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Mugabe faces losing gem lifeline
 Zimbabwe's diamond industry will be under the spotlight in Namibia tomorrow as more evidence emerges of the murder and violence surrounding President Robert Mugabe's control of the sector.Members of the international diamond watchdog, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), will consider suspending Zimbabwe for at least six months at a four-day meeting after a working party investigated the Chiadzwa fields in the east of the country. A suspension would in effect stop the Zimbabwean government importing and exporting rough diamonds. However, the scheme is voluntary and the Zimbabwean authorities would be required to enforce it -- the same authorities that are said to be heavily involved in illegal smuggling and violence at the mines. Perhaps more importantly, a suspension would also put the onus on reputable traders and governments not to buy Zimbabwean diamonds, which dealers can easily identify by their coarse, pebble-like appearance. Those trading in non-KPCS diamonds risk expulsion from the world's 24 diamond bourses. A leaked copy of the KPCS working party's report paints a damning picture of violence, smuggling and lawlessness around the Chiadzwa site in Marange district, 60 miles south of the city of Mutare, most of which is owned by the Aim-listed firm African Consolidated Resources (ACR). The meeting in Namibia comes as human rights workers in Zimbabwe claim that more than 400 people have died in Chiadzwa since the government launched a bloody crackdown on thousands of illegal diamond panners in October last year. Smugglers, in collusion with military, police and government figures, are said to have earned millions of pounds spiriting the gems across the nearby border with Mozambique, where dealers from Lebanon, Belgium, Iraq, Mauritania and the Balkans buy up the diamonds for export. In a documentary filmed in Zimbabwe and shown on state television in South Africa last week, victims of the crackdown spoke of killings, beatings, rapes and attacks using dogs. Men and women pictured on screen said soldiers were mainly responsible, with one woman saying she miscarried after a beating and another man claiming he had been whipped with razor wire. Many said they were too scared to receive treatment at the local hospital through fear that the military would track them down. The local morgue was said to contain 70 bodies from the violence, with relatives too afraid to collect them for burial. Posted by: Fred 2009-11-02 |
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