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Kimberley Process recommends suspending Zimbabwe from diamond trade
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 30 - 07 - 2009


The Kimberley Process (KP), the international
watchdog body fighting trade in "blood diamonds," has called for
Zimbabwe to be barred from the international diamond trade for at
least six months, Zimbabwean state media reported Thursday, according to dpa.
The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), which was
implemented in 2003 and counts Zimbabwe among its member countries,
requires diamond-producing countries to have controls in place
certifying shipments of rough diamonds as "conflict-free."
A team of Kimberley Process inspectors visited Zimbabwe's eastern
Marange diamond fields earlier this month to investigate allegations
of gross human rights abuses by the military against diamond diggers
and residents.
During its visit, the KP team called for the immediate withdrawal
of the military from the area. The government agreed to comply, but
said the withdrawal would only be carried out on a phased basis.
On Thursday, the state-controlled Herald reported that "an interim
report by the KP team has recommended Zimbabwe to
stop diamond trade within the KPCS until the country meets minimum
standards."
The Herald said the Kimberley team recommended "initiation of
procedure to implement suspension of Zimbabwe from importing or
exporting of rough diamonds within the KPCS for a period of at least
six months, but until such time as a KP team determines that minimum
standards have been met."
Human Rights Watch, in a report in June, accused the military of
killing scores of wildcat diamond diggers in Marange during a
crackdown on illegal mining in the area late last year and says
members of the military are now lining their pockets with the gems.
While Zimbabwe's coalition government "has acknowledged
non-compliance with the KP minimum standards," it was "silent on
voluntary suspension," the Herald said.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti, of the former opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC), had pleaded last week with the Process
to give Zimbabwe more time to put in place proper controls in Marange
before taking action, the paper said.
The Herald quoted Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert
Mpofu as saying the government would take action when the Kimberley
Process presented its final report, which was expected "soon."
HRW and other groups have been calling for the definition of
conflict diamonds - diamonds that pay for conflicts - to be expanded
to include diamonds mined in conditions of gross rights abuses.
The government says there were "no killings" in Marange.


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