Zimbabwe has promised to withdraw its soldiers from diamond fields in the east, an official newspaper reported — a week after a rights group alleged the military was committing killings and abuses in the area.
The move appeared to be an attempt to diffuse criticism over the military’s takeover of the Marange diamond fields and ensure that Zimbabwe’s precious stones won’t be tainted with the “blood diamond” label by activists, which would reduce their value.
The Ministry of Mines denied last month’s report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) that said troops had killed more than 200 people at the Marange diamond fields while forcing children to search for diamonds and beating villagers who got in the way.
Instead, Zimbabwe’s coalition government said the military was there to secure the area, about 250km east of Harare, where mining is managed by the state’s Mining Development Corp.
The 60,000-hectare Marange diamond fields were discovered in 2006 — at the height of Zimbabwe’s political, economic and humanitarian crisis. Villagers rushed to the area and began finding diamonds close to the surface.
The army took over the Marange diamond fields in last October. Before that, the police were in control and HRW said there were less abuses then.
Officials of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme — the world’s diamond control body — recently visited the fields following allegations that security chiefs and loyalists of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe were either perpetrating or tolerating rights abuses and illegal diamond exports.
“There cannot be effective security where diamonds are concerned with the involvement of the military,” the Kimberley delegation said in a report to the Zimbabwean government, quoted by the state-run Sunday Mail.
The Kimberley report also noted illegal digging and processing of diamonds in Marange and called for stricter controls to stop diamond smuggling across the porous eastern border with Mozambique.
Mines Minister Obert Mpofu on Saturday told Kimberley inspectors that the troops would be withdrawn from the diamond fields and the country would meet international mining standards, the Sunday Mail reported.
“We are going to work toward getting in line with the standards proposed,” the paper quoted Mpofu as saying during the meeting.
Mpofu reportedly also told the Kimberley delegation that the coalition government, formed between Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in February, planned to relocate villagers away from the diamond fields and find investors to help provide security.
Deputy Mines Minister Murisi Zwizwai — a member of Tsvangirai’s former opposition party — said the government had “agreed to remove the soldiers, but it will be done in phases while proper security settings would be put in place,” the Sunday Mail reported.
It is estimated the diamonds could be worth US$200 million a month to the cash-strapped nation, which is desperately trying to raise international aid to kickstart the economy. But the unity government has also been under foreign pressure to show signs of reform.
Withdrawing troops from the diamond fields would deflect further negative publicity, show the government’s commitment to meeting international obligations and ensure greater revenue from the diamonds that are sold.
On June 26, the New York-based HRW cited accounts from more than 100 witnesses, miners, police officers, soldiers and children alleging human rights abuses by troops. It said its researchers had gathered evidence of mass graves and accounts of an incident last year when military helicopters fired on miners, while armed soldiers on the ground chased villagers away.
It said many victims were unwilling to come forward out of fear of the military.
HRW also alleged that some of the income from the diamond fields went to officials of Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party.
An endangered baby pygmy hippopotamus that shot to social media stardom in Thailand has become a lucrative source of income for her home zoo, quadrupling its ticket sales, the institution said Thursday. Moo Deng, whose name in Thai means “bouncy pork,” has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to Khao Kheow Open Zoo this month. The two-month-old pygmy hippo went viral on TikTok and Instagram for her cheeky antics, inspiring merchandise, memes and even craft tutorials on how to make crocheted or cake-based Moo Dengs at home. A zoo spokesperson said that ticket sales from the start of September to Wednesday reached almost
‘BARBAROUS ACTS’: The captain of the fishing vessel said that people in checkered clothes beat them with iron bars and that he fell unconscious for about an hour Ten Vietnamese fishers were violently robbed in the South China Sea, state media reported yesterday, with an official saying the attackers came from Chinese-flagged vessels. The men were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), which Taiwan claims, as do Vietnam, China, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. Vietnamese media did not identify the nationalities of the attackers, but Phung Ba Vuong, an official in central Quang Ngai province, told reporters: “They were Chinese, [the boats had] Chinese flags.” Four of the 10-man Vietnamese crew were rushed
CHINESE ICBM: The missile landed near the EEZ of French Polynesia, much to the surprise and concern of the president, who sent a letter of protest to Beijing Fijian President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere called for “respect for our region” and a stop to missile tests in the Pacific Ocean, after China launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, Katonivere recalled the Pacific Ocean’s history as a nuclear weapons testing ground, and noted Wednesday’s rare launch by China of an ICBM. “There was a unilateral test firing of a ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean. We urge respect for our region and call for cessation of such action,” he said. The ICBM, carrying a dummy warhead, was launched by the
As violence between Israel and Hezbollah escalates, Iran is walking a tightrope by supporting Hezbollah without being dragged into a full-blown conflict and playing into its enemy’s hands. With a focus on easing its isolation and reviving its battered economy, Iran is aware that war could complicate efforts to secure relief from crippling sanctions. Cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah, sparked by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year, has intensified, especially after last week’s sabotage on Hezbollah’s communications that killed 39 people. Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon followed, killing hundreds. Hezbollah retaliated with rocket barrages. Despite the surge in
RSS