AFP/File – A man checks raw diamonds. Zimbabwe's military still appears to controls large swaths of a major … |
 Military still controls Zimbabwe diamond field: rights group
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – Zimbabwe's military still appears to controls large swaths of a major diamond field, where soldiers are accused of forcing civilians to mine the gems, a rights group said Friday.
Global Witness, a British-based group that monitors the exploitation of natural resources, welcomed Zimbabwe's decision to halt a diamond auction Thursday, saying the sale would have violated international rules meant to stem the trade in "blood diamonds".
Elly Harrowell, a campaigner on conflict diamonds, said that Global Witness did not believe statements by Zimbabwe's mines minister Obert Mpofu who said that soldiers and police had withdrawn from the fields in November.
"We would not take as credible as the statement made by minister Mpofu," she told AFP.
"Our information shows that that is not true. What we think is likely is that the military has withdrawn from two small areas," she said
The eastern Marange diamond fields cover some 66,000 hectares (163,000 acres), but the gems were only discovered there in 2006.
"Given its past history, it's very likely that the military is still there," Harrowell said. "It's very likely that they're still forcing local people into mining syndicates."
Global Witness had pushed for a ban on Zimbabwe's international sales over the abuses at Marange, after a Kimberley investigation documented "unacceptable and horrific violence against civilians by authorities", including forced labour, torture and beatings by soldiers against villagers.
Instead, Zimbabwe was given until June to comply with Kimberley's regulations
The government says two South African firms now run Marange. The companies had tried to begin auctioning the diamonds on Thursday, until the government suspended the sale.
(2010/01/10 - AFP/YAHOO NEWS) |
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