Zimbabwe to resume diamond sales despite world control body deadlock on rights abuses

Official: Zimbabwe to resume diamond sales

HARARE, Zimbabwe — The mining minister says Zimbabwe will go ahead and sell its controversy-plagued diamonds without approval from the world diamond control body.

Obert Mpofu says Zimbabwe is preparing a working plan with the state Minerals Marketing Corp. to release diamonds from eastern Zimbabwe onto the world market, lifting a three-month ban.

The Kimberly Process, regulator of world diamond sales, ended a meeting June 24 in Israel in deadlock over allegations of corruption, killings and human rights violations in Zimbabwe’s eastern Marange diamond fields, said to be potentially one of the world’s largest deposits.

Mpofu said Wednesday the world body’s regional diamond monitor reported Zimbabwe met the organization’s “minimum requirements” for diamond mining and “so now everything is in place to resume the sales.”