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Zimbabwean diamonds "still bloody"

Summary

14 June 2010

Global Witness, the human rights watchdog, has warned that the Kimberley Process, the scheme that is meant to certify diamonds, could be funding political violence in Zimbabwe.

Reporter:

Karen Allen

Report

The Marange diamond fields are among the richest in the world. They've been widely linked to human rights abuses and have reportedly been a source of revenue to win support for President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party. But despite this the Kimberly Process has stopped short of expelling Zimbabwe from its certification scheme.

Now a report by Global Witness claims that by turning a blind eye to alleged abuses, the Kimberley Process has effectively condoned a system that has swapped military control of the diamond fields to the establishment of joint venture companies. Companies which allegedly break Zimbabwean law and which reinforce a system of patronage which Global Witness claims "facilitates state looting".

An investigation into the joint venture companies revealed a lack of transparency and also the presence of dubious individuals who've been arrested in the past for diamond smuggling.

The report concludes that given Zimbawe's fragile coalition government, and history of political violence, the Zimbabwean authorities are simply "exchanging one form of criminality for another".

Karen Allen, BBC News