Diamonds should benefit ordinary citizens

Zimbabwe’s alluvial diamonds from the Marange mining fields continue to hog the limelight worldwide, albeit for the wrong reasons.

Since the Kimberly Process (KP) meeting in Kinshasa last week, there has been mixed reactions to the statement by the KP chair that Zimbabwe should be allowed to sell its diamonds.

What is, however, worrying is the fact that there has been no consensus among the players in the KP, with Zimbabwe’s critics Canada and United States of America arguing the diamonds could not be readily traded on the international market until Zimbabwe fulfils certain obligations.

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