The Collapse of the Kimberley Process Appears Imminent

A Kimberley Process certificate, which ensures that diamonds are conflict-free. Photo credit: De Beers

The Kimberley Process, which has been in a stalemate during the past two years over whether to allow Zimbabwe to sell diamonds from its controversial Marange diamond field, now appears to be breaking apart, according to published reports.

The civil society coalition, one of the three pillars

WFDB and Local Zimbabwe Group at Odds Over Diamond Sales

The Marange diamond fields.

Two organizations are sending different messages on whether Zimbabwe should sell diamonds from its controversial Marange diamond fields, where human rights abuses and smuggling have happened in the past and are alleged to be continuing, according to reports from Zimbabwe newspapers. 
The World Federation of Diamond Bourses is urging the Kimberley Process

Kimberley Process Moves Closer to Approving Diamond Exports from Marange

It appears that the Kimberley Process is one step closer to allowing Zimbabwe to sell diamonds through its certification scheme from the controversial Marange field in Zimbabwe. Not because diamonds from what is considered to be the largest deposit of diamonds in the world are conflict-free, but because the body made up of diamond industry representatives, government officials from 75 countries

Kimberley Process Member Challenges Zimbabwe Official Claims

A Kimberley Process member has challenged claims by Zimbabwean Deputy Mines Minister Gift Chimanikire that the watchdog group authorized Zimbabwe to hold sales from the controversial Marange diamond mines in 2011, according to the Voice of America.In published comments, Chimanikire says that the KP will allow diamonds from the mine, which has been the source of alleged widespread human rights

Zimbabwe Minister Confirms KP Diamond Sales Approval

Gift Chimanikire, Zimbabwe deputy minister of Mines and Minerals Development, has reaffirmed that the Southern African country has received Kimberley Process approval to hold two diamond sales, according to The Zimbabwe Guardian and other media outlets. Chimanikire (pictured) responded to media reports from diamond industry media outlets quoting an unnamed Democratic Republic of Congo

Report: Kimberley Process Approves Marange Diamond Sales

Photo by Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi, AP
 
The Kimberley Process, the organization charged with preventing trade in illicit diamonds, has reportedly approved supervised sales of diamonds from the highly controversial Marange diamond fields in Zimbabwe.

Gift Chimanikire, Zimbabwe Mines and Mining development deputy minister, said that the KP recently wrote to the Zimbabwe government, confirming that