Zimbabwe is Unopposed as KP Chair for 2023
November 21, 21
(IDEX Online) - Zimbabwe has been elected unopposed as leader-in-waiting of the Kimberley Process.
A nation that has faced widespread allegations of corruption and brutality in the Marange diamond fields was appointed vice chair for 2022 at the Kimberley Process Plenary in Moscow. As a matter of course it will go on to chair KP in 2023.
There were no objections to Zimbabwe's appointment KP at the five-day hybrid in-person and online event.
The plenary's closing communique noted that participants and observers thanked the Russian Federation for its leadership in 2020 and 2021 and welcomed Botswana as KP Chair and Zimbabwe as KP Vice Chair in 2022. It made no further mention of Zimbabwe.
The Marange mining area, arguably home to one of the world's richest diamond deposits, has been fenced off, but illegal miners who break in are - it is alleged - tortured, mauled by dogs and dumped far from civilization.
The US has effectively outlawed the importation of Marange diamonds.
Pic shows KP plenary in Moscow.