Over 2 billion dollars in diamonds stolen from Zimbabwe

Yesterday we had a post on how the oil riches from Nigeria were stolen from the people. Today, we see how riches of another kind are stolen in Zimbabwe.

A few people loyal to Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe have benefited greatly from the Marange diamond fields. A new study says that at least 2 billion dollars have been taken by Mugabe and his supporters, and that is a very conservative estimate. All of that money should be going into Zimbabwe's national treasury, but instead it has been stolen away. As long as this continues, the nation will be rife with poverty. No amount of aid will be able to cure this.

From the Guardian, writer David Smith unpacks the report for us.  

The Marange fields in eastern Zimbabwe were discovered in 2006 and are one of the world's biggest diamond deposits. But funds from diamond sales have not reached the state treasury, says a PAC report, published on Monday to coincide with a Zimbabwe government conference on the diamond trade in Victoria Falls. Instead there is evidence that millions have gone to Mugabe's inner circle.

"Marange's potential has been overshadowed by violence, smuggling, corruption and most of all, lost opportunity," says PAC.

"The scale of illegality is mind-blowing" and has spread to "compromise most of the diamond markets of the world."

The report, Reap What You Sow: Greed and Corruption in Zimbabwe's Marange Diamond Fields, describes the $2bn lost to the Zimbabwean treasury since 2008 as a "conservative estimate".

Tendai Biti, the finance minister, said in his latest budget he had been promised $600m in diamond revenue for the national treasury to help rebuild neglected hospitals, schools and other public services. Only a quarter of that pledge has been received, he claims.

The PAC names Obert Mpofu, mines minister since 2009 and a key Mugabe ally, as perhaps the biggest winner. He has amassed an unexplained personal fortune and is linked to a "small and tight group of political and military elites who have been in charge of Marange from the very beginning" and who are personally benefiting from the diamond sales, the report alleges.

Mpofu spent more than $20m‚ "mostly in cash"‚ over the past three years, the report says, and owns vast swaths of land. "While Mpofu is not the only Zanu official benefiting from Marange's riches, his role as the chief guardian of Marange raises the most concern," the report says.

Blood Diamonds are still being mined in Zimbabwe

Some blood diamonds may have slipped though regulatory cracks and will soon hit Western marketplace.

Monitoring which diamonds are mined without any human rights abuses is done by a voluntary industry based regulatory board. The board called Kimberley Process Certification Scheme may have had a big loophole exposed in its certification scheme.

Diamonds that are mined in the Marange fields of Zimbabwe have always passed the Kimberly certification. This is despite the fact that the fields are operated by Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe who has violated many human rights during his rule.

From the Inter Press Service, writer Lily Hough describes the loophole in the diamond certification process.

Since Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe quickly seized control of the Marange diamond fields following their discovery in 2006, exports from the area have generously funded his repressive party and come under a harsh spotlight in the international community.

According to a 2009 report by Human Rights Watch, Mugabe's soldiers have massacred at least 200 individual miners and enlisted conscripted labourers - including children – who work in appalling conditions in locations where reports of torture and murder have gone unpunished.

A statement by HRW last week reported that the Kinshasa Intersessional came three months after its new chairperson Mathieu Yamba made a unilateral announcement authorising Zimbabwe to export Marange stones without any monitoring of human rights abuses or proof of compliance with KP requirements.

"Miners, retailers, and consumers have relied on the Kimberley Process to stop blood diamonds from being sold, but with Yamba's decision, the KP has betrayed their trust," said Arvind Ganesan, business and human rights director at Human Rights Watch.

"What the KP has done here is essentially legitimised a dictator," Tom Zoellner, author of "The Heartless Stone: A Journey through the World of Diamonds, Deceit and Desire", told IPS. "The industry was acting in enlightened self interest when they [created] the KP, but it was never the ironclad mechanism that they sold it as...now, it has discredited itself thoroughly as a regulatory body."

The KP is no stranger to such criticism. Since its inception in 2000, a response to a decade of pressure from the United Nations, KP's protocol has often come under fire for conceptual weaknesses that limit its regulatory viability; particularly, its consistent failure to articulate a comprehensive definition of the term "conflict" even while purporting to be a global watchdog of "conflict diamonds".

"It had no provisions for when a government brutalises its own people," Zoellner told IPS. "When the Marange fields were discussed, the [KP] was one of the greatest gifts that came to Mugabe."

HRW added that, "[According to the KP's] rules, a conflict diamond is narrowly defined as one sold by a rebel group to wage war against a government."

Study finds unsafe conditions for mining workers in Central African Republic

From IRIN, a new study shows how diamond mining workers in the Central African Republic are often subject to low wages and attacks from armed groups.

Thousands of people dependent on diamond mining in the eastern regions of the Central African Republic (CAR) earn pitiful wages and are continually harassed by local and foreign armed groups, says a new study by the International Crisis Group (ICG).

Poverty and crime characterize the diamond business in CAR, according to the report entitled Dangerous Little Stones: Diamonds in the Central African Republic.

“The inability of artisanal miners to escape poverty holds back development in mining areas and increases the risk of young men and women joining rebel groups in the hope of better alternatives,” it said.

Low education levels, high mining costs and limited production have had adverse effects. “Miners are mostly ignorant of a diamond’s real value and, even if they know it, they are obliged to sell at the price offered, sometimes by written contract to the collector who financed the work… A collector might buy a one-carat diamond from a miner at 80,000 CFA francs [US$160] and sell it to a buying office for 200,000-300,000 CFA francs [$400-$600],” said the report.

Additional costs such as the hiring of equipment and licensing fees make for a hand-to-mouth existence, especially for those struggling to feed large families.

CAR’s diamond deposits are alluvial, making extraction harder and industrial mining less feasible. At present, production is based on trial and error methods, and the use of shovels and baskets to collect gravel from river beds. An estimated 80,000-100,000 miners depend on artisanal mining for a livelihood.

The ICG report recommends formalizing the mining sector to lower mining-related costs, lift living standards and reduce illegal mining networks. Weak law enforcement benefits illegal miners and traders, with bandits also profiting in mining zones. The report also calls for the expansion of livelihood activities, including agriculture. According to the UN Children’s Fund, chronic malnutrition in CAR stems from, among other things, loss of income in mining areas.

Armed groups such as the Convention des patriotes pour la justice et la paix (CPJP) and the Union des forces démocratiques pour le rassemblement (UFDR) remain active in the eastern diamond zone, making “the east a dangerous place to live and move around”, said the report, which noted that while diamond profits are not the only reason for rebel activity, they have contributed to making such rebellions harder to end in CAR.

Chadian connection

In late November, the CPJP took over the town of Birao in the northeastern province of Vakaga, causing population displacement after the departure of UN Mission troops deployed there. The CPJP has since been ousted by joint CAR-Chadian army soldiers.

The UN mission in CAR and Chad was established in 2007 to protect civilians, facilitate humanitarian assistance and protect UN personnel in eastern Chad and northeastern CAR. It ended in May at the request of the Chadian government which pledged full responsibility for protecting civilians on its territory.

According to a 1 December report by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the UN Security Council, risks in the northeast are attributable to ethnic, economic and political issues, with security remaining "stable, yet fragile" as security forces in Birao have limited capacity to fend off potential attacks.

LRA threat

Ban added that the Ugandan rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) also posed a threat, although the major sources of insecurity are banditry and people passing through the area with arms to sell. The most urgent threat, Ban said, stems from armed internal political opposition groups, especially the CPJP.

The LRA presence further south is, according to the ICG, “yet another reason for the UFDR to postpone disarmament”. A July decision by President Francois Bozizé - for Ugandan soldiers in pursuit of the LRA in CAR to leave Sam Ouandja, in Haute Kotto Province, in favour of more international support - left a gap which has been filled by UFDR.

The lack of peacekeepers there, given the Ugandan army withdrawal, is cause for concern as “[Ugandan] troops provided at least some protection to civilians,” said advocacy group Resolve.

Insecurity in parts of the southeast, due to the LRA presence, often forces residents to leave their villages. The population in and around M'Boki, Zémio, Rafaï and Obo in Mbomou and Haut-Mbomou provinces has almost doubled, with impacts on food and water availability, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The two provinces border the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Orientale Province and Southern Sudan’s Western Equatoria region, which have also come under a series of LRA attacks, prompting a recent call by humanitarian agencies for international action against the LRA.

Zimbabwe stays in the Kimberley Process for diamonds

Last week, Zimbabwe was accused of treating it's diamond miners cruelly, amounting to a new type of "blood diamonds" being exported from the country. Human Rights Watch was calling for Zimbabwe to be kicked out of the "Kimberley Process," a coalition of nations that adhere to humane practices in cultivating diamonds.

As we read in this press release from Global Witness, the latest meeting of the Kimberley Process did not come to a ruling on Zimbabwe.

Diamond meeting ends without consensus on Zimbabwe

Serious challenges ahead for landmark certification scheme, say NGOs

The lack of consensus among Kimberley Process (KP) certification scheme members over whether Zimbabwe can resume diamond exports from the troubled Marange area was welcomed by the KP civil society coalition today as the ‘least bad' outcome. The scheme's annual meeting in Tel Aviv broke up without agreement after through-the-night talks.

The Marange diamond fields have been plagued with violence over recent years. A joint work plan was agreed last year between the Kimberley Process and the Zimbabwean government, which aimed at bringing Zimbabwe back into line with the scheme's minimum requirements. Almost no progress has been made on key aspects of this plan, including smuggling and demilitarisation of the diamond fields. Despite this, a number of governments supported a resumption of exports at this week's meeting.

"There are no winners with this result. But by maintaining a ban on exports in the absence of significant improvements in Marange, the Kimberley Process has taken an important step towards restoring its battered credibility," said Elly Harrowell from Global Witness. "If Zimbabwe follows through on its threat to export diamonds from Marange regardless of the lack of consensus, members, including the diamond industry, will need to think hard about how they will respond, and what action they can take to stop these diamonds from contaminating the international trade."

Zimbabwean authorities have demonstrateed a worrying lack of respect for the three-way partnership at the heart of the Kimberley Process. Zimbabwean Minister of Mines Obert Mpofu, present at the Tel Aviv meeting, openly denigrated the role of civil society organisations in the process. The collaboration between governments, industry and civil society has underpinned the success of the KP since its inception in 2003.

Shortly before the meeting in Tel Aviv, a prominent human rights activist, Farai Maguwu, was arrested and detained by the Zimbabwean authorities. As director of the Centre for Research and Development in eastern Zimbabwe, he had been researching and exposing state-sponsored violence and military involvement in mining and smuggling in the fields. Mr Maguwu remains in detention.

"We continue to be troubled by the Zimbabwean authorities' aggressive attitude towards human rights campaigners and its disregard for the rules of the Kimberley Process. We would welcome the opportunity to work with Zimbabwe in the collaborative spirit of the scheme, to address challenges in the country's diamond sector," said Alan Martin from Partnership Africa Canada.

The coalition is calling on the Zimbabwean authorities to work constructively and openly with all members of the Kimberley Process to bring the Marange diamond fields into compliance with the minimum requirements. They also repeat their call for the immediate and unconditional release of human rights activist Farai Maguwu.

The debate around Zimbabwe eclipsed a number of positive initiatives in Tel Aviv this week, including a workshop on future improvements to the Kimberley Process, and an enforcement seminar bringing together customs and police representatives from around the world to discuss stronger implementation of the scheme.



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Contact:

Elly Harrowell (Global Witness) on +44 7703 108 401 or Annie Dunnebacke (Global Witness) on +44 7912 517 127

Alan Martin (Partnership Africa Canada) on +1 613 983 6817



Notes:

1. The Kimberley Process is a rough diamond certification scheme, established in 2003. It brings together governments, industry and civil society, and aims to eradicate the trade in conflict diamonds. Member states are required to pass national legislation and set up an import/export control system. Over 75 of the world's diamond producing, trading and manufacturing countries participate in the scheme.



2. The Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition includes Green Advocates (Liberia), CECIDE (Guinea), COOPERGADI and COOPERGAC (Brazil), CLONG (Republic of Congo), CENADEP, GAERN (Democratic Republic of Congo), Fatal Transactions, GRPIE (Côte d'Ivoire), the Network Movement for Justice and Development (Sierra Leone), Centre for Research and Development (Zimbabwe), Partnership Africa Canada (PAC) and Global Witness (GW).

Accusations of "blood diamonds" from Zimbabwe

Human Rights Watch says it has uncovered cruel oppression by Zimbabwe troops against diamond field workers. The new report says Zimbabwe troops have beaten and tortured the workers of a diamond site the government took over in 2008. Zimbabwe's government denies the allegations.

Human Rights Watch wants Zimbabwe kicked out of the "Kimberly Process," which is a group of nations that sets human rights standards to ensure it's exports are not "blood diamonds". Kicking Zimbabwe out of the group could have buyers staying away from diamonds coming from Zimbabwe.

From the UK's Telegraph, we learn more about what is in the report.

The 20-page report was published as industry leaders gathered in Tel Aviv for a Kimberley Process meeting. As its current chair, Israel is hosting the meeting.

Boaz Hirsch, the group's 2010 chairman, said this year's meeting will focus heavily on ensuring that the "minimum standards" are maintained in Zimbabwe.

The gathering will hear a report by the special Kimberley Process monitor to the Marange area, Abbey Chikane, who visited the region twice. Earlier this month, Chikane said Zimbabwe was "on track" to meet international diamond mining standards and should be allowed to resume selling diamonds in international markets. The body is expected to follow the recommendation.

The 140,000-acre Marange diamond fields were discovered in 2006, at the height of Zimbabwe's political, economic and humanitarian crisis. Villagers rushed to the area and began finding diamonds close to the surface.

The military took over the Marange diamond fields in late October 2008.

Last year, the Kimberley Process sanctioned Zimbabwe for "significant non compliance" but stopped short of expelling it.

Human Rights Watch, which previously charged Zimbabwean troops with killing more than 200 people, raping women and forcing children to search for the gems in Marange, wants the sanctions to go further this year.

A warning against buying "blood diamonds"

With Valentine's Day coming up, a lot of men are thinking of buying diamond rings to pop the big marriage proposal question on the romantic day. The group Global Witness reminds would-be buyers to ask merchants where the diamonds come from, to ensure that they are not buying "blood diamonds".

From Global Witness, we read more about "blood diamonds" from this press release.

Diamonds mined illegally in conflict zones are still finding their way onto the international market and being sold in cities such as London, New York and Paris. The continued existence of so-called ‘blood diamonds' poses a serious problem for consumers looking to demonstrate their love with a diamond ring this Valentines Day (Feb 14).

Proposing on Valentines Day is a hard one to get right. Roughly 10% of all marriage proposals are made on the big day, but 80% of those on the receiving end feel that this betrays a lack of imagination. And they're the lucky ones - a recent survey in the US showed that 15% of women send themselves flowers on Valentines Day.

The last thing anyone with the conviction to make it as far as the jewellers needs is added anxiety about who might have suffered to produce their ring. So Global Witness is encouraging consumers to demand that jewellers provide more information about where their products are sourced.

"Consumer pressure will be vital to ensure that the diamond industry finally acts to eliminate conflict diamonds once and for all," said Elly Harrowell, campaigner at Global Witness. "Some progress has been made in recent years but the unpalatable truth is that around the world civilians are still suffering terribly as a consequence of the diamond trade."

In 2003, following a global outcry about the problem of conflict diamonds, an international certification scheme was established to monitor the trade. Countries who signed up to the Kimberley Process were obliged to demonstrate that their diamonds were not bankrolling brutality and conflict.

The scheme set an important precedent and has helped diminish the trade in conflict diamonds. However loop holes, poor regulation, and problems with implementation mean that consumers cannot place full faith in it. One significant challenge currently facing the scheme is the case of Zimbabwe, which despite evidence of widespread human rights abuses and military presence in mines, remains a member and continues to export diamonds.

"Kimberley Process members need to get serious about stamping out the systematic abuse of civilians in countries like Zimbabwe, otherwise the credibility of the whole scheme will be undermined" said Harrowell. "They will be more inclined to act if they hear a strong message from retailers and consumers that continued links with such violence will no longer be tolerated."

Consumers can also put pressure on retailers to do their bit by ensuring every link in the diamonds supply chain is stringently checked from mine to shop floor. Questions consumers can ask include:

* Do you know where the diamonds you sell come from?
* Can I see a copy of your company's policy on conflict diamonds?
* Can you show me a written guarantee from your suppliers that your diamonds are conflict free?
* How is the supply chain audited?

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Contact: Amy Barry on +44 2074925858 or Elly Harrowell on +44 2074925888

Notes

* Global Witness has been campaigning on blood diamonds for 12 years. We are observer members of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. In 2003 we were co-nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for our work on conflict diamonds
* Sources for Valentines Day statistics: Diamond Information Centre, US Census Bureau