Print
Email Article
Members of the Kimberley Process are scrambling to bridge differences over Zimbabwe's exports from a controversial diamond field, in a bid to stave off the collapse of the global diamond-monitoring group.
At a weeklong meeting in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kimberley members have been discussing ways to allow Zimbabwe to resume exports from the Marange field. But they remain sharply divided over how to monitor those overseas sales, said people involved in the meetings. A decision is expected Thursday.
Countries such as China and India are siding with Zimbabwe in seeking to permit exports. Others, such as the U.S. and Canada and nongovernment groups, have balked at that step before Zimbabwe demonstrates an improvement in human rights for people working and living in the area.
The meeting has emerged as a major test for the group's future. The debate over Zimbabwe has laid bare divisions among Kimberley's disparate members, which include foreign governments, human-rights and diamond-industry groups. Some warn that continuing to block exports from the Marange field will compel the cash-strapped Zimbabwean government to find illicit channels for its diamond sales.
The Kimberley Process "will be paralyzed" if diamond monitoring becomes too politicized, said Eli Izhakoff, the president of the World Diamond Council.
Proponents of lifting the ban say Zimbabwe has met the conditions placed by the certification plan, mainly that diamond mining is not fueling conflict. The U.S. and other Western countries have opposed certification of Marange diamonds, noting human rights abuses that they say are committed by soldiers guarding a vast tract of land that is yet to be allocated to commercial miners.
A number of companies stand to gain from a green light, such as Chinese firm Anhui Foreign Economic Construction (Group) Co., or Anjin, which has a joint venture with Zimbabwe's army in Marange. Anjin says it has stockpiled more than one million carats, which are ready for export once the Kimberley Process gives the go ahead.
Not all diamond fields in Zimbabwe are under sanction. Rio Tinto has the majority stake in the Murowa diamond mine in the southern central part of the country and is able to produce and export the gems.
Zimbabwe has been under investigation for allowing the military to control the Marange diamond field, as well as permitting diamond smuggling and illegal panners. Nonprofit groups such as Global Witness report that regular acts of violence still occur in the area around the diamond trade, despite denial by the government. In 2009, the Kimberley Process suspended sales of Marange diamonds.
