In 2005, in Marange, Zibabwe African Consolidated Resources (ACR) discovered an undeveloped field in the Marange region with great promise that led to a diamond rush with 20,000 people, who were living with high-employment and poor living standards, to leave their families behind in hopes of getting rich and head for these fields (16 Vircoulon). This led to an unorganized free for all where illegal diamond smuggling eventually became the norm in the region.
In October, 2008, Robert Mugabe, current President of Zimbabwe, nationalized the privately owned mine using a military operation named Hakudzokwi Kamunda, meaning ‘you won’t come back’. Mugabe used military helicopters and ground soldiers to move all the ‘illegal’ miners out of the fields. They fired on unarmed, innocent people and in just 3 weeks they had killed over 200 people (17 Swain).
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In an article written for the London Times, Jon Swain described a horrific story, “The police caught a girl who had been selling cigarettes to the panners. Wanting to make an example of people who were helping out, they put her in a circle and set their dogs on her. She was torn to pieces in front of her parents, who were left to bury her remains.” Since taking over, the Marange fields are still under military control and the miners work in inhumane conditions.
Mugabe has even built an airstrip at the mine and many believe that its purpose is to smuggle arms in or illegal diamonds out making it more difficult for the KP to monitor. As Andrew Cranswick, the CEO of ACR, noted, “It must be for dubious purposes. After all, the world’s entire production of diamonds in a single day can be carried in one helicopter” (17 Swain). By definition, the rough diamonds mined in Marange are not conflict stones and are legally traded within the KPCS system which exemplifies why the definition is too narrow.
(9) i.telegraph.co.uk
