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By Patrick Worsnip

UNITED NATIONS, April 27 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Friday lifted a 6-year-old ban on Liberian diamond exports aimed at stopping so-called blood diamonds -- used to finance wars in Africa -- from reaching the world market.

The unanimous vote by the 15-nation Council was in "recognition of the progress made by Liberia" in setting up controls on its diamonds, which helped fuel a 14-year civil war that ended in 2003, British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said.

The resolution said Liberia had taken action to meet the minimum demands of the Kimberley Process, a mechanism that requires participating governments to provide certificates for rough diamonds to show they came from legitimate operations.

It asks the body, which has 45 members accounting for almost all world production of rough diamonds, to report back in 90 days on Liberia's compliance, after which the council will review its decision.

Blood diamonds also have been blamed for financing wars in other African countries, including Sierra Leone, Angola, Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The phrase provided the title for a 2006 movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and set in Sierra Leone.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who took office last year, has pushed hard for an end to the embargo, saying the money from diamond sales was badly needed to finance reconstruction in her war-ravaged country.

The lifting of the embargo, in a resolution drafted by the United States, came some two months before the latest extension of the ban had been due to end. "Liberia was ready," U.S. mission spokesman Ben Chang said. "The time was right."

Liberian U.N. Ambassador Nathaniel Barnes told reporters he had just learned that his country's application to join the Kimberley Process, filed in late March, would be accepted.

Friday's resolution "means a lot to the people of Liberia," he said. The Monrovia government had "the political will ... (to) make good things happen within the diamond industry so that we can move forward."

Barnes said the West African country, founded by freed American slaves, had 85 percent unemployment with former combatants accounting for many of the jobless. The resumption of diamond exports would help get them back to work, he said.

The Security Council has lifted a ban on Liberian timber exports. The only sanctions still in force against Liberia are a travel ban and assets freeze against certain named individuals.

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