Zimbabwe probed on “blood diamond” rules

JOHANNESBURG – Industry body The World Diamond Council is worried that gems from Zimbabwe may be finding their way onto the black market, a violation of rules established to curb so-called conflict diamonds that fuel civil wars.

The diamond sector is making extra efforts to police itself amid fears jewellery sales will be hit by the release of the Hollywood film ‘Blood Diamond’, which shows atrocities in African civil wars financed by illicit gems during the 1990s. The New York-based council received reports that diamonds in Zimbabwe were being smuggled into neighbouring South Africa, where they were being certified as legitimate and exported, WDC Chairman Eli Izhakoff told Reuters late on Friday via e-mail.Izhakoff, who was replying to written questions, said he sent a letter last month to the incoming chairman of the Kimberley Process, a watchdog body set up to stamp out trade in conflict diamonds.”Such illegal exportation presents a clear threat to the integrity of the legitimate export process as a whole,” Izhakoff said in the letter dated December 15.The Council said it had reports that rough diamonds from Zimbabwe’s River Ranch mine and from the Marange district were being smuggled out of the country.MINE DENIES SMUGGLING A legal consultant for River Ranch, which restarted mining in June 2006 under new ownership after going into voluntary liquidation in 1999, told Reuters on Saturday the firm denied its diamonds were being smuggled.”I am a bit distressed at the World Diamond Council,” retired judge George Smith said.”We have not sold any diamonds yet and Ministry of Mines officials are in the process of checking our security systems.”Illegal mining is rising in Zimbabwe as people grapple with an economic crisis that has seen inflation rise to over 1 000 per cent, the highest in the world, and poverty levels soar.Zimbabwe is a small diamond producer with official figures only available from Murowa, 78 per cent owned by mining group Rio Tinto Plc and 22 per cent by RioZim Ltd , listed on the Zimbabwe stock exchange.Rio Tinto said that its share of output at Murowa was 148 000 carats during the first nine months of 2006.The diamond industry worries that consumers will shun its luxury products after seeing ‘Blood Diamond’, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and set during Sierra Leone’s civil war, notorious for drug-crazed rebels who hacked limbs off women and children.The Kimberley Process, under which governments issue certificates to legitimate diamond exports, has helped reduce illicit diamonds to less than one percent of the total, the diamond industry and activists say.European Commission official Karel Kovanda, which took over the chair of the Kimberley Process on January 1, said in a letter dated December 22 in reply to Izhakoff that the matter would be investigated.Izhakoff provided his letter and the reply to Reuters.Nampa-ReutersThe New York-based council received reports that diamonds in Zimbabwe were being smuggled into neighbouring South Africa, where they were being certified as legitimate and exported, WDC Chairman Eli Izhakoff told Reuters late on Friday via e-mail.Izhakoff, who was replying to written questions, said he sent a letter last month to the incoming chairman of the Kimberley Process, a watchdog body set up to stamp out trade in conflict diamonds.”Such illegal exportation presents a clear threat to the integrity of the legitimate export process as a whole,” Izhakoff said in the letter dated December 15.The Council said it had reports that rough diamonds from Zimbabwe’s River Ranch mine and from the Marange district were being smuggled out of the country.MINE DENIES SMUGGLING A legal consultant for River Ranch, which restarted mining in June 2006 under new ownership after going into voluntary liquidation in 1999, told Reuters on Saturday the firm denied its diamonds were being smuggled.”I am a bit distressed at the World Diamond Council,” retired judge George Smith said.”We have not sold any diamonds yet and Ministry of Mines officials are in the process of checking our security systems.”Illegal mining is rising in Zimbabwe as people grapple with an economic crisis that has seen inflation rise to over 1 000 per cent, the highest in the world, and poverty levels soar.Zimbabwe is a small diamond producer with official figures only available from Murowa, 78 per cent owned by mining group Rio Tinto Plc and 22 per cent by RioZim Ltd , listed on the Zimbabwe stock exchange.Rio Tinto said that its share of output at Murowa was 148 000 carats during the first nine months of 2006.The diamond industry worries that consumers will shun its luxury products after seeing ‘Blood Diamond’, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and set during Sierra Leone’s civil war, notorious for drug-crazed rebels who hacked limbs off women and children.The Kimberley Process, under which governments issue certificates to legitimate diamond exports, has helped reduce illicit diamonds to less than one percent of the total, the diamond industry and activists say.European Commission official Karel Kovanda, which took over the chair of the Kimberley Process on January 1, said in a letter dated December 22 in reply to Izhakoff that the matter would be investigated.Izhakoff provided his letter and the reply to Reuters.Nampa-Reuters