Blood diamonds under the microscope

Diamonds may be regarded as a girl’s best friend; to others, they are a downright nightmare. All across the African continent, these precious stones – the symbol of eternal love and devotion – are being, or have been used, to fuel cross-border armed conflicts and civil war. Liberia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for instance. However, blood or conflict diamonds are also found much closer to home.

Although Zimbabwean diamonds from the Marange fields, situated in the Chiadzwa district in the country’s Mutare West constituency, are not used to fund rebel groups or fuel war, they nevertheless are classified as blood diamonds.

The reason for this is the human rights violations to which the people living in this part of the world have been subjected for the past years.

The seeds for the tragedy were sown in 2006 when De Beers sold the Marange fields to African Consolidated Resources (ACR). Soon, test mining of alluvial diamonds kicked off.

Not too long after the first shovel was stuck in the ground, the Zanu-PF government began to dispute the ACR’s legal claim on the land.

In an attempt to get the company off the land and gain control of the wealth it harboured, the national authorities invited ordinary Zimbabweans to come and dig for diamonds.

In return for this privilege, the informal miners were obliged to sell the rough stones they had found to the Zimbabwean state’s minerals marketing company.

“In a matter of weeks, over 20 000 people from across Zimbabwe flocked to Marange, and ACR was effectively pushed off its claim,” explains Richard Saunders, a professor at York University in Toronto, Canada. He has done extensive research on the Zimbabwean blood diamond industry and is the author of Never the Same Again: Zimbabwe’s Growth Towards Democracy 1980-2000.

Zimbabweans did so, simply because of the miserable state of the economy. Inflation was soaring, poverty was rife, and prices of basic products had become unaffordable to most.

According to Saunders, the human rights abuses began in the years afterward. “The state proved not to have sufficient funds to purchase Marange diamonds from informal diggers, simply because it was short of foreign exchange due to the meltdown of the economy.

“As a result, illegal buyers and shadowy networks flocked to the region.”

As the diamond miners were not able to sell the stones to the government, they started to sell them illegally and across the border.

“Reports suggest diamonds were being sold at the side of the road,” added Saunders.

To curb the illegal diamond trade and maintain control over the Marange fields, the Zanu-PF government struck back and moved in the military and the police. With them came widespread violence, assault, beatings and other human rights violations.

“Waves of violence ensued, each an attempt to assert the authority of security agencies in the burgeoning legal and illegal trade,” explains Saunders.

“The presidential elections of June 2008 brought more violence and some of the severest human rights abuses. People have been murdered, tortured, raped, assaulted, beaten and chased off the land.”

A 2009 report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), titled “Diamonds in the Rough: Human Rights Abuses in the Marange Diamond Fields of Zimbabwe”, stated how police officers and security forces were responsible for these abuses.

“Miners described colleagues being buried alive,” the researchers wrote. “A police officer working with a reaction team told HRW of orders from senior officers to ‘shoot on sight’ miners found in the fields. Villagers described arbitrary arrests, beatings and harassment that by May 2008 had swamped a local prison with 1 600 prisoners – 1 300 more than its capacity.”

After the elections and the signing of the global political agreement in September 2008 between Zanu-PF and both MDC parties – which would serve as the basis of the Government of National Unity – the area was subjected to the most violent operation: Operation Hakudzokwi (“No Return”).

“Between the end of October and mid-November 2008, miners at Marange and others were shot from helicopters and hunted down in the bush. Dogs were let on people and countless women were raped,” Saunders says.

The HRW report confirmed Saunders’ statements, and described how “one man on 14 November was shot in the back of the head by soldiers who had accused him of being an illegal miner.

“Scores of miners and diamond traders were tortured and beaten, and at least 80 villagers from Muchena were beaten by soldiers demanding to know the identities and whereabouts of local illegal miners,” the report added.

“Diamonds in the Rough” further described how the army rapidly turned to forming syndicates that went hand in hand with forced labour.

“A miner described how his syndicate was cheated by the soldiers who formed it. When the men decided to abandon work, soldiers shot them, leading to the death of one man and the maiming of another.

“Children describe being made to carry diamond ore, working up to 11 hours per day with no reward. One local lawyer has estimated that up to 300 children continue to work for soldiers in the diamond fields,” the report added.

It is unclear how many people were killed in these few months. So far, 214 deaths have been accounted for, but the total number is expected to be much higher.

A recent discovery of skeletons in May this year, believed to be of victims of the violence in 2008, confirms this fear. These bodies were found by workers from Mbada Diamonds and Canadile Mining.

These two companies, each a joint venture between a South African private company and the government-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), are now in charge of mining diamonds.

“Last year, the New Reclamation Group and Core Mining and Minerals, both based in South Africa, were appointed by the Zimbabwean government to form joint ventures with the ZMDC to dig in Marange,” Saunders explains.

Due to the worrisome situation at Marange last year, a review mission of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) privately recommended Zimbabwe’s temporary suspension from this organisation.

The KPCS is a global governmental body that aims to prevent the trade in blood or conflict diamonds. Zimbabwe is one of the signatories, and so is South Africa. The latter, however, objected the mission’s recommendations. As a consensus is required in matters like these, Zimbabwe escaped suspension.

As Zimbabwe is one of South Africa’s neighbouring countries, one of the questions that come to mind is how many blood diamonds from Marange have ended up or are making their way onto the South African market.

According to Saunders, one should not be too worried, although the possibility of this happening remains a threat.

“Diamonds sold by South African retailers are clean stones that have a certified certificate by the Kimberley Process. These documents demonstrate that it is not a conflict diamond. Retailers keep a close eye on this, and on diamonds from problematic areas such as Zimbabwe,” he says.

“However, despite this, one can assume that some Marange stones have ended up in South Africa because of the illicit trade and smuggling.

“Please bear in mind that we have no proven knowledge of which retail markets Zimbabwean diamonds are ending up. We, however, do know of parcels of Marange diamonds that have made it to the United Arab Emirates,” adds Saunders.

Ricardo “Baron” Baretzky, chief executive officer of DiaLab, dismisses Saunders’ statements. He claims that the problem regarding the presence of Marange conflict diamonds in South Africa is much greater.

“We estimate that 17% of all diamonds that are in circulation in South Africa are blood diamonds, mainly from Zimbabwe,” he says.

“But most stones from Zimbabwe are shipped to Israel and Asia.”

DiaLab is a Cape Town-based company that claims it has developed a technology which enables one to DNA-fingerprint diamonds. This technology, Baretzky says, makes it possible for the enterprise to determine in which region stones were mined, thus whether it is a conflict diamond or not.

So far, the company has fingerprinted 2 000 samples. “About 17% of the stones originated from Zimbabwe,” he notes.

According to Baretzky, diamonds that were mined in Zimbabwe’s Marange fields have certain characteristics that differentiate them from diamonds from South Africa. “Diamonds have a set of specific characteristics, which is linked to where they were mined.

“Zimbabwean diamonds deposits are often situated near uranium deposits, and because of this, the stones have a slight brownish, greenish hue. About 98% of Zimbabwean diamonds have this specific colouring, which South African diamonds, for instance, do not have. This is caused by the uranium, which also affects the nitrogen bonds and other physical characteristics of the stone.

“This is what we found out with our new technology, which we are the first to use. Thanks to this, we can now for the first time determine whether a stone is from Zimbabwe, the DRC or from South Africa,” he says.

About the problem of conflict diamonds in South Africa, Baretzky says, “Many blood diamonds are treated to give them a sparkly white colour. The reason for this is that a conflict diamond is hard to sell, firstly because of its ethical nature, but also because of its colour.

The whiter the diamond, the more valuable the stone.

“By treating blood diamonds, it makes it even more difficult to determine their origins with the conventional technology. Our methods, however, have changed this, as we dig deep into the diamond. Colour is only one of the aspects.”

The Diamond Dealers’ Club of South Africa has rejected DiaLab’s findings and statements regarding its developed technique to determine the origin of a diamond, and whether it has been tainted by human rights abuses and war.

“To state that 17% of all diamonds sold in South Africa are blood diamonds and were mined in conflict areas in Africa is misleading and factually incorrect,” said Ernest Blom, chair of the Diamond Dealers’ Club, on behalf of his own organisation as well as the South African Diamond and Precious Metal Regulator and both the Diamond Council and the Jewellery of South Africa.

“From January 2000, the total percentage of conflicts diamonds that entered the world markets was 4%. Because of the drastic and decisive action of organisations such as the World Federation of Diamond Bourses and the International Diamond Manufacturers Association that formed the World Diamond Council, and in conjunction with the participants of the Kimberley Process, this 4% was reduced to 0.20%.

“The only conflict in diamond-producing countries in Africa is the Ivory Coast, which has been suspended from the Kimberley Process,” he added. ▲

Miriam Mannak