Britain says Marange diamonds still “dirty”

Britain’s Minister of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Lord Howell of Guildford said on Monday diamonds from Marange have not yet been cleared by the Kimberley Process and should therefore not be traded.

He said they had informed the diamond industry in the UK about this but it was really up to the businesses to comply.

“The restrictive measures imposed on Zimbabwe prohibit the making available of funds or economic resources to directly or indirectly listed entities. Marange Resources (formerly Canadile Miners) and Mbada Diamonds are not themselves designated entities. However, if making resources available to them conferred a significant financial benefit on a designated entity such as ZMDC, as would often be the case with joint ventures, this would be a breach of the measures,” Lord Howell told the House of Lords.

“There are also restrictions under the Kimberley Process on diamonds exports from the Marange region in which the mining operations of Marange Resources (formerly Canadile Mines) and Mbada Diamonds are located. Given the continuing absence of a KP agreement allowing Zimbabwe to export Marange diamonds, the EU Chair of the Working Group on Monitoring has issued a statement to all KP participants which makes clear that until consensus is reached, KP participants should not trade in Marange diamonds. We have informed the UK diamond industry of this statement by the WGM chair.”

The British peer also said Britain had made its views known to Zimbabwe following the broadcasting of a documentary on human rights abuses in Marange by the British Broadcasting Corporation and had urged all parties, including the security forces and the prosecuting authorities, to act in an impartial manner and respect the rule of law.

“Following the allegations made in the BBC “Panorama” programme, we have urged the Kimberley Process, through the EU, to investigate the allegations. The Kimberley Process chair has written to the BBC asking it to pass its evidence for consideration, and to the Government of Zimbabwe requesting clarification of the allegations,” Lord Howell said.

KP chair Mathieu Yamba of the Democratic Republic of Congo cleared the Zimbabwe diamonds and countries like South Africa and India are now trading in Zimbabwe diamonds.

African diamond producers have accused the West of double standards on Zimbabwe’s diamonds and claim the West is trying to protect its producers as Zimbabwe could potentially become one of the world’s biggest producers.

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