Indians are not the only ones to be apprehensive about how the film might make diamond dealers a pariah community.

“De Beers are also worried and are keen to see this film is not made,” confided the source.