Zimbabwe Diamonds and Indian Troubles in 2011
It was just this past summer that India’s Surat Rough Diamond Sourcing India Limited (SRDSIL) was formed last summer and within months they has struck a deal with Zimbabwe to source their diamonds directly from the controversial Marange mines.
At the time, both sides saw the deal as smart and profitable. In fact, more than 1,500 Indian diamondtaries came together to create SRDSIL, a consortium which was meant to facilitate direct rough diamond sourcing and they were all behind the Zimbabwe rough diamond contract
When the SRDSIL and the Zimbabwe government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in October, SRDSIL thought they signed on for a regular supply of rough diamonds worth $1.2 billion a year in exchange for offering diamond manufacturing training courses to Zimbabweans. However, despite the green light they got then from the KP, the deal has yet to be realized.
The Kimberley Process (KP) has been at a standstill regarding the recertification of rough diamonds from the Marange diamond mines since last year when reports of human rights abuses by government security forces in the region lead the KP to suspend all sales of rough stones from Marange fields.
"The KP's stalemate on rough diamond export from Zimbabwe still continues and thus we have no other option but to wait and watch. It is believed that the fresh controversy between KP and Zimbabwe is likely to go on for a long period and thus, there are few chances that we would be able to source diamonds in the near future," Chandrakant Sanghavi, one of the directors of SRDSIL told the Times of India.
Moreover, the World Diamond Council (WDC) has reportedly lengthened their ban on import and export of rough diamonds from Zimbabwe, citing previously reported human rights violations and their desire to keep the diamond trade streaming with 100% conflict free diamonds.
The SRDSIL is now scrambling to find a new, comparably cheap, source of rough diamonds and a section of the Indian diamond industry plans to lobby with Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, to seek assistance from the Indian central government regarding this issue.
