In light of the most recent trip to Zimbabwe taken by the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme review mission, it appears that the country will soon be banned from the global diamond market due to their many human rights transgressions, including extreme violence and difficult working conditions. In fact, Zimbabwe has been suspected of smuggling conflict diamonds for quite some time now. In July, Zimbabwe was caught red handed by the KP review mission at the Chiadzwa Diamond Fields in the Marange district. Nonetheless, bureaucracy and reports filed for these transgressions were released just last week.

The KP review mission is asking for a temporary suspension of at least half a year to provide Zimbabwe with the opportunity and the time to meet the standards of the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme. The review mission has also advised that the Kimberly Process allow for self suspension if Zimbabwe should choose to ban itself from the Kimberly Process, since they do not have enough confidence in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, for them to actually put the diamond mining recommendations into practice without having any regulative body in charge of overseeing it.

ZimOnline, Zimbabwe’s independent news agency, presented the report on the planned suspension in its entirety, expressing that the major producers of diamonds in the southern part of Africa – Botswana, South Africa, and Namibia--  will basically be risking their reputation if they go on serving as the landing place for diamonds from the Marange diamond fields in Zimbabwe.

In addition, the KP review mission’s report proposed that all members of the Kimberly Process in the area should be active participants in putting an end to diamond smuggling, meaning that they should increase their security in opposition to diamond smuggling. Whether or not this KP suggestion will have any influence on the proposed transfer of De Beers diamond aggregation from London, UK to Gaborone, Botswana still needs to be clarified. Diamond aggregation is a matching procedure that takes place when diamonds from all De Beers’ diamond mines are brought together. At the moment, aggregation is taking place in London at the Diamond Trading Company. Thus far, De Beers’ move from London to the capital of Botswana has been delayed as a result of the diamond market’s crash due to the recession.

Sheila Khama, CEO of De Beers in Botswana, claims that there are good chances that aggregation could be transferred to the Diamond Trading Company in Botswana the following year. However, Khama made it perfectly clear that this is contingent on whether all the pending topics on the table will be settled. According to Khama, excellent security is a necessary condition for favorable relocation, meaning that safe routes for transporting diamonds are absolutely essential. How Zimbabwe will choose to act in the future towards the issues of diamond mining and diamond trading has yet to be seen, but there is no question that the country’s actions in this regard will have a ripple effect on its neighbors.