(NEWZIMBABWE) Mpofu reiterates KP pull-out threat

Mpofu reiterates KP pull-out threat
by
28/02/2010 00:00:00

MINES minister Obert Mpofu has reiterated government threats to pull out of the Kimberly Process (KP) if the body refuses to endorse the country’s bid to freely trade diamonds extracted from the disputed Marange fields.

Allegations of human rights abuses and the claimed involvement of security services in the exploitation of the Marange diamonds in eastern Zimbabwe resulted in the country being brought before the KP, a joint government, industry and civil society initiative aimed at stemming trade in so-called “blood diamonds”.

Trade in diamonds produced from Marange has since been stopped and the country was given a June 2010 deadline to comply with a number of stringent requirements which include the appointment of a KP country monitor.

However Mpofu told journalists at the Bulawayo Press Club that Zimbabwe would pull out of the Kimberly Process if government efforts to comply with its requirements are not endorsed.

"If the KP is unsatisfied with our efforts and says we have failed to comply with their requirements (and) bar us from diamond trade, we will not lose sleep. We are ready to just pull through and not lose anything.

"The KP does not own the diamond trade markets. Zimbabwe will pull out of the KP and sell its diamonds to those markets,” Mpofu said adding that membership of the organisation was in fact voluntary.

President Robert Mugabe also said recently that Zimbabwe would find other ways of trading its diamonds if the country continued to encounter problems with the Kimberly Process.

Human rights organisations and sections of the global diamond industry have been pushing for the country’s suspension from the KP claiming that the Marange stones are being used to enrich government officials and fund rights abuses in the country.

The Marange issue is further complicated by unending legal disputes with a British company African Consolidated Resources (ACR) claiming that it is being muscled out of the lucrative fields by the government.

The government has since moved to cancel ACR’s claims to the area and granted the mining rights to two private companies which have established joint ventures with the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC).