WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2010-09-14 Time: 21:00:03 Posted By: News Poster
Zimbabwe held a secret auction of diamonds from its Marange fields, where the army has been accused of forced labour and torture, an official said Tuesday.
“Yes, the sales were carried out this weekend,” Secretary for Mines Thankful Musukutwa told AFP, without giving further details.
The auction on Saturday and Sunday was supervised by Abbey Chikane, the monitor from the international Kimberley Process watchdog, another official said on condition of anonymity.
Kimberley Process is charged with preventing the sale of “blood diamonds” used to fuel armed conflicts.
In November the regulator banned sale of the gems from Marange after its investigators found soldiers had beaten nearby residents and forced them to mine the stones.
The weekend sale was the second and last auction authorised by Kimberley until its investigators certify that the military has ended rights abuses in the fields near the Mozambican border.
“We will not be releasing the quantity or amount that was generated because these were private sales by private companies,” Musukutwa said.
“No other country in the world releases their sales figures or quantities. When it comes to the issues of diamonds we must be careful as a country because of the sensitivity of the issues associated with them.”
Zimbabwe says the military no longer runs the fields and has contracted operations at Marange to two little-known South African firms, Mbada Diamonds and Canadile Miners. A third company linked to a Chinese firm has also been allowed to operate there.
The first Kimberley-backed sale generated about 30 million US dollars, according to government figures.
Canadile miners, has begun constructing a multi-million dollar cutting and polishing centre in the country.
Representatives from the companies operating from Marange refused to comment.
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Original date published: 14 September 2010
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201009141169.html?viewall=1