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Return of the blood diamond: The deadly race to control Zimbabwe's new-found diamond wealth
Global Witness
June 14, 2010

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Introduction

The Kimberley Process rough diamond certification scheme (KP) is credited by some with ending the scourge of blood diamonds. However, the extreme violence that has characterised life in Zimbabwe's Marange diamond fields over the past three years has shattered this myth. Instead of expelling Zimbabwe, the Kimberley Process has repeatedly failed to take action, and state-sponsored human rights abuses and diamond smuggling in Marange continue, against a backdrop of opaque and questionable investments.

This report is an update on the situation in Marange. It calls on the Kimberley Process to take urgent and decisive action to address Zimbabwe's noncompliance with the scheme's rules, bring to an end the violence and corruption in the Marange diamond fields, and restore public faith in the diamond trade.

The Kimberley Process was set up ten years ago in the wake of brutal diamond-fuelled conflicts in countries such as Angola, Sierra Leone and Liberia. It set out to prevent the devastating trade in conflict diamonds, and address consumers' concerns that their diamond purchases were fuelling human rights abuses. The KP was founded on a commitment to stamp out "systematic and gross human rights violations" and to set in place safeguards to ensure that such diamondrelated abuses could never happen again. However, the violence at the heart of Zimbabwe's diamond sector - and the KP's lacklustre response - calls that commitment into question and is undermining public confidence in the diamond trade.

Over the past three years, the Marange diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe have witnessed a series of violent assaults by government security forces against diamond diggers and local communities. Hundreds of people have been killed, and many more have been beaten, raped and forced to mine for the army and police. In the face of overwhelming evidence, the Zimbabwean authorities continue to deny that these abuses have occurred, and no-one has been held accountable.

In this context of grave human rights violations and militarised mining, the government has introduced two joint venture companies, supposedly to bring operations in Marange back into line with Kimberley Process standards. Yet the process of establishing these joint ventures and allocating their concessions has been dangerously lacking in transparency, and scant regard has been paid to the rules and regulations that should govern the diamond sector.

Section one of this report outlines the pattern of violence in the Marange diamond fields. It describes how the majority of the diamond fields are still under control of the army, and how state security agencies continue to commit human rights abuses against civilians.

Section two examines the Kimberley Process's failure to act. Lack of political will on the part of some participant governments, as well as weaknesses in a system in dire need of reform, have left the KP prevaricating in the face of precisely the kinds of diamond-related abuses it is supposed to prevent.

Section three reveals that the joint venture companies awarded mining rights by the Zimbabwean government in the name of improving conditions in Marange are in fact directly linked to the Zanu PF military and political elite responsible for the abuses. The legally questionable and secretive way in which these deals have been done leaves the door open for state looting and corruption.

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