Hands off Zim!
Sunday, 13 January 2013 00:00
Itai Mazire
Russia and South Africa have implored the United Nations to actively seek the
scrapping of Western sanctions against diamond mining companies operating in Zimbabwe’s Marange district, saying the embargo will
negatively affect free trade on the world diamond market.
The two UN Security Council members combined forces at the General Assembly of the world body held mid-last month to also applaud the move to allow Zimbabwe to export diamonds mined at the fields without special monitoring.
According to Diamond Intelligence Briefs released last Wednesday, the two countries said the sanctions were not yielding any positive results.
Addressing delegates to the General Assembly, South Africa’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, Mr Doctor Mashabane, commended the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) for its decision to lift special monitoring measures on the Marange diamond fields.
“It is our fervent hope that this development will pave way for the lifting of sanctions imposed by the United States government on the trade of diamonds from the Marange area,” Mr Mashabane was quoted as saying in one of the intelligence briefs.
“The diamond industry plays a major role in driving economic growth and prosperity in many countries, especially in Africa and the rest of the developing world.
“Hence, there is need for us to applaud the Zimbabwean authorities, industry and the civil society that complied with the KPCS requirements.”
Russia’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, Mr Dmitry Maksimychev, said it was important for the KPCS to respect the sovereignty of member countries.
He also attacked American attempts to redefine the term “conflict diamonds”, saying the initiative did not centre on the key objectives of the KP.
The redefinition of the term has widely been viewed as part of moves by the West to block the sale of diamonds mined in Marange. “There is no need to press ahead with hasty reforms, specifically persistent attempts to redefine conflict diamonds,” he said.
“Attention should be focused on perfecting the work of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme in its current form.
“To artificially politicise the process would have a negative effect on it (KPCS) achieving its core tasks. Hence efforts should be aimed at motivating states to participate in its work.
“Sanctions (on Zimbabwe) failed to provide positive results, and instead, led to gray areas of trade.”
Mines and mining development ministry legal advisor Mr Farai Mutamangira said the calls by the two countries clearly indicated that America’s war on the Zimbabwean economy was negatively impacting major players in the world diamond industry.
He said the imposition of sanctions on diamond firms in Marange was affecting the economy.
“The moral obliquity associated with these illegal sanctions is becoming clearer and clearer to our friends, and the recent listing of diamond mines by the US demonstrates the blatancy of the determination by the West to annihilate our economy,” said Mr Mutamangira.
Last year, the United States government added Mbada Diamonds and Marange Resources to its sanctions list, which essentially aims to isolate individuals or companies in targeted countries.
Both companies operate at the diamond fields in terms of a joint venture with the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC).
The ZMDC is already on the embargo list on account of it being State-owned.
The extension of the punitive measures came after the KPCS gave Zimbabwe the green light to market diamonds mined in the district without any special monitoring measures.
In its 2011 report, the KPCS ranked Zimbabwe the fifth largest diamond producer in the world.
The world diamond body said local diamond production continued to surge despite major declines in several top producing countries.
The report also indicated the economic sanctions imposed on the country by the United States and its allies were forcing Zimbabwe to sell its precious stones at a lower price.
“In 2011, Zimbabwe exported its goods at a price of US$54,31 per carat, though their book price was US$56,01 per carat,” reads part of the report.
Labels: DIAMONDS, FARAI MUTAMANGIRA, KIMBERLEY PROCESS, SANCTIONS, ZDERA
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How Obert Mpofu tamed America
16/11/2011 00:00:00
by Tafadzwa Msarara
“Mr Chairman, what we have here in this debate over certification of Marange diamond fields is a fight pitting an elephant and an ant. Not only do we have the elephant willing to trample on the ant alone but goes to call other elephants namely the EU, Canada and their western allies. Guess what Mr Chairman, facts are stubborn. In this instance, facts are in our favour because the two mines are compliant as declared by the joint working group on monitoring which was set up and established with knowledge and consent of the USA.”
Zimbabwe's Mines Minister Obert Mpofu to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme at the Jerusalem Plenary
It is fashionable and award-winning in third world countries to pen documents viciously attacking government leaders and their policies. Behold, credit must be given where it is due.
Obert Mpofu was assigned by his boss, President Mugabe, to carry the most difficult task in the history of the Kimberly Process of seeking certification of diamond mines located in the most potent area in the world, where a western declared “rogue” government is superintending their disposal.
What is striking the most is that Mpofu achieved that in three years despite being himself slapped with a travel ban by some of the KP’s most influential countries including the USA. It is common knowledge that the USA is the United Nations and vice versa. This unfortunate trend is quickly creeping into KP.
Mpofu’s biggest ammunition he had on his side was a hard working team comprising of the Attorney General Johannes Tomana, legal advisor Farai Mutamangira and his senior ministry officials. The three opponents to the certification led by the USA played all tricks in order to frustrate the Zimbabwe bid. At one time in the morning, the USA legal team promised Tomana and Mutamangira that they meet in 10 minutes to “finalise on the Marange outstanding issues”.
The USA team came back to the hall at 11PM and found Mpofu and his team ready and waiting. Of course the plan was to meet the Zimbabweans when they are drained and desperate.
I feared these tough negotiations were going to take a toll on Mpofu’s health given his age and weight, but the man was wide awake and alert all the times. These westerners are deadly in mind warfare, but in Cde Obert Mpofu, they met their match.
I also remember in Jerusalem, the KPCS chairman suggested that the Zimbabwe team meet the three opposing members together with their civil society so that they “iron out differences” and obtain consensus. The USA, the EU and Canada were leveraging on a KPCS consensus rule that dictates that all decisions get the agreement of all participating members. No decision will be made in KP even if the contending participant is being unreasonable.
During the heated meeting, and it became apparent that consensus was not forthcoming; Mpofu switched on Farai Mutamangira’s microphone and then came the young firebrand lawyer.
“It seems that putting us in a room with the USA is like having Israel and Iran locked in one room and hope consensus will be reached. We have a bully who continues to flout international law in an attempt to punish the President of Zimbabwe and his ministers at every turn and twist. This plenary is no exception,” Mutamangira said.
The whole room fell into deafening silence and I knew Mpofu had planned that in order to demonstrate to other mediating participants the extent of the hostile relations between Zimbabwe and the USA. The support for Zimbabwe by African countries grew and surprise, surprise, we saw Sierra Leone warming up to Zimbabwe’s cause. That’s shrewdness!
During the Kinshasa plenary, Susan Page walked in with a host of USA Central Intelligence Agents (CIA) in tow masquerading as diamond experts. This time around, the USA was blowing hot and cold because we had other officials who were making diplomatic overtures like the second in charge at the USA embassy in Harare, and the rest were shouting hoarse at the “human rights violations” in Marange. I could see my brother Shamiso Mtisi of NANGO very relaxed and cosy in the midst of this USA delegation in a typical baas boy fashion.
When time for closed group meetings came, the three musketeers together with their civil society partners were ready to pounce on Mpofu with new charges of human rights violation – which included a claim that an Air Force of Zimbabwe gunship killed hundreds of illegal panners a week before President Mugabe’ visit to the area.
Mpofu pulled a stunt. He sent the South African representative with a message to the sub-group chairman that he will not be coming to discuss Marange because the two mines were now KPCS compliant. Any other issues must be discussed as work in progress and not as a pre-condition of certifying the two mines. I could see dejection on the plotters’ faces because the plot could not be concluded in the absence of Zimbabwe’s Minister.
A representative of one of the USA’s allies, the United Arab Emirates, said: “I came to Kinshasa hoping that we will conclude this Marange issue at last. My country is in possession of Marange diamonds intercepted by security agents in our country enroute to India. We have sought legal advice on the matter from one of the world top lawyers. They have told us that our discussion to seize the parcel is defective at law and we are working towards complying with that legal opinion. Please can we have this matter off our back.”
The cat was out of the bag!
It is the convincing arguments advanced by Mpofu that made other African countries realise that what is happening to Zimbabwe can befall them in the future. This led to the formation of the African Diamond Producers Association (ADPA) because African participants claimed that they produce 70% of the world diamond but continue to be treated as junior members. Therefore, they needed to unite and up the game.
The victory on the certification of Mbada and Marange must not be confined to the two mines but to all future KPCS certification where Zimbabwean black capital is involved. Whilst every Zimbabwean is entitled to demand the full account of Marange Diamonds receipts, we should be mindful of other wholly-owned foreign mining ventures across Zimbabwe that are yet to give account of their wealth.
Yes, indeed the diamond must benefit everyone in Zimbabwe and it is the collective right and responsibility of Zimbabweans to dispose their own resources as enshrined in the UN Charter. However, it is refreshing to win the fight against external forces that were bent on denying us our privilege to export.
“For answering to a call to be part of a revolution that frees fellow countrymen socially and economically, you are a true hero. But for defending the virtues of the revolution after attaining victory, you are a super hero,” said Che Guevara.
Tafadzwa Musarara is the Chairman of Africa Economic Development Strategies. You may contact him on chairman@aeds.org
Labels: FARAI MUTAMANGIRA, JOHANNES TOMANA, KIMBERLEY PROCESS, MARANGE DIAMOND FIELDS, NEOCOLONIALISM, OBERT MPOFU
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Fighting talk from Zimbabwe as KP stalemates
by Staff Reporter
05/11/2010 00:00:00
ZIMBABWE sent out a defiant message on Thursday after the Kimberley Process broke off talks about the certification of Marange diamonds in Israel without an agreement. Mines Minister Obert Mpofu said the country would not be held hostage by Canada, the United States and Australia – the fiercest opponents of Zimbabwe’s push to be allowed to freely sell Marange diamonds.
“These are our God-given resources and we will do with them what we feel is best for our people,” Mpofu said. Zimbabwe says it has met all the certification standards set by the KP, a 75-nation global body responsible for ending the trade of “blood” diamonds which are often used to fund wars across Africa.
Kimberley Process chairman, Boaz Hirsch, head of foreign trade division at Israel’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labour, ended the four-day meeting in Jerusalem after delegates failed to reach consensus to allow the exports from Zimbabwe.
“It’s an agreement that comes to portray the complex reality that was displayed in the review mission report,” Hirsch said. “There are a small number of countries that are still in consultation with their capitals. We had deadlines and the plenary has ended, but we do hope to reach a consensus in the coming days.”
Hirsch declined to disclose details of the agreement being considered but explained that the negotiations have focused on presenting an agreement that reflects the findings of a KP review mission.
The review mission was in Zimbabwe in August, but disputes among participants delayed publication of the final report until Friday last week, just before the plenary. Zimbabwe has 30 days to reply to the recommendations.
The report recommended that Zimbabwe’s planned sale of existing rough stockpile should depend upon progress made in the implementation of the joint working plan.
Critically, the review mission was of the opinion that the KP should favourably consider the sale. The compliance report reiterated though that the Kimberley Process monitor to Zimbabwe should inspect Marange diamonds before a legal sale can take place.
One Kimberley Process participant, who requested anonymity, noted that while the plenary failed to reach consensus, there were also no clear objections -- indicating that Zimbabwe could find a technical loophole to make the exports.
Hirsch stressed that this is not the case though, and that the country is still under obligations set out by the Swakopmund agreement, signed in November 2009, whereby Marange diamonds would still be subject to the signature of the monitor for Marange, Abbey Chikane.
Hirsch noted that it was up to individual member countries to uphold the Kimberley Process principles should Zimbabwe begin exports before an agreement is reached.
Eli Izhakoff, president of the World Diamond Council (WDC), which represents the diamond industry at the Kimberley Process, said the organisation’s position has always been “an inclusive one” rather than advocating expulsion or the possibility of allowing diamonds to penetrate the market outside the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.
He declined to speculate what action the WDC would take if Zimbabwe exports begin before a decision is made.
Hirsch dismissed the possibility of another mini-summit taking place to resolve the issues, as was the case following a June stalemate on Zimbabwe out of Tel Aviv. Subsequently, a min-summit, led by Izhakoff, achieved consensus at a meeting in St Petersburg to allow two KP-monitored auctions.
“We will begin on Friday to aggressively work with those members who have not come to a decision and we remain confident that a final decision will be made soon,” Hirsch said.
But the promise of a resolution to the stand-off soon failed to tamper Zimbabwe’s anger at what it sees as political calculations by the US.
It has emerged that the legal advisor to the Mines Minister, Farai Mutamangira, was shuttling between Mpofu and the American delegation led by the Assistant Secretary of State for Africa affairs, Susan Page, following America's invitation to directly engage with the Zimbabwean delegation.
For a greater part of Thursday, Brad Rusin Brooks, an attorney with the U.S. State Department, was in closed door discussions with Mutamangira.
Attorney General Johannes Tomana, who was in Jerusalem, accused two western-funded NGOs – Global Witness and Partnership Canada – of writing “desk reports meant to please their handlers” after they claimed there was violence on a large scale in Marange.
Tomana said: “The KP review mission report presented to the plenary has certified that the Marange diamond mining operations are compliant with the minimum KPCS requirements.
“It follows, therefore, by logical inference, that our full diamond export diamond status must be restored.”
And Minister Mpofu said Zimbabwe would not be waiting for a green-light from anyone.
He told reporters: “Our compliance must entitle Zimbabwe to immediately and unconditionally export (diamonds).
“It is now clear that the Joint Working Plan is no longer serving the best interest of Zimbabwe. It is now evidently clear that it is being used as a tool to regulate improperly the flow of exports out of Zimbabwe.”
The Democratic Republic of the Congo assumes the role of chairmanship from Israel on January 1, 2011. America is campaigning for the vice presidency.
Labels: ABBEY CHIKANE, DIAMONDS, ELI IZHAKOFF, FARAI MUTAMANGIRA, JOHANNES TOMANA, KIMBERLEY PROCESS, MARANGE DIAMOND FIELDS, OBERT MPOFU, SUSAN PAGE, WORLD DIAMOND COUNCIL
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