Dubai Confirms: No Marange Diamonds Allowed Into UAE

Zimbabwean goods confiscated at Dubai's airport in 2008

(IDEX Online News) - The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Kimberley Process Office stated today (Sunday) that rough diamond shipments from Zimbabwe’s Marange region will not be allowed into the UAE “until full consensus amongst KP Participants is reached.”

Dubai was the main destination of many of the Marange diamonds exported in the past few years. Flustered with its failure to gain international agreement over these exports, Zimbabwe has threatened to go ahead and export the goods anyway.

As first detailed by IDEX Online, recent leaks of U.S. diplomatic cables disclosed alleged involvement of key figures in Zimbabwe’s diamond smuggling industry. Among the mentioned names are President’s Robert Mugabe’s wife and sister as well as the head of the country’s National Bank.