20100628
allafrica

There has been a shocked and outraged reaction to claims by Mines Minister Obert Mpofu that two leading international diamond rights groups had tried to bribe him, by offering their support in exchange for diamond profits.

The groups Global Witness and Partnership Africa Canada (PAC) on Monday moved to reject the allegations that they offered to support Zimbabwe's bid to resume diamond exports in exchange for a 1% cut of the profits. The allegation surfaced at the end of the week-long meeting of the Kimberley Process (KP) diamond certification scheme, where Zimbabwe's compliance with the scheme's minimum requirements was hotly debated.

"We reject outright this malicious and unsubstantiated allegation. At no point did any of the non-governmental organisations at the meeting make any kind of offer of conditional support for exports. The violence that continues to plague Zimbabwe's Chiadzwa diamond fields - and the government's blatant disregard for KP rules - indisputably signify that no exports should take place now," said Annie Dunnebacke, campaigner at Global Witness.

The state owned Sunday Mail quoted Minister Mpofu, who led Zimbabwe's delegation at the KP meeting, as saying that Global Witness and PAC approached him with the "money-for-support" proposal, which he rejected as "extortion". He said that the groups "wanted one percent of our sales from Chiadzwa for their operations" and that in return they "would lobby for the endorsement of our diamonds".

"This is a cynical and amoral attempt by Minister Mpofu to distract from the organised smuggling and human rights abuses being carried out by state institutions, in direct contravention of KP minimum requirements, and from his efforts and those of his ZANU PF cronies to capture the country's diamond wealth for their own personal benefit," said Alan Martin from PAC. "The Kimberley Process managed to salvage some of its credibility last week by refusing to endorse a resumption of exports from Chiadzwa. Zimbabwe seems intent upon damaging the scheme further with this latest slur."

The campaigners said that the source of the rumour was likely to be a late-night brainstorming session at which the idea was floated of using 1% of any future diamond sales to create a protection fund for Zimbabwean civil society. There was never any suggestion that this money would be as a reward for allowing exports to resume before the situation on the ground had improved.

"The idea was never formally put on the negotiation table by civil society groups, or anyone else, and at no point in the informal discussions was it posited as a condition for the resumption of diamond exports," Dunnebacke told SW Radio Africa on Monday.

Dunnebacke also expressed concern for jailed Zimbabwean diamond researcher, Farai Maguwu, who is still being held behind bars in what many believe is a deliberate attempt to silence him. He has been at the forefront of exposing the ongoing rights abuses at the diamond fields, and his testimony at the KP meeting was set to be critical. Instead, he was arrested almost four weeks ago and has been denied bail, despite being ill and undergoing an operation for a serious throat infection.

"Maguwu's plight amply demonstrates the need for greater protection and support for civil society in Zimbabwe. The authorities should let him go," said Dunnebacke.

As the KP meeting drew to a close last week, Minister Mpofu threatened to resume exports anyway, in spite of the lack of consensus at the meeting. Campaigners warned that this would pose a significant challenge to the scheme's membership who would have to be vigilant in ensuring that blood diamonds did not enter the international market.

It is now understood that Mpofu is going ahead with diamond sales after reportedly being given the green light from the World Diamond Council. According to a report in the Zimbabwe Guardian, Mpofu is instructing the industry to start exports after the diamond council gave him the go ahead. Mpofu said the country would not engage Britain, the United States, Canada and Australia over the sale of the diamonds because they were interested parties who wanted to benefit from the mineral resources.

"The western countries are a consortium of looters and for us to expect support from these countries would be naivety of the highest order. We will no longer engage them when it comes to our diamonds," Mpofu said.

The Mines Minister also accused the British of "planting" more than 40 000 illegal panners in the Chiadzwa diamond fields with the aim of creating chaos "leading to war." He said the uniformed forces "drove the people away without any problem." Mpofu was likely referring to the deaths of hundreds of panners at the hands of the military in 2008.