Army, Police ‘Vacate Zimbabwe Diamond Fields’

Zimbabwean security forces have started withdrawing from the country’s eastern diamond fields to meet Kimberley Process reforms over human rights abuses, the government said Thursday.
Mines Minister Obert Mpofu said Zimbabwe had complied with more than 90 percent of the requirements set by the global watchdog Kimberley Process, which monitors trade in conflict diamonds.
“We have done a lot since the last review by the (Kimberley Process) as part of our efforts to comply with their recommendations as well as towards achieving and fulfilling compliance,” the state-run Herald quoted Mpofu as saying.
“As is evident at these fields, there are no army officers or police” units, he said during a government tour on Wednesday.
Early this month, Zimbabwe escaped a Kimberley ban despite calls for the country to be suspended and the scheme’s own citation of “unacceptable and horrific violence against civilians by authorities” in the eastern Marange diamond fields.
The global scheme gave Zimbabwe a June 2010 deadline to make reforms to comply with global regulations, rejecting a recommendation by its own investigators made four months ago that Harare face a six-month suspension.
The withdrawal of the army and police comes as the government has licensed two South African firms to operate in Marange.
A representative for the investors said 200 private security guards had replaced the security officials.
“We are taking control of all areas that we have claimed but still working with state security agents in areas where we are still exploring. But they will move as soon as we have secured those areas,” Dave Kassel was quoted as saying in the Herald.