KP Interim Report on Zimbabwe Calls for 6 Month Suspension
July 30, 09
The interim report on Zimbabwe's diamond trade by the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) review team investigating human rights abuses in the country's diamond fields has recommended a six-month suspension from the scheme, according to local media reports.
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The suspension means, should it be approved, that Zimbabwe would not be allowed to export the diamonds mined in the country.
The KP delegation visited the country following mounting testimonies that illegal diamond diggers were killed during a military attack on them. The attack was part of a campaign to drive the diggers away from the diamond fields in Marange district, in an eastern region of the country.
According to review team leader Kpandel Fiya, Liberia's deputy minister of mines, the team witnessed "direct involvement of the military in illegal mining and related activities."
The interim report recommended the "initiation of procedure to implement suspension of Zimbabwe from importing or exporting of rough diamonds within the KPCS for a period of at least six months ... [or] until such time as a KP team determines that minimum standards have been met," the state-controlled daily, The Herald, reported on Thursday.
Elly Harrowell, of Global Witness told IRIN that Zimbabwe's proposed "suspension is not surprising, but frankly it has been a long time coming."