Windhoek - Zimbabwe does not trade in "blood diamonds" and the country is committed to the implementation of the so-called Kimberley Process, a Zimbabwean minister told a conference in Namibia on Wednesday. The meeting of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), in Windhoek takes place as pressure mounts on the body to effectively act on its mission to combat the trade.
The KP, which was implemented in 2003, requires diamond-producing countries to have controls in place certifying shipments of rough diamonds as "conflict-free."
"Zimbabwean diamonds are not blood diamonds," Zimbabwe's deputy minister of mines, M.Zwizwai, told the meeting of 49 member countries.
"Conflict damonds are diamonds used by rebel movements or their allies to finance conflict aimed at undermining legitimate governments," he said. "There is no armed conflict in Zimbabwe."
Criticism had been levelled at the KPCS over Zimbabwe's Marange diamonds area, where around 30,000 people descended on the area last year in rush to mine for diamonds.
A consequent special government operation to "flush out the illegal diamond miners to bring order and sanity in the area," the minister said.
Other reports said the government conducted a brutal crackdown, in which several people were reportedly killed.
Zwizwai said his government was "committed" to the successful implementation of Kimberley Process in his country, adding this was evidenced by the fact that "given the challenges we faces as a country we did not fall into the temptation of digging and wholesaling the Marange diamonds as a government to get us out of our quagmire."
He further said his government was open to the Kimberley Review Mission's advice and technical support. A Review Mission is to visit Zimbabwe following the Windhoek meeting, which ends on Thursday.
Civil society organizations have raised questions about the Kimberley Review' process' ability to deal with the smuggling of diamonds in countries like Brazil, Ivory Coast, Venezuela, Zimbabwe and Guinea.
"The clock is running out on the Kimberley Process credibility ... it would be scandalous if uncooperative governments succeeded in hobbling it into ineffectiveness," Global Witness, a London-based organization that monitors how countries use their natural resources, said in a statement.
Namibia currently chairs the KPCS, which has 49 members representing 75 countries.
