WDC to probe ‘blood diamonds’

g Zanu (PF) party is smuggling the gems into South Africa.
The resolution would ban all rough diamonds from Zimbabwe until it sets up a proper certification system for the gems.
The world body has opened a full scale probe into allegations that diamonds from River Range Mine, in which Solomon Mujuru, husband of the country’s vice-president, Joice Mujuru has a disputed stake; are being mixed with illicit diamonds from the Congo and sold on the world market as legitimate diamonds ratified by the Kimberly Process Certificate.
The New York-based WDC, which controls the global diamonds trade, is also investigating reports that there was illegal smuggling of diamonds from the Marange belt in the eastern province of Manicaland.
Much of the diamond trade goes through South Africa, whose President Thabo Mbeki is a close ally of Mugabe and for years supported the Harare administration through his widely discredited “quiet diplomacy.” The resolution at the center of the lobby singles out South Africa by referring to reports that the diamonds “transit through neighboring countries, including South Africa.”
Pretoria has denied South Africa is being used as a conduit for Zimbabwe’s “blood diamonds.”
The Zimbabwe government has also denied that there is diamond smuggling taking place with Mines minister Amos Midzi saying the government had tamed the illicit extraction of minerals in a crackdown on illegal gold and diamond mining, codenamed Chikorokoza Chapera. Midzi said security agents were racing to track diamond shipments, improve crossborder checks and combat corruption.
He said the crackdown had netted thousands of people, including foreigners from as far as Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, Nigeria and Israel, who were found illegally panning for gold while some were captured at exit points smuggling out the precious stones.
Midzi further alleged that the lobby for a global embargo on diamond exports from Zimbabwe was part of former coloniser Britain’s “illegal regime change and sanctions lobby.” – Own correspondent