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More charges of rights violations in Zimbabwe's Marange diamond field
VOA News
May 20, 2011

View this article on the VOA website

Fresh allegations of human rights abuses have surfaced from the Marange diamond field of eastern Zimbabwe with activists accusing Mbada Diamonds, a partner with the Harare government of setting guard dogs on residents to pressure them to relocate.

Local sources said guard dogs have attacked four residents of the Chiadzwa area of the Marange diamond zone over the past two weeks.

Chiadzwa Community Development Trust Chairman Malvern Mudiwa, currently facing charges of inciting villagers in Marange to resist relocation, said Mbada is deliberately putting residents in a desperate situation so they will agree to relocation.

"There are so many abuses from the security guards, which are being led by a white man," Mudiwa said. "They are letting their dogs to people and livestock."

Mudiwa said the attacks began when Mbada created a so-called fireguard around a new claim. Mudiwa said Mbada security guards "are patrolling that area quite frequently with their vicious dogs" even though families are still living within the demarcated claim.

"The fireguard is already in the people's areas," Mudiwa said. "You just have to cross it because you can't avoid it. It's where you're staying." The people who were attacked had been searching for their livestock near the boundary of Mbada's claim.

With police backup, Mbada started relocating residents three weeks ago, moving 44 families from the diamond zone to Arda Transau Farm in Odzi, about 60 kilometers away. Another company operating in the Marange zone, Anjin, has relocated 178 families since 2010 and forcibly removed another 24 last weekend, activist Mudiwa said.

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