Zimbabwean authorities "institutionalised trade in blood diamonds"

The Mozambican town of Vila de Manica is thriving thanks to the trade in illegal Zimbabwean diamonds.

Taxis waiting at the busy border crossing between Zimbabwe and Mozambique are not meant for ordinary passengers. Their burly drivers try to tempt anyone who sets foot on Mozambique’s territory to drive with them to the town of Vila de Manica, some 20 kilometres away. "Free of charge, of course," said one of the drivers on a recent Saturday morning. "That is, if you have brought something for us," he added, leaning on the hood of his Toyota Corolla, held together by pieces of tape.

“Something” referred to uncut rough diamonds. Anyone who has smuggled those across the border can get a free ride to traders in Manica. The fare will be paid by the Indians, West Africans and, especially, Lebanese who have set up shop there. Seven days a week, mainly in the early morning hours, they sit in front of their villas, waiting for trade, the driver explained. "I'll take you to Jesus," he said as he got behind the wheel and let the engine roar.

Area sealed

Signs from buyers looking for "gemstones" soon appeared next to the Beira-bound highway. The driver made a right turn onto a bumpy dirt road that led to a huge, but empty, swimming pool surrounded by the merchants' villas.

"Jesus, that's me," said a smiling, elderly man with an impressive scar on his forehead. "I got that nickname because I pay so well." Jesus said he was a Lebanese, but declined to give his real name. He became somewhat less friendly when he understood the reason for the visit. "Why would you write about diamonds," he grumbled. "There is no bigger lie than that of diamonds. We can't live without oil or water, but diamonds are not good for anything. So what are we even talking about?"

We are talking about the transformation of a sleepy Mozambican town that is thriving thanks to the trade in illegal diamonds from neighbouring Zimbabwe. The stones come from the Marange diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe. In 2006, the government cancelled the lease of the British-Zimbabwean owned African Consolidated Resources company, the initial operator of the 26-square-kilometre large diamond fields. Thousands of Zimbabweans soon flocked to the east to try their luck. But in 2008, soon after president Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai sealed a political deal, the army and police took control of Marange. They randomly shot diamond panners. At least 300 were killed, according to a report by the New York based lobby group Human Rights Watch. The area has been sealed ever since.

Driving from Mutare to Marange has been made impossible by army and police roadblocks. According to human-rights activist Farai Maguwu, the armed forces and the senior politicians have taken control of the diamond business. "They have institutionalised the illegal trade," he said.

Everyone is involved

Maguwu was a teacher before he started investigating the cross-border diamond trade between Zimbabwe and Mozambique. In his sparsely furnished office in Mutare, he explained that practically every soldier in the area was in some way involved in the diamond industry. "And this is still accompanied by massive human rights violations," he said.

The Zimbabwean government has granted concessions to two South African companies to help state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation exploit the fields. The companies have little mining experience. The Reclamation Group from Johannesburg became big in the trade of scrap metal and is now involved in the Zimbabwean diamond trade through an offshore firm in Mauritius. The new partners are "old friends" of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, said Maguwu. " Syndicates operate with the involvement of all authorities, on both the Zimbabwean and the Mozambican side. The police, border guards, tax officers; everyone is paid 100 US dollars and they are all happy."

Maguwu calls the Marange stones ‘blood diamonds’, because the local population is being put to work to mine them. "Forced labour," he said. The diamonds are taken through the mountains or just across the border crossing to buyers such as Jesus.

'Spoiling it again'

Vila de Manica is booming. Restaurants and bars are doing good business, virtually everything is for sale on its market and the population has at least tripled. Housekeepers, prostitutes and guards who speak English are in particularly high demand. Just like the diamonds, most workers are from Zimbabwe rather than Portuguese-speaking Mozambique.

After Jesus had finished raging about "the lie of the diamond", some pride shone through. He was born and raised in Sierra Leone, he said. He worked in the West African diamond business until journalists and aid organisations started calling his wares 'blood diamonds'. The revenues were said to support rebel movements. Jesus was shattered by the allegations. "These poor Africans and I are trying to make a living," he said. "And diamonds happen to be what I know best."

From Sierra Leone he moved to the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, and then to Mozambique in 2008. He loves it here, but is not sure how much longer he will stay. "International media and these so-called human rights activists are spoiling it again. Now that president Mugabe knows that we are bringing his diamonds to the world markets, he has taken charge and there is less left for us."

Trading is less lucrative, one of his neighbours concurred. This 22-year-old fellow Lebanese was working out on a fitness machine in his dark living room. "In the beginning, the Zimbabwean boys would offer us coffee cups full of stones," he said. "And they were happy if we gave them a meal, a pair of jeans or a bag of flour in return. These days, they know exactly what their trade is worth and won't settle for anything less than stacks of dollar bills. It is not as much fun as it used to be, I must say." The man refused to give his name or any information on the value of the diamonds he traded. Soon his guard made it clear the interview was over and threatened to call the local police.

Nobody can identify them

Jesus had already mentioned he considered the local authorities his best friends. "They know what we have done to develop this town. When the market burned down, we gave the mayor 50,000 dollars to rebuild it."

Vila de Manica is just a stop on the way out of Africa for the rough diamonds. The traders said they ship them abroad from the airstrip in Chimoio or the port of Beira. According to Human Rights Watch, the stones are then taken to Dubai, India and Lebanon. Jesus and the others boasted that they brought the stones straight to Antwerp. "Forget Lebanon," Jesus said. "Diamonds are sold in Antwerp and nowhere else."

Once they are cut, "nobody can identify where they came from," said Andrew Cranswick of the British-Zimbabwean African Consolidated Resources, the company that is desperately trying to regain the rights to the Marange diamond fields through several legal procedures. The country could be the world's second or third diamond producer, said Cranswick. A clean, regulated industry could yield billions for the empty treasury, but now very few profit from it.