Zimbabwe to export blood diamonds with Kimberly process approval or not. The Kimberley Process caves in!

ZIMBABWE has been given the greenlight by the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) to trade diamonds from Marange region days after President Mugabe announced that the country will trade with or without that approval.

The issue of exports from Marange, had divided the Kimberley community and the KPCS would have been rendered meaningless by the voluntary ‘withdrawal’ of Zimbabwe. Heterogeneity is a core and fundamental aspect of the Kimberley Process.

Four western countries of the KPCS (United States, Canada, Australia, the European Union) bowed under pressure from 71 members of KPCS, who supported Zimbabwe’s approval after diamond monitor Abbey Chikane produced a report saying the country had satisfied minimum requirements required for approval.

The news was announced today (Thursday) at the 7th Annual Meeting of the World Diamond Council in St. Petersburg, Russia

“I want to assure everyone that Zimbabwe means business,” said mining minister Obert Mpofu from the Russian city.

“We will adhere, we will comply. We will not let you down.”

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Last Sunday on Extreme Makeover Home Edition Ty, Johnny, Ed and Paige visit the Suggs family in South Carolina. Celebrity guest and 4 time Nascar champion Jeff Gordon steps in to help with the build. But, before that all starts the “Big Show” and some of his friends from the WWE show up for the demolition.

The Suggs family story is inspiring and heart felt. If you missed it you can watch the full episode at ABC. com. Read More »

Naomi Campbell to testify at Charles Taylor ‘blood diamond’ trial

British supermodel Naomi Campbell agreed on Friday to give evidence at a trial in The Hague over a “blood diamond” which prosecutors say former Liberian president Charles Taylor gave her.

Prosecutors at the Special Court for Sierra Leone have said that Campbell could provide material evidence to rebut Taylor’s claims that he never possessed rough diamonds. She has been ordered to appear in court on the morning of July 29. They accuse Taylor of taking diamonds to South Africa to buy weapons, which he denies.

In January, they said that during a visit to South Africa in 1997 Taylor gave Campbell a large rough cut diamond after a dinner hosted by Nelson Mandela. “Naomi Campbell has confirmed she will attend the Charles Taylor trial at The Hague as per the court’s request,” her spokeswoman said.

“She is a witness who has been asked to help clarify events in 1997. Miss Campbell has made it clear that she is willing to help the due process of law.

“For avoidance of doubt she is not being accused of any wrong doing and is not on trial.”

On trial in The Hague, Taylor denies all 11 charges of instigating murder, rape, mutilation, sexual slavery and conscription of child soldiers during wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone in which more than 250,000 people were killed.

Besides Campbell, prosecutors have also been granted the right to call testimony from modelling agent Carole White and U.S. actress Mia Farrow. Both women are prepared to give testimony voluntarily, prosecutors have said.

They say White heard Taylor say he was going to give Campbell some diamonds and was there when Campbell received them, while Farrow attended the reception where Campbell met Taylor and was told by Campbell about the gift the next morning.

“No end in site to the flow of blood diamonds” The Sunday Morning Herald. 6/26/2010 The “Kimberley Process” – It’s like asking a rabbi to give a kosher stamp to a ham sandwich. It gives diamond traders legal cover, but ethically these diamonds are tainted with blood.”

Zimbabwe plans to begin selling diamond stockpiles from its Marange fields immediately, whether this week’s meeting of regulators of the trade gives the go ahead or not, the country’s mining minister, Reuters reported.

Civil society groups have urged the Kimberley Process (KP) certification scheme to suspend ties with Zimbabwe because of human rights abuses in its Marange fields, the report said.

“I would like to take this opportunity to advise that Zimbabwe will be immediately exporting its diamond stockpiles because we are KP compliant and we need the money to drive the economy forward,” Minister of Mines and Mining Development Obert Moses Mpofu told a meeting on Wednesday of some 70 members of the Kimberley Process.

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Zimbabwe’s Zanu PF political and military elite are seeking to capture the country’s diamond wealth through a combination of state-sponsored violence and the legally questionable introduction of opaque joint-venture companies, a new report from Global Witness reveals today.

Return of the Blood Diamond criticises the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, set up to end the trade in conflict diamonds, for repeatedly failing to react effectively to the crisis in Zimbabwe. Partnership Africa Canada also released a report today, examining the political economy of the diamond industry in Zimbabwe. The Kimberley Process meets in Israel next week.

“Over the past three years, the national army has visited appalling abuses on civilians in Marange’s diamond fields. Nobody has been held to account for these crimes, and now it turns out that the joint venture companies nominally brought in to improve conditions are directly linked to the Zanu PF and military elite. Thanks to the impunity and violence in Zimbabwe, blood diamonds are back on the international market,” said Elly Harrowell, Global Witness campaigner.

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The Greener Diamonds 2010 Sierra Leone project is moving forward. We just received word from Kimmie Weeks, founder and CEO of Youth Action International, that things are going very well and excitement is in the air.

Here’s what’s happened so far:

1. New land has been secured for the project. The communities have been so impressed by the potential of the project that they’ve given us vast chunks of prime agriculture land.
2. Our staff have started empowerment summits and training for hundreds of young men and women in the communities to prepare them for the project Read More »