NEW YORK, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- The Kimberly Process that monitors conflict diamonds does little to assure diamonds from Zimbabwe are free from violations, a gems group announced.
The Kimberley Process, the group regulating international trade in conflict diamonds, agreed to let Zimbabwe resume limited export of the stones last month.
The agreement came after Zimbabwe freed an activist arrested in June for giving investigators false information on conditions in the country's diamond fields. The deal allows Zimbabwe to sell some of the stones from the Marange fields.
The Zimbabwean army seized the Marange fields in 2008, and some reports have said Marange diamonds are funding the Zanu-PF Party headed by President Robert Mugabe. Mugabe threatened in February to leave the Kimberley Process, but Obert Mpofu, the minister of mines, said Zimbabwe is "ready and willing" to work with the organization.
The Rapaport Group, an international diamond consortium, said the Kimberly Process was not enough to provide guarantees for diamonds coming out of Zimbabwe.
"It should be clear that the Kimberley Process does not have a mandate to deny its certification for diamonds involved in human rights violations and therefore there is no assurance that diamonds with KP certification are free of human rights violations," the group said in a statement.
The group made similar complaints in 2009. Diamond trade from Zimbabwe was suspended in November when military officials were accused of committing atrocities at Marange in 2008.
