adminThe KPCS freed Zimbabwe’s gems on Thursday at its Working Group on Monitoring meeting in Washington DC saying Harare had fulfilled all the requirements for the certification of its own diamond exports. While we welcome the decision we urge the KPCS to stand its ground and not allow the powerful countries within its family to come up with new requirements just to scuttle Zimbabwe from selling its Marange diamonds.
The KPCS has previously cleared Zimbabwe to sell its diamonds saying the Chiadzwa mines were compliant but the country still had to do it in consultation with the monitors because some powerful Western countries did not want unhindered trade in the Zimbabwean gems.
Such frustrating tactics once prompted President Mugabe to suggest that we should just sell our diamonds with or without the KP certification because it does not make sense that each time Zimbabwe meets a particular requirement, a new one crops up.
Each time the KPCS declared Zimbabwe’s diamonds from the Chiadzwa mines compliant, the United States and its Western allies launched new campaigns to block Harare from selling its gems.
In allowing Zimbabwe to export its diamonds unhindered and withdrawing monitors, the Working Group on Monitoring said Harare had fulfilled all the requirements to certify its own diamond exports.
The WGM also said the Government of Zimbabwe had shown full transparency and accountability by ensuring that 15 percent of royalties in Marange were being directly channelled to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority. This put to rest the allegations that money from diamond proceeds was not being remitted to Treasury. Zimbabwe has also allowed the civil society to make contributions to the recently formulated Zimbabwe Diamond Policy to prove it has nothing to hide.
The decision to allow unhindered diamond exports means the Government will now sign the Marange export certificates without having to consult KP monitors Mr Abby Chikane and Mr Mark Van Bockstael.
Zimbabwe has done its part, as confirmed by the WGM, by being transparent and accountable. It is also now high time the other members of the KPCS who have been opposing unhindered exports of the Marange diamonds, to play their part by being honest and fair so that the Chiadzwa diamond mines can harness the diamonds for the benefit of the country and its citizens.
Now is the time for goodwill and dumping sheer bad faith with regards to the Marange diamonds.
Falsehoods have been peddled about the Marange diamonds but the peddlers of the lies have failed to prove concrete evidence of their claims. And the country has continued to suffer yet the Marange diamonds had come as a windfall to Zimbabwe with the potential to bust the illegal economic sanctions imposed by the US and its Western allies.
The diamonds have undoubtedly the potential to help Zimbabwe wriggle its way out of the economic doldrums. While Zimbabwe has every reason to celebrate we should be cautious of the ever looming plots to prevent us from benefiting from our resources. At the Washington meeting the US was also raising another contentious issue by campaigning for the redefinition of “conflict diamonds”.
But the KP’s Working Group on Reform said the matter could be concluded at the plenary. This effectively means the issue has been deferred to next year’s KP inter-sessional meeting in South Africa.
Online Reporter