Diamond auction on Wednesday

Chikane is due in Harare tomorrow on a mission to certify diamonds from the controversial Marange diamonds field in eastern Zimbabwe in line with a decision by the KP last month to allow trade in rough gems from the southern

African country.

A meeting of the Kimberley Process (KP) in St Petersburg, Russia on three weeks ago agreed to allow Zimbabwe to export diamonds from Marange.

Mpofu said: “The launch of the diamond sales will be made on Wednesday. President Robert Mugabe will be the guest.”

The minister said buyers from around the world have submitted their bids to government for the 4.5 million carat diamond stock pile that industry experts say could fetch as much as US$1.7 billion for cash-strapped Zimbabwe.

Under the agreement reached between the KP and Zimbabwe, Harare will be allowed to conduct two supervised exports of rough diamonds from the Marange production by September.

Chikane, a South African diamond executive, is expected to visit Zimbabwe during the week beginning September 6 to certify the second supervised export.

The KP Monitoring Committee will use a report compiled by review mission that will include Chikane to formulate a position regarding future exports after the two initial sales.

Chikane has in a previous report compiled in June given the Marange operations a clean bill of health, saying Zimbabwe has met KP mining standards and was “on track” to start trading in rough diamonds.

Zimbabwe has been sitting on its diamond fortune since the KP that regulates the world diamond trade last November banned exports of the Marange stones following reports of gross human rights violations and smuggling by soldiers

guarding the alluvial mines.

The Russia meeting came after an earlier KP meeting in Israel in June failed to reach consensus on recommendations by Chikane that Zimbabwe be allowed to export the Marange gemstones because the country had met all conditions set

by the regulator.

At the meeting in Israel most African nations – excluding West African states – as well as India and Russia rallied behind a Chikane’s recommendation to allow Zimbabwe to sell its precious stones.

But the United States, Australia and the European Union raised the red flag over concerns that the southern African country had not met the minimum requirements of the KP.

Human rights groups had also piled the pressure on the KP to maintain the diamond ban, publishing several reports to show that abuses and other illegal activities were still taking place at Marange.

However a compromise deal was cobbled up in Russia as Mugabe threatened to export diamonds without KP approval, a move that could have destabilised the world diamond industry given Zimbabwe’s huge vast stocks.