"Blood diamonds" inspection team returns to Zimbabwe next week

Jun 26, 2009, 14:39 GMT

Windhoek - An international team of inspectors will return to Zimbabwe next week to continue their investigation into the trade of diamonds mined in the eastern Marange area, the Kimberley Process announced Friday in Namibia.

The United Nations-founded Kimberley Process is a body that monitors international trade in diamonds, to try to root out so- called conflict or blood diamonds.

Blood diamonds are diamonds, which are used to bankroll conflicts.

The June 29 - July 3 inspection, which follows a first fact-finding mission to the Marange diamond fields in March, comes amid mounting pressure on the Kimberley Process to get tough with Zimbabwe over alleged human rights abuses by the military.

Between 2006 and 2008, thousands of wildcat diamond prospectors poured into Marange, located about 100 kilometres from the city of Mutare, following the discovery of alluvial diamonds.

In October 2008, the government of President Robert Mugabe launched a joint army and air force offensive to try to flush out the miners.

In a report released Friday, international rights watchdog Human Rights Watch alleged the security forces had killed over 200 people in the three-week crackdown and ordered some of the bodies to be buried in mass graves.

The area is still under control of the Mugabe-loyal military, whose members are lining their own pockets with the gems, according to HRW and by the admission of a Zimbabwean government minister.

HRW is calling for the diamonds to be labelled conflict diamonds but Zimbabwe's government has said the absence of an armed conflict means they are not 'blood diamonds.'

Speaking after a three-day meeting of the body in Namibia this week, a spokeswoman for the Kimberley Process said the KP had 'taken note' of the Human Rights Watch report.