Zimbabwean horror continues unchecked

It was somewhat difficult to grasp the reasons for recent media hype after the publication of two articles written by British journalist Andrew Malone, Mugabe's darkest secret: An £800bn blood diamond mine he's running with China's Red Army and by Phil Boehmke, Robert Mugabe’s bloody diamond deal with China. In many ways it was old news, which the world-at-large seems intent on ignoring – including the role played by the rising super power, China.

The horror of the ongoing abuses and transgressions committed by members and supporters of the Mugabe regime at the Marange diamond fields in southeast Zimbabwe, aptly described in the two articles, will however never cease to amaze and offend.

Government intervenes

In September last year after an article by Dan McDougall, The return of the bloody diamonds: Miners at gunpoint in Zimbabwe, which disclosed to a stunned readership the appalling situation at the Marange diamond fields, Leadership Intelligence Bulletin followed it up with a number of elucidating articles of its own.

The calculated and canny manner in which the Zimbabwe government,  or more correctly the Mugabe cabal, applied highly questionable legal procedures to deprive the legitimate concession-holder of its right to mine for diamonds at Marange was laid bare in a contribution titled Diamonds are causing trouble in Zimbabwe.

It is obvious why Mugabe and his cohorts had to get rid of African Consolidated Resources (ACR), the London-based company that is the legitimate concession-holder for Marange.

In 2006 soon after ACR discovered diamonds at Marange it became evident that this could be the biggest diamond find of all time worth an estimated 800 billion British pounds or, in other words, the source of a quarter of the world’s known diamond deposits.

The discovery completely outstripped anything the beleaguered Mugabe regime could have hoped for. After years of mismanagement which brought Zimbabwe untold misery and anguish the discovery at Marange could change everything.

But, Mugabe had to have a sole mandate.

Greed intervenes

The wealth locked up in the red soil of Marange offered another opportunity for those privileged to be part of the Mugabe cabal to satisfy their greed at the expense of their starving fellow countrymen.

When the media started to report on the snippets of information describing how the diamond fields at Marange were transformed into one large killing field yielding blood diamonds, Leadership Intelligence Bulletin carried an article, Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, that depicted the brutal persecution of the tens of thousands of freelance diamond diggers by the Zimbabwean security forces.

Operation No Return

In October 2008 on order from Mugabe’s henchmen Operation No Return was launched. The order demanded that the security forces clear the Marange diamond fields of all unwanted persons.

It is alleged that people were encouraged to enter and start mining the diamond fields at Marange illegally to provide the Mugabe regime with a pretext to intervene. The response was overwhelming and the diamond rush that followed and the lawlessness that ensued did demand intervention, not only to bring some sort of sanity to the area, but also to take control of the illegal diamond trade that was flourishing and was depriving the Mugabe clique of what they regarded as a fair share of the loot.

Operation No Return unleashed a savagery and bloodletting that was nauseating. When knowledge of what was happening at the Marange diamond fields filtered through a cordon of secrecy it led to the temporary exclusion of Zimbabwe from the Kimberley Process.

Zimbabwe was temporarily suspended and was prohibited from legally selling diamonds on the open market.

Mugabe was not amused by the suspension and in full bravado taunted that Zimbabwe will continue to sell its diamonds outside the Kimberley Process.

Operation No Return succeeded in its mission. The diamond fields at Marange were cleared of all unwanted miners and the local population was forcefully removed from the area.

To strengthen security the diamond fields were fenced off and guarded around the clock by heavily armed security force personnel.

But, notwithstanding their presence and patrols, the security forces have been unable to stop illegal diamond mining, smuggling and trading. With active participation of many security-force personnel illegal activities are flourishing and many local and foreign diamond dealers of many nationalities have established illegal businesses in nearby towns and across the border in Mozambique.

Enter the Chinese

The airstrip at Marange built with the support of China is also very useful and convenient in removing diamonds illegally and unnoticed to secret foreign destinations.

The construction of the airstrip and the active participation of China in working the diamond fields at Marange forms part of an alleged secret arms-for-diamonds deal between Zimbabwe and China. The deal was, according to reports, set up last year during a visit to China by General Constantine Chiwenga, reportedly a close confidant of Mugabe.

Mugabe needs arms to prop up his faltering regime. Sources within the Zimbabwean security establishment have told foreign journalists that the arms China delivers in return for diamonds provide an insurance policy for Mugabe and his cohorts.

It is said that among those who have earned many millions from trading illegally in diamonds from Marange are factions headed by the influential defence minster, Emmerson Mnangagwa, and Solomon Mujuru, the former head of the Zimbabwe armed forces and husband of vice-president Joyce Mujuru. Both are seen as front-runners to replace Mugabe and it is rumoured that both are stashing away arms as a precaution for what might happen in the inevitable power struggle for supremacy in Zanu-PF after Mugabe is gone.

These rumours are much more probable that the outrageous view expressed by Dr. Dan Roodt, a self-proclaimed torch-bearer for white Afrikaners on whose outlandish ideas Leadership Intelligence Bulletin has commented in the past

In an imagery whim Dr. Roodt alleged that the Marange  airstrip was used to unload weapons for later use in the genocide of white South Africans which was supposed to start after the completion of the  Fifa World Cup. More alarmingly than the Nostradamus-like predictions of Dr. Roodt are indications by both Malone and Boemhke of the increased presence and involvement of Chinese military personnel in the mining and plundering of the Marange diamond fields.

It is alleged that the Chinese involvement is so extensive that they have personnel working in shifts who are billeted near the airstrip and the diamond fields.

According to witnesses Chinese soldiers are not only participating in bolstering the security at Marange but they also help to supervise the large number of local Zimbabweans who are forced to work under  slave-labour conditions on the diamond fields

There can be no doubt that these members of the Chinese Liberation Army are taking full responsibility for the planes arriving at and leaving from Marange –with  weapons coming in  and diamonds going out.

Once the illegal diamonds are flown to China, they are cut and graded. The best-quality stones are then, according to Malone, sold to dealers in the Middle East and India from where they make their way into the international diamond market. Lesser ‘commercial grade’ diamonds remain in China where they are used for industrial applications to help feed the growing manufacturing sector.

All this should come as no surprise. After most of his former trading partners, appalled by his dictatorial and catastrophic rule turned their backs on him, Mugabe defiantly declared that he would look to the East for replacements and new partners.

Mugabe himself must have been surprised by the goodwill bestowed on him by the Chinese but that in itself should also come as no surprise.

With their sanctimonious and unfeeling attitude towards the internal affairs of trading partners, even if it includes gross human-rights violations and suppression, the Chinese offer Mugabe much-needed support to prolong his maladministration and the suffering of the Zimbabwean people.

It is said that the sparkle of a flawless diamond is intoxicating, persuasive and blinding. This seems to be proven by the situation at Marange.