20100621
africanews

Civil society groups urged diamond trade regulators on Monday to suspend ties with Zimbabwe because of human rights abuses in its Marange diamond fields.

A meeting in Israel of delegates from some 70 countries in the Kimberley Process (KP), a certification scheme set up to monitor diamond trades, will focus on trade in Zimbabwean gems after pressure on the regulatory body to address rights abuses.

"Zimbabwe has been failing to meet the minimum requirements of the Kimberley Process for a number of years now and we call on the Kimberley Process to suspend Zimbabwe's membership," said Annie Dunnebacke of British-based industry group Global Witness.

Civil society groups, which are part of the Kimberley Process, are facing public calls to leave the regulatory body given its failure to suspend trade in diamonds from Zimbabwe.

"The situation of NGOs in the Kimberley Process is becoming more and more difficult to explain," Dunnebacke said. "So if it becomes ever more difficult for us to explain our position at the table, then we may not be able to be here anymore."

The Kimberley Process angered human rights groups and diamond traders earlier this month when a monitor it appointed to assess the Zimbabwean government's mining operations at Marange said Zimbabwe had met the minimum conditions set by the industry regulator and could start gem exports.

A Kimberley Process official said the regulator's review of Zimbabwe covered issues such as certification of the diamonds and overall transparency.

Rights groups allege serious abuses by security forces deployed by the Zimbabwean government to stop illegal diamond digging after up to 30,000 panners descended on the poorly secured fields in 2006.