“Blood diamonds” still on sale

On August the 11th , a great amount of blood diamonds were sold at an auction sale in Zimbabwe. The president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, carried on the sale which had been allowed by the relevant authorities, due to the progress made on the matter of human rights in the mines of Marange, as declared by the ministry of Mines of the country. “These are very good news for the country”, declared the mines minister Obert Mpofu. In Zimbabwe, the extracting of diamonds was stopped in November due to the Kimberley Process (an international system of authentication aiming at the reduction of diamond trade funding conflicts or armed groups). The Kimberley Process decided to postpone the extracting of diamond in Zimbabwe due to serious violations of human rights in the Marange mines. The situation seemed to improve and Zimbabwe was allowed to carry on with two international sales from August, although still under severe supervision. Human rights organizations declare that the area of Marange from where diamonds are extracted is still under the control of the army. Furthermore, the military has killed over 200 persons, perpetuated rapes and forced minors to work under the menace of death. The auction takes place in the country’s capital, Harare, where buyers have gathered in great numbers. It is estimated that Zimbabwe’s profit from this sale will be of over 2 million dollars, a huge amount of money for the problematic economy of the country, almost a third of its deficit. President Mugabe promised that “selling these diamonds will be profitable for the whole country, not just for some particular persons”.