Zimbabwean blood diamonds continue to hit the headlines as it has come to light via a leaked memo that a government subsidiary company is offering to sell $200 million worth of the controversial diamonds to an unknown buyer.
Human rights groups are asking banks across the world to sever ties with financial institutions in Zimbabwe as they may be helping the trading of these blood diamonds. Human Rights Watch and Partnership Africa Canada want to stop the facilitation of illegal diamond sales from the Marange alluvial field located in the east of Zimbabwe.
There are allegations that the miners are mistreated at the government run mine in Marange along with continuous abuse of human rights. The Kimberly process approval for the diamonds from the mine has not been forthcoming for this reason. This makes it difficult for Zimbabwe to sell the controversial diamonds legally.
Tiseke Kasambala, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch said that shooting defenseless miners and unleashing dogs against them was inhuman, degrading and barbaric .The diamonds from the Marange fields were tainted with abuse.
The memo which was leaked came from the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe, which is a state run agency. It offered to sell more than $200 million worth of Marange diamonds in March 2011 accepting payment through three Zimbabwean Banks.
Partnership Africa Canada Research Director Alan Martin said that this showed that Zimbabwe was wilfully in breach of the ban on Marange diamonds. He added that foreign banks with ties to these three Zimbabwean Banks, namely Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe, BancABC and Premier Banking Corporation, were exposing themselves to reputational harm.