Zimbabwe plans Antwerp diamond sale

By Thomas Biesheuvel

Diamonds from Zimbabwe’s Marange fields will be sold in Antwerp after the European Union lifted sanctions even as human rights groups have said abuses have been committed at the mines and revenue has financed President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party.

While a date has yet to be confirmed, the sale may take place before Dec. 20 or alternatively in January, according to the Antwerp World Diamond Centre. It will be for at least 500,000 carats, a spokeswoman for the AWDC who asked not to be identified in line with the group’s policy.

Zimbabwe’s Daily News newspaper reported the sale will start today and will raise $37 million, citing Mines Secretary Francis Gudyanga. The AWDC said it won’t start this week.

The EU on Sept. 24 ended sanctions against the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corp., which operates five mining companies as equally owned ventures in the eastern district of Marange. Advocacy groups including Ontario-based Partnership Africa Canada have accused Zimbabwe’s ruling party of taking about $2 billion from the Marange fields.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said in 2009 that more than 200 illegal workers were killed in Marange as they were being driven off the site by the military. Some were shot from a helicopter, the group said, citing an unidentified eyewitness.

The government denied the allegations.

Lifting sanctions is expected to boost Zimbabwe’s tax revenue by $400 million a year, according to the EU.

Missing Money

Zimbabwe may mine 16.9 million carats this year, according to Mines Ministry estimates. Last year, the country produced 8 million carats, generating $685 million of revenue, according to the government.

A Zimbabwe parliamentary committee said in June that tens of millions of dollars of diamond revenue from Marange, which it estimated could supply a quarter of world demand, paid to the government never found its way to the Treasury. Three of the four companies it interviewed refused to disclose the payments they made. Edward Chindori-Chininga, chairman of the committee, died in a car crash a week after the report was released.

Mugabe was reelected, extending his 33 years in power, in July. Bloomberg