TEL AVIV, July 15 (Reuters) - A global watchdog monitoring trade in "blood diamonds" is ready to help Congo Republic resume mainstream gem-trading after it was excluded last week amid suspicions of trafficking, a member of the diamond group said on Thursday.
The Kimberly Process -- which aims to keep track of diamonds to stop them being used to fund wars -- struck Congo off its membership list on Friday, saying authorities could not account for the origin of large official diamond exports.
"Our position is that we should extend technical assistance to get their house in order so they can rejoin," said Eli Izhakoff, a member of the watchdog and head of the World Diamond Council.
The Process was set up in 2003 in response to conflicts in African states such as Sierra Leone, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where armed groups fought to control diamond areas and sold the stones to fund their campaigns.
Congo's government said this week it had taken measures to ensure diamonds it exported were not funding armed conflicts and expressed confidence that its exclusion would not last long.
Its neighbour, the much larger and more diamond-rich DRC, has long made accusations of diamond smuggling through Congo Republic.
Izhakoff said Congo Republic had about $200 million in diamond exports but could not show where they were mined.
"They claim they have mining. But if they don't, then they have to show that what comes into the country is properly imported," he said.
((Reporting by Tova Cohen, editing by Matthew Tostevin and Michael Roddy))
