African Diamond Producers say Zimbabwe should now be allowed to sell its diamonds from Marange without any hindrance because its mines are compliant with the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. They have also threatened to take unspecified action if the outgoing KP chair Boaz Hirsch does not withdraw his statement that Zimbabwe should not sell its diamonds. The African Diamond Council and African Diamond Producers Association has 15 members which are: Angola, Botswana, Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo (which is taking over chairmanship of KP in January), Ghana, Guinea, Lesotho, Liberia, Namibia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Seven other countries: Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Uganda and Zambia- have observer status.
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Zimbabwe’s diamonds saga took a strange twist after KP Monitor for Zimbabwe Abbey Chikane authorised the sale of diamonds from Marange worth $160 million. Non-governmental organisations raised hell. Outgoing KP chair Boaz Hirsch had to issue a statement saying the authorisation by Chikane was illegal. To give our readers a clear picture of what transpired, we published Chikane’s explanation. Today we publish Hirsh’s statement in full. This will be followed by the response from the African Diamond Producers Association and lastly by Mines Minister Obert Mpofu’s response.
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Abbey Chikane, the Kimberley Process Monitor tasked with ensuring that diamonds from Marange meet the minimum requirements of the KP Certification Scheme, has come under a lot of flak for certifying diamonds worth about $160 million without authority from the chairman of the diamond body or its Working Group or Monitoring. But he has explained why he did so. He argues that he had no option but to oblige to the request by the Zimbabwean government to save the entire diamond industry.
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