Bheki Mpofu
26 November 2009
THE Rapaport Diamond Trading Network -- an overseas-based global network of companies that supports the development of free, fair and competitive global diamond markets -- said yesterday it had banned trading of diamonds from Zimbabwe's Marange fields because of severe human rights violations.
Members of the Rapaport network (RapNet) would be required to immediately remove all listings of Marange diamonds and to confirm to the trading network that they would no longer knowingly trade in Marange diamonds, Martin Rapaport, chairman of the Rapaport Group, said.
The network had also sent letters to industry organisations asking them to ban the controversial diamonds. As Marange rough diamonds were uniquely identifiable, the ban did not extend to other diamonds from Zimbabwe.
"Rough diamond dealers are advised to review the unique identification characteristics of Marange rough diamonds published by the Kimberley Process and available on our website.
WDC
"Polished diamond buyers should inquire about the source when being offered diamonds with a greenish hue and faint green colours. While not all Marange polished diamonds have a greenish hue and not all green hue diamonds are from Marange, significant numbers of such stones are appearing in the market."
The move came after calls by nongovernmental organisations that Zimbabwe be expelled from the Kimberley Process had been ignored . The Kimberley Process, a global regulatory body formed to ensure that trade in diamonds does not fund violence, decided not to suspend Zimbabwe from its certification scheme at a meeting in Namibia earlier this month.
The 70-member global diamond trade body instead agreed to give Zimbabwe more time to reform its mining practices and adopted a work plan that included calls for an independent inspector to monitor Marange diamonds .
Human Rights Watch reported that the army killed at least 214 miners at Marange late last year. Rapaport said yesterday that while the killings may have stopped, there were continued reports of human rights violations.
The group believed Marange diamonds had been exported legally to diamond cutting centres with Kimberley Process c ertificates and "may now be reaching retailers as polished diamonds".
"The Kimberley Process is being used as a fig leaf to cover up abuses in the diamond sector."
Reports describing abuse had been kept secret by the Kimberley Process and the World Diamond Council . Rapaport called for "publicly naming and expelling members that continue to knowingly trade in Marange diamonds".
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"Look East", Africans, for international relations! Sell your diamonds to FRIENDS in the East!
In the enlightened East lies the reliable FRIENDS of Africans.
African Patriots cannot allow relentless racist neo-colonization to keep Africans mired in poverty and servitude to destructive devils.
In the wicked West lies the historical ENEMIES of Africans. Them Africans MUST avoid, along with their silly eurocentric organizations that are bent on world domination.
um, hate to point this out idiot, but the market for diamonds is in the west!
Muppet.
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