adminAddressing the on- going Dubai Precious Metals Conference, Mr Bin Sulayem said by keeping Zimbabwe’s diamonds under sanctions, the West denied the country its ‘lifeblood and exposed the nations’ short- sightedness.
“Sanctions have been lifted in Burma, while ethnic cleansing is happening at the same time. Zimbabwe is utopia compared to that,” he said.
“We are not taking sides here. But we will not exclude countries just for the sake of it.”
Last month the European Union (EU) suspended sanctions on 81 Zimbabwean individuals and eight entities, but kept the Zimbabwe Mining Development Cooperation (ZMDC), government’s mining unit, under the embargo.
Britain and its allies in the EU and the United States imposed economic sanctions on Zimbabwe after the country embarked on a successful land reform programme.
Mr Bin Sulayem said the powerful European nations should contribute towards the development of Africa through trade.
“It (Africa) is very rich underground, and it is very poor over ground. It should be developed. It should be a superpower no different from Brazil, Russia, India or China,” he said. In 2011, US$408 million worth of Zimbabwe’s rough diamonds were exported to Dubai, with much of this later re-exported to India, Belgium, China and Thailand.
Zimbabwe, which is currently the seventh largest producer of diamonds in the world, has potential to supply 25 percent of global demand and has also been tipped to become the third biggest producer by the end of this decade.
Currently, there are four diamond-mining firms operating in the rich Marange diamond fields, namely Mbada Diamonds, Marange Resources, Anjin and Diamond Mining Corporation.
Western countries led by the United States have been battling to block Zimbabwe from selling its diamonds as part of the sanctions they have imposed on the country.
This is in spite of the green light given to the country by the global diamond watchdog, the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme to freely market her gems.- New Ziana.
Online Reporter