Maravi

(NEWZIMBABWE) Canada, U.S. vow Marange blockade

COMMENT - Question: why is the United States trying to strangle Zimbabwe, the way they have been strangling Haiti? Don't talk to me about 'human rights abuses' or democracy, when you support the illegal government of Haiti, the illegal government of the DRC, and your best friends are Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. Hillary Clinton's husband, Bill Clinton, is indirectly involved in the illegal diamond trade in the DRC, through their connections to ADASTRA and Lazard Kaplan's Maurice Tempelsman.

Canada, U.S. vow Marange blockade
27/06/2011 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter

THE United States and Canada on Monday launched a new bid to block diamonds from Marange from being sold on the international market. At the end of a meeting of the Kimberley Process diamond watchdog in the DRC last Thursday, the body’s chairman circulated a statement saying the KP had “endorsed exports” from Marange.

The United States said Mathieu Yamba’s statement “did not attract consensus” and Canada said it “refuses to go along with the plan to certify Zimbabwe’s diamonds”.

The two countries’ opposition was criticised by the president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) who said he was saddened by the “politicisation” of the deliberations on Zimbabwe.

“It is very sad that through the politicisation of the KP talks, some of the KP members have lost sight of what the original objectives of the KP are. At the same time, they are using the unique structure of the KP, with its consensual decision making process, to hold up the process and serve secondary goals that are foreign to the KP,” WFDB president Avi Paz said.

Decisions of the KP must be by consensus – a bar which has proved insurmountable for Zimbabwe and its supporters who are a big majority in the 75-nation body.

Zimbabwe is anxious to sell its diamonds on the international market to fund its economic regeneration, but its critics among the human rights groups and Western countries claim abuses by the military are ongoing in Marange. Canada, among those critics, says it wants “supervised exports from two Marange mines and a credible monitoring arrangement”.

And in a statement, the US State Department said: “Contrary to some reporting, the Kinshasa Intersessional did not reach a consensus text ... We believe that work toward a solution must continue, and that until consensus is reached, exports from Marange should not proceed.

“We remain ready to work with the Kimberley Process Chair and others to find a solution. The Kimberley Process works best when producers and consumers are collaborating, and when civil society is an active participant.”

The statement said the United States “would like to ensure the Kimberley Process’s future and enable diamond exports to contribute positively to the region’s people and economy” – but WFDB president Paz warned the NGOs, the United States, Canada and others were in fact imperilling the future of the KP.

“By walking out of the house, and by upending the discussions, some members clearly do not realise the enormous negative and, I fear, disastrous impact their conduct has and will have on the entire diamond supply pipeline,” Paz stated.

“Millions of people, both in Zimbabwe, as well as in the major diamond manufacturing centres, such as India, who do not have any other means of income, are affected directly and soon enough the industry at large will fall victim to the lack of resolve of the KP.”

President Robert Mugabe has vowed to sell Zimbabwe's diamonds “with or without the Kimberley Process”.

Labels: KIMBERLEY PROCESS, MARANGE DIAMOND FIELDS, NEOCOLONIALISM, SANCTIONS

posted by MrK @ 4:12 PM