Print

Mail

wiki links

Army enslaving kids in mines: HRW

Hundreds of children are being forced by the army to dig for diamonds to bankroll senior lieutenants of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) investigation has found.

Researchers believe that revenue from illegal trading of the gems is being funneled to Mugabe’s senior lieutenants in his Zanu-PF party, as well as the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, which has underwritten some military operations. The money could prove a lifeline for Zanu-PF as it regroups ahead of the next election, expected in two years’ time.

The report, published yesterday, claims the army is torturing and beating villagers on the diamond fields of Marange district in eastern Zimbabwe. The atrocities follow a massacre last year in which more than 200 people were killed when troops seized control of mining and trading.

The army rapidly formed syndicates, often using forced labor, Human Rights Watch said. It is estimated that up to 300 children continue to work for soldiers in the diamond fields.

A 13-year-old girl said: “Every day I would carry ore and only rest for short periods. We always started work very early in the morning, before eight, and finished when it was dark, after six. All I want now is to go back to school.”

The HRW report, Diamonds in the Rough, threatens to embarrass the unity government. Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, of the Movement for Democratic Change, has spent the past fortnight trying to convince foreign leaders that its reforms now merit financial support. But the police and army remain under the control of Mugabe’s Zanu-PF.

“While Zimbabwe’s new government lobbies the world for development aid, millions of dollars in potential revenue are being siphoned off through illegal diamond mining, smuggling of gemstones outside the country and corruption,” the report said.

“The government could generate perhaps as much as US$200 million per month, if Marange and other mining centers were managed in a transparent and accountable manner. This revenue could fund a significant portion of the new government’s economic recovery programme, which would benefit ordinary villagers, like the residents of Marange,” it said.

HRW said that late last year that military helicopters with mounted automatic rifles flew over Marange to drive out local miners. Soldiers on the ground indiscriminately fired live ammunition and teargas into the diamond fields and surrounding villages. Over three weeks, more than 200 people were killed.

The police and military have access to Marange’s wealth at a time when the government is struggling to pay their wages, the report said.

“The police and army have turned this area into a nightmare of lawlessness and violence,” said Georgette Gagnon, HRW’s Africa director.
This story has been viewed 773 times.