The country's service chiefs have personally taken charge of security operations at Chiadzwa diamonds fields in Marange, where at least 50 people have been killed by the security forces in the last few months. Authorities are calling it Operation Hakudzokwi, or Operation No Return.

The battle to control the diamonds fields is fast degenerating into a brutal, full scale 'military operation' to flush out illegal diamond miners. Most of the miners are contracted by political heavyweights from ZANU PF who pay them paltry sums, but make huge profits by selling the diamonds outside the country.

Marange resembles a war zone, with soldiers from Mutare's 3 brigade patrolling the area, aided by a helicopter gunship from the Airforce of Zimbabwe. Teams of uniformed policemen are manning all roads leading out of the diamonds fields, while state security agents are roaming the area posing as diamond dealers. Soldiers have cordoned off the diamond fields, which are 10,000 square meters in size, and banned all illegal miners from the area.

But the illegal miners, who have thronged the area after government took over the fields in 2006, have been slipping through the defence lines, at times successfully, but lately with dire consequences. The soldiers are also reportedly abducting suspected diamond buyers and panners in Mutare and areas around Chiadzwa, and torturing them. After the torture sessions, the panners are takenback to the diamond fields where they are forced to fill up gullies and pits with their bare hands.

A policeman based in Mutare, who asked not to be identified, told us 'almost every political heavyweight' in ZANU PF was involved in the scramble for diamonds. He said internal policing has been taken over by the army in Marange.

'We know of syndicates that are controlled by powerful ZANU PF heavyweights that are fighting for control of the diamond fields. Now the Joint Operations Command has also moved in to protect their syndicates,' said our source.

Police and soldiers have launched a massive push to clear the diamond fields of illegal miners, after thousands of Zimbabweans fought for survival in an uncontrolled two-year-long diamond rush.

Air Marshall Perence Shiri and police commissioner Augustine Chihuri have been seen recently in the area, supervising the clampdown. Our source said; 'Every now and then the service chiefs are in the area and there is talk among police officers here that they may actually be coming to pick up the diamonds, given the fact that no one dares to search them or their cars.

A security cordon has also been ringed around Manicaland province, with roadblocks along every major road that passes through Mutare.

In January last year, the World Diamond Council accused River Ranch Diamond Mines - a Zimbabwean firm owned by retired General Solomon Mujuru and his business partner Tirivanhu Mudariki, a former ZANU PF MP official and others - of smuggling diamonds mined in the country and "blood diamonds" from the Congo, into South Africa.

It's reported the smuggled diamonds are certified as clean under the Kimberly Process, before being sold to unsuspecting international buyers. A charge River Ranch vehemently denied.

Almost all diamonds from Marange are currently being traded illicitly. Very few diamonds from the area are being sold through normal state channels. Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono has said that the country was losing almost US$200 million a month through illegal diamond dealings.

The Chiadzwa fields used to be managed by South African diamond giant, De Beers. After Zimbabwe's independence in 1980De Beers sold it's franchise to African Consolidated Resources. But the government confiscated the fields from ACR in 2006 and handed them to the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation.