Financial Gazette (Harare)
Clemence Manyukwe
9 July 2009
Harare — THE Kimberly Process (KP) investigating team that visited Zimbabwe last week has produced a damning interim report implicating the government in human rights violations and looting of gems at Chiadzwa diamond fields in Manicaland, The Financial Gazette can reveal.
The report piled up pressure on the inclusive government to deal with the illegal mining activities in the Marange area without involving the Zimbabwe National Army, which the KP said must be withdrawn from the diamond fields if the country is to continue trading in the precious mineral.
"We have observed a variety of types of illegal digging and processing activities in the Marange area – Lack of security in and around the Marange area. Concerns about internal controls/security measures primarily include…direct involvement of the military in illegal mining and related activities that we ourselves observed.
Unacceptable and horrific violence against civilians by authorities in and around Chiadzwa," the preliminary report said.
Ever since the Chiadzwa diamond controversies emerged, government has denied the alleged involvement of the security forces in looting the mineral and attacking civilians who descended on the diamonds fields.
Mines Minister Obert Mpofu acknowledged receiving the report yesterday, adding his ministry was in the process of preparing a response to allegations raised by the KP team.
"We have received that report. We are currently working to address the issues raised. Most of the issues are still allegations and we are addressing them," he said.
The Mines Minister, however, said the army would only start pulling out of the area once a potential investor had been identified.
"That investor will then provide his/her security. It is not in the interest of the government to have the army there, but mind you this is a vast area, 77 000 square hectares, so the army cannot move out overnight and leave the police at the mercy of panners," he added.
The report compiled by the 11-member KP review team and presented to Mpofu on Saturday urges the government to immediately probe the reported illicit dealings by the army and police as well as suspend the production and export of diamonds from Marange.
The team called for the appointment of a special envoy to document the alleged human rights violations that they observed during their tour of duty.
The KP is a joint governments, industry and civil society initiative to stem the flow of rough diamonds used by rebel movements to finance wars against legitimate governments.
The trade in these illicit diamonds has fueled decades of devastating conflicts in countries such as Angola, Cote d'lvore, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone.
Pressure for KP to investigate the Chiadzwa diamonds was fuelled by claims by Human Rights Watch late last month implicating top government officials in looting the stones as well as the involvement of state security agents in the alleged murder of over 200 illegal miners.
The Human Rights Watch allegations were rubbished by the government as unfounded.
The KP team said it was reserving the decision to call for the partial or complete ban on the country's diamonds should the government fail to meet a number of requirements that include acknowledging the existence of human rights violations at the extensive diamond fields.
The leader of the team Kpandel Fayia, who doubles up as Liberia's Deputy Prime Minister of Planning and Development, told Mpofu that he had witnessed senseless violence in his own country's civil war and had been deeply traumatised by the accounts of Marange victims.
The Liberian Deputy Premier said the government should acknowledge that it had failed to meet the KP's minimum standards to avert dire consequences.
A complete ban on the local diamonds could prove the last straw for the economy and the country that is battling to manage its image and attract investment.
"Minister, on the issue of violence against civilians, I need to be clear about this. Our team was able to interview and document the stories of tens of victims, observe their wounds, scars from dog bites and batons, tears and on-going psychological trauma," said Fayia.
"I am from Liberia, Sir; I was in Liberia throughout the 15 years of civil war, and I have experienced too much senseless violence in my lifetime, especially connected to diamonds. In speaking with some of these people Minister, I had to leave the room. This has to be acknowledged and it has to stop."
The Liberian civil war, in which warring parties were financed by proceeds from the precious stones – called blood diamonds, only ended in 2003.
Fayia said given the urgency of the situation and focus on the country's diamond industry the team anticipates producing a summary of interim findings and recommendations in the coming weeks followed by a thorough report.
Fayia said as a means of facilitating the team's overall conclusions it was seeking immediate positive steps in the coming weeks to indicate the country's compliance with the KP.
Besides, suspending production and export of Marange diamonds as well as demilitarising the mining zone, the team said other positive steps include government's acknowledgement that the KP minimum diamond standards have not been met and the designation of a third party monitor who will provide technical support to Zimbabwe to bring it in line with the KP's minimum standards.
The team also called for the creation of an independent tripartite body between government, industry and civil society that will work with the review team to ensure that the country complies with the international diamond trade guidelines.
There are also plans to consider having a special rapporteur or other appropriate mechanisms to further document the injustices that the team assessed.
"Demonstrable progress towards these positive steps by Zimbabwe by July 20 would indicate to the review mission the commitment to cooperation and mutual engagement from Zimbabwe that will help us make final recommendations to the KP," concluded the report.
Apart from the alleged human rights violations, the KP's preliminary report was, however, silent on previous reports of alleged killings and the existence of mass graves in Chiadzwa and surrounding areas.
Movement for Democratic Change Makoni South legislator Pishai Muchauraya previously claimed in the House of Assembly that there were mass graves in Dangamvura, Manicaland province, an assertion dismissed by Mpofu as frivolous.
In 2007, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Gideon Gono told a parliamentary committee that the country was losing an estimated US$1,2 billion per month, with the then national security minister Didymus Mutasa, saying some of the smuggled stones were reaching "as far as Israel."
When the Marange diamond rush began in 2006, livestock herdsmen and even school children were involved in the search of the mineral to better their lives.
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