HARARE- Zimbabwes armed forces have conscripted children and adults as forced labour to mine diamonds illegally in the controversial Marange diamond fields, an international human rights watchdog said last. (Pictured: Illegal miners at Marange diamond fields before they were driven off by the army.)Many of those forced to work on the diamonds fields also known as Chiadzwa have reported being beaten up and tortured by the soldiers, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HWR) said.
The world rights watchdog said the army, which remains under the control of President Robert Mugabes (Zanu (PF) party, killed more than 200 people in a violent takeover of the diamond fields in late 2008 that had until then been exploited by illegal miners and dealers.
The rights group urged the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), an international group governing the global diamond industry, to press the Zimbabwean authorities to end the smuggling of diamonds, and ensure that all diamonds from Marange are lawfully mined.
It also called on regional economic powerhouse key ally Zimbabwe ally, South Africa to press for speedy reforms and policy changes that will stop the export of smuggled diamonds from Marange.
Nightmare of lawlessness
The police and army have turned this peaceful area into a nightmare of lawlessness and horrific violence, said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at HRW. Zimbabwes new government should get the army out of the fields, put a stop to the abuse, and prosecute those responsible.
In the titled, Diamonds in the Rough: Human Rights Abuses in the Marange Diamond Fields of Zimbabwe, HRW documents how, following the discovery of diamonds in Marange in June 2006, the police and army have used brutal force to control access to the diamond fields and to take over unlicensed diamond mining and trading.
Some income from the fields has been funneled to high-level party members of Zanu (PF), which is now part of a power-sharing government that urgently needs revenue as the country faces a dire economic crisis, the report said.
Zimbabwes government and military denies that soldiers killed committed human rights abuses and civilians during the campaign to drive illegal miners from Marange.
Deputy Mines Minister Murisi Zwizwai last week told a meeting of the KPCS in Windhoek, Namibia, that no killings were committed in Marange and challenged anyone with evidence of rights abuses in the diamonds fields to come forward so the government could investigate.
However, HRW said in February 2009 conducted more than 100 one-on-one interviews with witnesses, local miners, police officers, soldiers, local community leaders, victims and relatives, medical staff, human rights lawyers, and activists in Harare, Mutare, and Marange district in eastern Zimbabwe who all recounted gross rights violations in Marange.
Operation Hakudzokwi
Those interviewed said that police officers, who were deployed in the fields from November 2006 to October 2008 to end illicit diamond smuggling, were in fact responsible for serious abuses killings, torture, beatings, and harassment.
Three policemen on horseback raided us while we worked in the diamond fields and immediately fired their shotguns at us, one miner told Human Rights Watch. I was shot in the left thigh. Two of my friends were shot and killed during that raid.
The report also details how during an army led Operation Hakudzokwi (No Return), army helicopter gunships and soldiers on the ground would indiscriminately fire live ammunition and tear gas into the diamond fields and into surrounding villages in a bid to flush illegal miners.
One local miner said of the massacre: Soldiers in helicopters started firing live ammunition and tear gas at us. We all stopped digging and began to run toward the hills to hide. I noticed that there were many uniformed soldiers on foot pursuing us. From my syndicate, 14 miners were shot and killed that morning.
Urging action to stop further abuses and more killings in Marange HRW said the KPCS should demand that action from the Zimbabwean authorities to ensure that all
all diamonds from Marange are lawfully mined, documented, and exported in compliance with KPCS standards.
It also called on the certification authority to urgently review and broaden the definition of conflict diamonds to include diamonds mined in the context of serious and systematic human rights abuses.
HRW said South Africa should speak out strongly against human rights abuses in Marange. A very clear statement by South Africa calling for a ban on Marange diamonds would not only protect Zimbabweans from abuse in the Marange diamond fields, but help South Africa to protect its own diamond industry, said Gagnon.
South Africa needs to press Zimbabwe to improve the transparency and accountability of its diamond trade, Gagnon added.
Post published in: Politics