Diamond Fields Seized

The New York Times

Published: June 27, 2009

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Zimbabwe's military, controlled by President Robert Mugabe's political party, violently took over diamond fields in Zimbabwe last year and has used the illicit revenue to buy the loyalty of restive soldiers and enrich party leaders, Human Rights Watch charged in a report released Friday.

The party has used the money from diamonds, smuggled out of the country or illegally sold through the Reserve Bank, to reinforce its hold over the security forces, Human Rights Watch researchers said.

Zimbabwe's government on Friday roundly denied the charges leveled in the report, which cited visits by its researcher to the diamond fields in February and interviews with soldiers, miners and other witnesses.

The Zimbabwe state media depicted the military blitz in Zimbabwe's Marange district last year as a push to restore order in the midst of a lawless diamond rush in the district.

The Human Rights Watch report charged that the military killed more than 200 miners and used the push to seize the Marange fields.

"It's a big cash cow for the military and the police, especially since Zimbabwe is virtually bankrupt," Dewa Mavhinga, the Zimbabwean lawyer who was the main researcher for the report, said.

On Sunday, representatives of the Kimberly Process, an alliance of industry, civic and government officials set up to stop the flow of so-called blood diamonds, will be traveling to Zimbabwe to explore whether the country is complying with its standards.

A coalition of nonprofit groups is lobbying to have Zimbabwe suspended from membership in the Kimberly Process.

"There's rampant smuggling out of the country," said Annie Dunnebacke of Global Witness, one of the groups. "The military is profiting from the trade and is directly involved in the sale of the diamonds."

15-Ton Sapphire

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