Zimbabwe's Mugabe accuses De Beers of looting gems from Chiadzwa area
March 14, 2010
In the latest twist regarding Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe has reportedly accused De Beers of looting gems from the disputed Chiadzwa mining fields during a period of 15 years without declaring the proceeds to state authorities.
Mugabe said De Beers and other multinationals removed diamonds from the Marange diamond area while "pretending to be carrying out exploration work," according to a report in the state-run Herald newspaper.
"When the government finally realized this and tried to arrest them, that's when they hurriedly pulled out and claimed the diamonds were not of commercial value," said Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba. "It is not a secret that alluvial diamonds are mined at the surface. It is not like a kimberlite. Why should it take 15 years for such an experienced company to conclude that our diamonds are of no value to them.
"But we cannot not take the issue further because we cannot establish how much of the diamonds have been taken. But the most important thing now is that we now have our mines back," Charamba told the newspaper.
However, De Beers' Director of International Relations said Mugabe's accusations were "ridiculous." "We were in the Marange fields from 1993 to 2006," Andrew Bone told Business Week. "We only did core sampling.
"The deposits we found there did not fit into our portfolio. There were also disputes regarding the allocation of a second concession to another mining company, African Consolidated Resources (ACR). That's why we pulled out. But the bottom line is that there are ridiculous allegations and there is no evidence of De Beers mining diamonds in that area."
The discovery of alluvial diamonds in 2006 in the Chiadzwa fields in the eastern part of the country led to a rush in which thousands of impoverished Zimbabweans moved to the region and started mining the stones illegally.
There have been many reports of human rights violations by Zimbabwean security forces sent to guard the fields after the British firm ACR left.
Although human rights organisations have repeatedly called for a ban on Zimbabwean diamonds, the Kimberley Process instead gave the country a June 2010 deadline to carry out a range of reforms.
