|
Back to Index
This article participates on the following special index pages:
Marange, Chiadzwa and other diamond fields and the Kimberley Process - Index of articles
Centre
for Research and Development (CRD) employees in hiding following
CIO crack down
Crisis
in Zimbabwe Coalition
May 28, 2010
On Thursday
27th May 2010, eight police officers from the Criminal Investigation
Department (CID) and four operatives from the Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) raided offices belonging to the diamond watchdog
based in Mutare, Centre
for Research and Development (CRD). The raid comes after four
plain clothed CID officers had visited the offices on the 13th of
May in connection with an article published on-line by the Zimbabwe
Situation on the 14th of May 2010 entitled "2000 carats of
diamond smuggled out of Chiadzwa per day". The article was
based on a CRD report of alleged abuses and illegal activities taking
place in Marange.
According to eyewitnesses,
on the 13th of May four plain clothed CIO operatives came to the
offices looking for CRD employees but the offices were closed. The
operatives then interrogated the security guard responsible for
the building over the activities carried out by the organisation
but he refused to comment and advised them to come back the following
Monday when the offices would be open.
In a follow-up, two plain
clothed CIO operatives came to the offices and spoke to a senior
employee of the CRD. The operatives claimed that the CRD had produced
a documentary that had been aired on SABC3 and were intending to
produce another documentary. They went on to ask for CRDs company
profile and information on the operations of the organisation.
On Tuesday 25th May 2010,
the Director of the CRD Farai Muguwu, held a meeting with Kimberly
Process Certification Scheme Monitor (KPCS) Abbey Chikane on the
presence of military personnel at Chiadzwa, smuggling and illegal
trading and mining taking place at the claim. Following this meeting,
on the 27th of May, around 8am one CIO operative came to the offices
looking for the director and another employee and was informed that
they were not at the offices but would come in later. The operative
promised to come back around 10am the same day.
Just after 10am about
eight CID officers and four CIO operatives all in plain clothes
and from Nyanga came to the offices. The security guard alerted
the staff members of CRD of their presence. One senior employee
whom the police were looking for came to the offices as the police
were approaching the building and took him to Mutare Police Station
where he was detained for about 9 hours before being released without
any charge.
The Coalition believes
the unwarranted harassment and interference by the police and CIO
operatives has to do with the abuses, smuggling and other illegal
activities taking place in Marange. The Coalition applauds the CRD
for revealing such information and especially to Kimberly Process
Scheme Monitor (KPCS) before the meeting scheduled for Tel Aviv
in Israel in a month's time.
Visit the Crisis
in Zimbabwe fact
sheet
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
