adminThe two companies were added to what the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Affairs Control calls “specially designated” nationals list.
After the approval of sale of diamonds from Marange fields by KPCS, the Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Dr Obert Mpofu, announced that the country was expecting to rake in $2 billion per year from diamond sales, a disclosure which must have angered the Americans who then decided to impose sanctions on the two major diamond mining companies at Marange.
The US is so desperate to see the Zimbabwean economy collapsing in order for it to achieve its regime change agenda. The KPCS endorsement for the sale of Marange diamonds was a collective decision by countries under the international body so what justification does the US have to impose sanctions on companies that have the KPCS nod to sell their diamonds?
The same US government which imposed sanctions on Marange Resources and Mbada Diamond Mining is insisting that it wants Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu and his delegation to attend the KPCS meeting set for June in America this year.
The US government through its Embassy in Harare is reported to have written to the ministry inviting the Zimbabwean delegation to apply for visas, Minister Mpofu and officials from the parastatals that are supposed to attend the KPCS meeting on the US and the European Union travel ban lists.
The US Embassy Acting Public Affairs Officer in Harare Ms Jillian Bonnardeaux confirmed that the US government wants Minister Mpofu and his delegation to attend the KPCS meeting. “The US government expects the Minister and his delegation to attend the meeting. We are looking forward to welcoming the Minister and his delegation in the United States,” she was quoted saying.
The same government which is insisting on Minister Mpofu and his delegation attending the KPCS recently placed a third major producer of diamonds at Marange, Anjini Investments, on sanctions. What is clear is that the US is very confused when it comes to the issue of Marange diamonds.
The government knows too well that Zimbabwe is one of the major producers of the diamonds so economically it cannot afford to be left out from the Zimbabwean diamond trade but politically it has to stifle Zimbabwean diamond trade as part of its regime change agenda.
The interesting times for Zimbabwe is that very soon the US government will realise that its imposition of illegal sanctions on the country’s diamond mining companies is a non-event but it might be too late for it to make a U-turn.
The challenge to the inclusive Government during such trying times is to speak with one voice and condemn unreservedly these unwarranted sanctions. It is Zimbabweans who should decide their own destiny regarding issues of governance and not the US or EU.
It is pleasing to note that MDC-T Ministers like Finance Minister Tendai Biti have now seen the light that there is nothing called targeted sanctions.
Minister Biti who is in Washington urged the US government to engage Harare conceding that the sanctions are hurting ordinary people contrary to his party’s belief that the sanctions are targeted.
All those in the inclusive Government must make it loud and clear that those that continue to impose so-called targeted sanctions are enemies of Zimbabweans because the sanctions are causing untold suffering to the ordinary people who continue to lose jobs and work for no pay.
We want to once again urge Zimbabweans to close ranks because the panicking by the US government is signal that the worst could be over soon.
Online Reporter