JOHANNESBURG A leading world diamond trading network has banned trade in Zimbabwe diamonds among its members, citing concerns over severe human rights violations at the controversial Marange diamond field.
The Rapaport Diamond Trading Network that connects thousands of the best diamond suppliers and buyers around the world last week said members dealing in diamonds from Zimbabwe would be denied access to the network. The network that is monitored and managed by Rapaport team members in 10 countries is a key player on the world diamond market, generating the indexes from which diamond prices are derived. ??
In a statement last Friday, the network said it was “implementing an immediate trading ban on all diamonds from Zimbabwe due to severe human ?rights violations in Marange. RapNet members should immediately remove all ?RapNet listings of diamonds originating from Zimbabwe. Firms and individuals ?that continue to trade in diamonds from Zimbabwe will be denied access to all Rapaport services.” The ban — that could trigger similar actions by other private buyers and diamond networks — is a body blow to the Zimbabwe government that more than a week ago managed to escape a Kimberley Process (KP) ban from the world diamond market.
The 70-member KP, a grouping of diamond trading countries and civic society groups set up to prevent trade in conflict or blood diamonds, agreed to give Zimbabwe more time to reform its diamond mining practices. The KP meeting in the Namibian coastal town of Swakopmund decided against kicking Zimbabwe out and adopted a plan proposed by Zimbabwe itself which includes calls for an independent inspector to monitor diamonds leaving the controversial fields in the countrys eastern border district.
In deciding to allow Zimbabwe more time to reform, the KP disregarded the findings of its own review mission that visited Zimbabwe at the end of June. The mission said in a report that Zimbabwean security forces and other government entities had taken part in extra-judicial violent attacks on illegal diamond miners and smuggling of the precious stones from Marange.
It called for a temporary ban of Zimbabwean diamonds for a period of six months or more to allow the country time to comply with KP standards.
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