Why US backed down on Marange

What followed after this is public knowledge. All institutions where the US is member and wields dominance became very intransigent, militant and spiteful on Zimbabwe. These institutions include the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. No foreign direct investment (FDI) was received from the US but more than 100 non-governmental organisations (the highest in Africa) were established in Zimbabwe with American funding to attend to charity cases, WikiLeaks revealed.

When the Kimberley Process was seized with the Marange issue, the US, together with her other allies, the EU and Canada, frustrated for a long time the Marange diamond fields’ certification.
So why did the US agree to allow the KP Marange resolution pass without blocking it at the Kinshasa plenary in November? There are a number of reasons.
The US had used the human rights trump card as a weapon to incite KP participants to block the Marange KP certification.
But Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Obert Mpofu, argued back, questioning the KPCS jurisdiction to adjudicate on human rights when its United Nations mandate was only confined to “eradicate blood diamonds mined by rebel groups bent on unseating a legitimate government”.

Further, he succeeded in proving that the KPCS had no competency, skill and machinery to deal with human rights abuse. Minister Mpofu also focused on rectifying the core issues of eliminating diamond leakages, securing the diamond fields, acquisition of efficient and state-of-the-art machinery. This exercise cost Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and its partners more than US$380 million.
To date Mbada and Marange resources have the best and most modern diamond mining equipment in the world. Consequently, the KP working group on monitoring certified the two mines, namely Mbada and

Marange Resources. With all this progress, KP participants were convinced and US was exposed.
The KP civic society led by the Canadian intelligence front, Partnership Africa Canada, ran out of fiction. The allegations made by the civil society which were concocted by their local willing surrogates, Farai Maguwu and Shamiso Mtisi, were too extreme and even EU ambassador to Zimbabwe Aldo Dell’ Ariccia openly dismissed them at the Wits Marange Diamond Conference held in August.

“It’s surprising Mr Chairman, that the sources of these allegations are fellow Zimbabweans who have never been officially at these diamond mines; neither have they come to see me about their so-called concerns. It seems it has become a source of livelihood for these mediocre minded brothers of mine. Anyway, the world shall know the truth eventually,” said Minister Mpofu in response to a report presented to the KP Plenary by the KP civil society coalition. This is one of the statements that won Minister Mpofu the support of African KP participants, including Botswana.

Again, the more the US blocked Marange certification, the more resentment grew against American pressure from Asian and African countries. It came to such a boiling point that the US stopped at the last minute to submit their candidature for the KP vice-presidency for 2011 after Central Intelligence Agents warned the USA senate of a possible embarrassing anti-US vote.
So, until the Kinshasa plenary, the KP had no vice chairman and the US had no option but to allow the Marange resolution if it wanted to ascend to the vice chairmanship. The US chose not to vote in favour but simply abstained.

Minister Mpofu used intellect while the USA used emotions and overestimated her influence on other countries. It was interesting to note that the Israelis were in favour of Marange certification and did not buy the US argument.

But Americans being Americans, do not tire in their treachery. Resolution 9 of the last plenary is calling for Zimbabwe to submit its annual diamond sales returns to the Working Group on Statistics which is chaired by the US.

No doubt the information will be quickly forwarded to the US’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) since the Mineral Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) and ZMDC are on the USA targeted sanctions.
Resolution 45 of the Kinshasa 2011 Plenary says that USA will be the next KP chair from 1 January 2012 for a year. More fireworks are expected as the country will, no doubt, try to make the agreement not work so that the Marange victory can be reversed at the next plenary. Thank God that South Africa will be vice chair!

Americans have a proven history of not making truces with enemies but they like to make pseudo-romance in preparation of a final strike. Libya and Egypt are examples.
Soon after KP announced the Marange victory, the Jewelers America (JA) president Matthew Runci said in a statement: “A number of the Zimbabwean entities and individuals who are connected with the disputed diamond mining are on the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions list . . . . Until there is further progress on the various issues surrounding diamonds from the Marange

region, JA recommends that members do not trade in these diamonds.”

The American government is therefore yet to give a statement to reassure its industry on the Marange issue despite agreeing “not to stand in its way”.
The Government of Zimbabwe has learnt a lot in the last two years regarding KP. It must now ensure that it only registers objective, honest and progressive civil society devoid of external interference bent to work against it.

With Americans in the chair, there is no doubt that 2012 will be very eventful but we can be confident that Minister Mpofu, armed with his earned doctorate, will be ready for the battle.