Global Effort to Halt 'Blood Diamond' Trade Stalls

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (June 25) -- An international effort to stop the trade of "blood diamonds" stalled this week over whether to allow Zimbabwe to sell millions of newly cut rough diamonds after allegations of human rights abuses in its mines.

Zimbabwe's military is accused of seizing the country's eastern Marange diamond fields, massacring up to 200 miners and organizing smuggling rings involved in forced labor, rape and torture.

Two years ago, the U.N.-backed Kimberly Process -- a watchdog of regulators from 70 countries as well as human rights groups and diamond company executives -- suspended its certification of Zimbabwe's diamonds because of the Marange allegations. The group, which aims to stop the trade of so-called "blood diamonds" that fund conflict, met for talks this week in Tel Aviv, to debate whether to reinstate approval for Zimbabwe's exports.

But the meeting ended Thursday in a stalemate over the Zimbabwe ban, despite all-night talks that broke up at 5:30 a.m. and then continued for several hours later in the afternoon.

The ban on Zimbabwe's exports thus remains in effect, but the country said it plans to sell its diamonds on international markets without Kimberly's stamp of approval. And it's unclear whether Kimberly -- a voluntary group -- has any means to stop it.

One way around the Kimberly ban would be for Zimbabwe to polish its own diamonds, since the Kimberly Process only monitors trade of rough, unpolished stones. Zimbabwe's mines minister, Obert Mpofu, told The New York Times his country plans to set up diamond polishing plants. He also denied accusations of abuse in his nation's mines.

Asked how Zimbabwe would export its diamonds without Kimberly approval, Mpofu told a Times reporter: "That's a question for Zimbabwe, not for you."

Groups like Human Rights Watch allege that abuse in Zimbabwean mines continues, and that the country is already smuggling illegal diamonds onto world markets.

"I don't think anyone would like to think the diamond they're about to buy for their fiancee has been produced in a context of extreme violence that we see in the Marange diamond fields," Elly Harrowell, a representative for another human rights group, Global Witness, told Sky News.

The debate raging in Tel Aviv this week centered on a report by South African mining executive Abbey Chikane, who was sent to monitor Zimbabwe's diamond industry on behalf of the Kimberly Process. He concluded that Zimbabwe was abiding by minimal requirements and should be allowed to resume exports of diamonds -- findings that other Kimberly participants found controversial.

"We don't see the monitor as having a credible position anymore," Harrowell told Sky News.

The talks broke down along familiar fault lines. Zimbabwe secured support from several African countries, along with Russia, India and Brazil, which also own interests in the country's mines. But the U.S., Australia, Canada and the European Union remained opposed to lifting the ban on the country's diamond exports.

Zimbabwe accuses the West of blocking diamond sales in order to punish President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled the country for more than 30 years. Zimbabwe once had one of the most prosperous economies and highest education level of any African country, but Mugabe's tenure has recently been plagued by corruption, hyperinflation and food shortages.

Despite its poverty, new estimates show that Zimbabwe may be sitting on more diamond wealth than experts previously thought.

Chaim Even-Zohar, head of the Israeli diamond consultancy, Tacy, presented results to the Kimberly meeting of his first-hand investigation of Zimbabwe's diamond fields.

"Presenting some figures on the diamond potential of Zimbabwe, Even-Zohar considered that the country has the potential to become a supplier of some 25 percent of the global diamond supply in terms of value within just a few years," according to a Kimberly statement released after Even-Zohar's presentation and quoted by several news agencies.

A subgroup of the Kimberly Process is scheduled to hold more talks next month, to try to achieve a compromise on the Zimbabwe issue.