US says compromise on Zimbabwe diamond sales was necessary

According to Reuters -
...The United States agreed to a compromise allowing Zimbabwe to export diamonds that human rights groups say are tainted by abuses, to prevent the paralysis of the global system for stopping trade in "blood diamonds," the State Department said on Wednesday.

The United States, Canada and the European Union dropped their objections and agreed to allow Zimbabwe to sell diamonds from its Marange field after verification by a Kimberley Process monitoring team, the World Diamond Council announced on Tuesday.

The Kimberly Process is an international government certification scheme set up in 2003 to prevent the trade in diamonds that fund conflicts.

The decision by the United States, Canada and the EU was strongly condemned by human rights groups who maintain that the Marange diamonds are tainted by abuses tied to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's government...


Zimbabwe: Rampant Abuses in Marange Diamond Fields
Shooting defenseless miners and unleashing dogs against them is inhuman, degrading and barbaric. The diamonds from the Marange fields are tainted with abuse.
Tiseke Kasambala, senior Africa researcher.

Carte Blanche: Zim Diamonds (Part 1)
The discovery of diamonds at Marange, east of Zimbabwe, has been called the biggest find of the past hundred years.

Counter-propaganda:

Justice and Diamonds in Zimbabwe: Saving Kimberley from Itself
Andrew Jillions joins us again to discuss the Kimberly Process of diamond certification in the context Zimbabwe. As Andrew explains, the case of Zimbabwe risks undermining a process which, for all its faults, remains the best way to prevent the use of diamonds to fuel conflict and human rights abuses.