It is now clear that the Kimberley Process (KP) has once again failed to unlock the grid-lock on Marange, a move that would likely throw the diamond watchdog in further turmoil.
Already cracks are widening in the troubled organisation that ironically seeks to bring sanity in the trading of diamonds.
The just ended KP intercession meeting held in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), like previous and countless KP meetings, sought to pave the way for Zimbabwe to start exporting Marange diamonds, which were suspended in 2009 over allegations of human rights abuse and smuggling.
Although the meeting was marked by drama, political mudslinging, and walkouts, the media (that takes official statements hook, line and sinker) were meant to believe that Zimbabwe had been finally allowed to resume exports from Marange.
KP chairman Mathieu Yamba’s so-called administrative notice that was released at the end of the meeting noted that the trade body had “with immediate effect” approved the sale of rough stones from the Marange field by Mbada Diamonds and Marange Resources - formerly Canadile Miners.
His text also provided for the quick certification of other companies operating in Marange.
Zimbabwe Mines Minister Obert Mpofu was quick to open champagne bottles.
"We have made a breakthrough. The KP Intercessional meeting has endorsed exports of production from compliant mining operations of Marange and Mbada with immediate effect without supervision," the Herald quoted Mpofu as saying.
The daily also went on to report that the development was a “kick in the face for the United States and other Western countries that sought to have the sale of Zimbabwe's diamonds banned on the pretext that they were ‘bloody’ diamonds”.
However, the US State Department deputy assistant secretary for human rights and labour Daniel Baer poured cold water on the wild celebrations that had erupted in Harare.
"It was not a consensus (decision), we've made that clear privately. We're looking for a way that Zimbabwean people can benefit from their natural resources and we can maintain the credibility of the Kimberley Process," he was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Representatives from civil society groups, including the Partnership Africa Canada that walked out of the meeting before the final statement, said the values of the organisation were being undermined.
The US’ Embassy in Harare also issued a statement saying that it believed progress with respect to exports from Marange could occur solely through a mechanism agreed to by consensus among KP participants.
“We believe that work toward a solution must continue, and that until consensus is reached, exports from Marange should not proceed,” a US spokesperson Victoria Nuland said.
“We remain ready to work with the Kimberley Process chair and others to find a solution. The Kimberley Process works best when producers and consumers are collaborating and when civil society is an active participant.”
She said despite the continued challenges surrounding Marange, the US welcomed collaborative efforts toward effective diamond sector governance demonstrated during the intercessional by a number of diamond-producing countries, such as the Central African Republic, Ghana, Guinea and Liberia.
Canada’s Foreign Affairs minister John Baird also noted that contrary to the chair’s notice, key concerns were not addressed and his country did not endorse the proposal he submitted.
“The notice was issued in contravention of rules and procedures of the Kimberley Process. We are advising the Canadian diamond industry against trade in Marange diamonds,” he said.
Baird said Canada continued to call for supervised exports from two Marange mines and a credible monitoring arrangement.
“Without these systems in place, Canada refuses to go along with the plan to certify Zimbabwe’s diamonds,” he Baird.
“All diamond-producing countries stand to lose if the Kimberley Process is rendered ineffective. Canada will continue to work to address the fundamental weaknesses of the Kimberley Process and find a credible solution that is satisfactory to all stakeholders.”
Israel’s, diamond controller Shmuel Mordechai has also said that his country would not allow imports of rough diamonds from Zimbabwe.
"Rough stones that arrive from countries who have declared that they will take shipments from Zimbabwe, like India and China, will be opened and examined," Mordechai was quoted as saying by Israelidiamond.
So judging with what Morderchai said, it was not all KP members that were opposed to the resumption of Marange diamond exports.
One would not be surprised with the position taken by China as it had mining interests in Marange.
Although India was said to be sitting on the fence regarding the endorsement of Marange diamonds, the country had openly shown an unbridled appetite for the gems to prop-up its burgeoning Surat industry.
Several African countries were also in support of the lifting of the ban on Marange gems with South Africa having indicated recently that it would start taking the Zimbabwean parcels.
KP members opposed to the resumption of Marange exports argued that there was need to reach a consensus before the country was given a green-light to trade its gems, but the question was: When will this be achieved?
How many meetings did KP convene that failed to reach a consensus on Marange?
World Diamond Council president Eli Izhakoff said the week they met in Kinshasa was one of the most difficult periods in the history of the diamond watchdog.
“The difficulty is not so much rooted in procedure and practice . . . but more in the sense of common purpose, which from the very beginning was the glue which held the KP together. It is this which is in danger of being corroded, and, if that happens, all that we have built over the past 11 years could fall apart,” he said.
One could have not put it better than Izhakoff did.
The organisation had indeed grown from the way it was at the beginning and the problem child (reads Zimbabwe) at the centre of this unending hullabaloo had been in a diplomatic tiff for the past decade with the countries opposed to the resumption of trade in Marange diamonds.
Zimbabwe’s Mines minister was convinced that the West was using KP to frustrate its endeavor to end the country’s economic woes through diamond sales.
“The failure in the past to garner consensus has not been precipitated by the absence of the ingredients to achieve consensus, but by shear bad faith, lack of goodwill and the over adherence to hostile foreign policies on Zimbabwe,” he told the Kinshasa meeting.
“This has obviously shifted the debate on Zimbabwe from whether or not there has been compliance with the minimum requirements of the KP, to a political platform where the KPCS rules cannot be applied and as a consequence the rules of the KPCS have been extensively violated in massaging political interests and objectives in the name of securing a consensus.”
Whatever reason that was making it difficult for KP to reach a consensus on Zimbabwe, it appeared to be deep-seated.
However, it was not doing the organization any favour, as the chasm created as a result of its failure to resolve the Zimbabwean saga, was proving to widen whenever a meeting was convened.
Perhaps it’s high time KP revealed the way it makes decisions.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Rough&Polished
