(NEWZIMBABWE) South Africa backs Zimbabwe diamond exports
South Africa backs Zimbabwe diamond exportsby
13/04/2011 00:00:00
ZIMBABWE has complied with international standards and is ready to trade diamonds from its Marange fields in a “normal way,” Susan Shabangu, South Africa’s mines minister, told a diamond conference in Dubai.
“We are satisfied Zimbabwe has complied,” she said today. “It is unfair to keep Zimbabwe under scrutiny.” Shabangu’s remarks follow a Kimberley Process decision April 1 that allowed the southern African nation to resume exports of gems from its Marange diamond fields.
The Kimberley Process, currently chaired by the Democratic Republic of Congo, is an organization made up of diamond trade officials charged with preventing the sale of so-called blood diamonds.
Speaking on Wednesday at the same conference, Zimbabwe’s Mines Minister, Obert Mpofu, said his country “would not be restricted” from selling diamonds and “would not allow that to happen again.”
The Kimberley Process had previously banned the sale of Marange gems, pending an investigation into the alleged killing of 200 people by security forces at the mine.
“It’s time Africa did something so that we get a bit of respect,” Mpofu said. “Zimbabwe will not continue dialogue with people who are openly defiant against the Kimberley Process.”
President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party and allied elements in the country’s security establishment have been accused by rights groups such as New York-based Human Rights Watch of profiting from the smuggling of diamonds from Marange.
Human Rights Watch claims troops and police loyal to Mugabe have been guilty of human rights violations in the diamond fields in the east of the country, close to the border with Mozambique.
The New York-based World Diamond Council, which also monitors conflict diamonds, advised its members in a March 22 statement not to trade gems from Zimbabwe.
Labels: DIAMONDS, KIMBERLEY PROCESS
posted by MrK @ 5:32 PM
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