Tsuen Wan International: $160 million in Zimbabwean dollars released for sale.

July 8, 2011 - PRLog -- Tsuen Wan International has learned from the Zimbabwean minister for mines that rough diamonds worth close to $160 million dollars, previously confiscated as blood diamonds in the United Arab Emirates, have now been released onto the international market for sale.

The move has raised concerns that the Kimberley Process, --the international group formed to clamp down on trade in diamonds used to fund conflicts—may be on the verge of collapse.

“We still have hurdles to jump before it is a smooth sailing. We notice that it has not sunk (in) to America that it lost its efforts to have our diamonds off the world market,” the Zimbabwean Mines Minister Obert Mpofu told Tsuen Wan International.

The diamonds were mined from the Marange fields, but confiscated in November in Dubai. The minister went on to say that the Kimberley Process lifted the trade embargo at a recent meeting in Kinshasa supported by a number of African countries, in spite of objections from the United States, European Union, Israel and Canada.

Diamond exports from Marange have been suspended since June 2009 as a result of alleged police and military atrocities in the fields, including killings, beatings, forced labour and smuggling. Zimbabwe promised a phased withdrawal of armed forces from the sites and agreed to allow an independent monitor to examine and certify all diamond shipments from Marange.

Human rights organizations however say that Zimbabwe has failed to comply with Kimberly Process rules and allege that the human rights abuses are ongoing.

The US State Department recently announced that contrary to some reports, there was no consensus reached at the Kinshasa meeting. The Department was referring to a press release by Kimberly Process chairman Mathieu Yamba that the group had in fact unanimously agreed to lift Zimbabwe's diamond trade ban.

“We believe that work toward a solution must continue, and that until consensus is reached, exports from Marange should not proceed,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland informed Tsuen Wan International.
The Marange diamonds are now believed to be in India.

“Miners, retailers, and consumers have relied on the Kimberley Process to stop blood diamonds from being sold, but, with Chairman Yamba's decision, the KP has betrayed their trust,” human rights director at Human Rights Watch, Arvind Ganesan told Tsuen Wan International.

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