Thursday, August 11, 2011

Zimbabwe running torture camps in diamond fields: report (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? Zimbabwe's military and police are running torture camps in diamond mining areas, the BBC said on Monday, in a report that could have implications for moves to ease restrictions on the region's diamond trade.

The BBC said it had heard first-hand accounts of prisoners being beaten, raped and savaged by dogs in and around Zimbabwe's Marange diamond fields. The prisoners were miners who had demanded too much pay or had mined independently.

"The most recent victim we had was from February ... It's still open and operating," BBC reporter Hilary Andersson told Reuters.

Accounts of the prisoner abuse are due to be broadcast later Monday in the BBC's Panorama TV program.

The BBC said it had put evidence of the torture camps to Zimbabwe's government, and that while it acknowledged receipt, it did not respond.

The European Union is looking at ways to allow some of Marange's diamonds onto the world market under the Kimberley Process, a scheme that certifies that revenues from diamond sales will not fund conflicts, the BBC said.

The main torture camp is near a mine that the EU is considering approving exports from, run by a personal friend of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, the BBC said.

"We pressed for Zimbabwe to adhere to the principles of the Kimberley Process. Two Marange mines currently meet these standards; it is only from these locations that we support exports," said British Africa Minister Henry Bellingham.

"From all other Marange mines, the UK and the EU continue to strongly oppose the resumption of exports until independent, international experts deem them to comply," he added.

Sales restrictions on Marange diamonds were imposed in 2009 after reports of killings and abuses in Zimbabwean diamond fields in 2008.

(Reporting by Mohammed Abbas; Editing by David Stamp)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110808/wl_nm/us_hold_zimbabwe_diamonds_report

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