Africa

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon on Monday urged Zimbabwe to quickly implement a proposal to bring it back into compliance with international diamond production standards. The work plan was endorsed by the Kimberley Process assembly at a meeting last week in Namibia, giving Zimbabwe until June 2010 to rectify alleged human rights abuses by its army against civilians at its Marange diamond fields. "The success of the work plan rests squarely on the government of Zimbabwe, and I urge the government to implement it fully and without delay," Cannon said in a statement. The Kimberley Process, named for a South African mining town, ... Read Full Story

A global scheme to ban trade in conflict diamonds on Thursday adopted a "work plan" for Zimbabwe, despite calls for the country to be suspended over rights abuses in its gem fields. "Zimbabwe is not suspended as was proposed, a joint work plan was adopted by this plenary meeting," said outgoing chair of the Kimberley Process (KP) and Namibian deputy mining minister Bernard Esau late Thursday. A KP review mission in July recommended a six-month suspension of Zimbabwe over human rights abuses alleged by the army against civilians in the eastern Marange diamond fields. Zimbabwe had "until June 2010 to implement the work plan," ... Read Full Story

Investigators for the world's diamond control body say Zimbabwe should be suspended because its security forces are raping women, killing illegal miners and smuggling gems out of a diamond field in the troubled country's east. Human rights groups have made similar accusations, but the charges carry particular weight coming from Kimberley Process investigators who visited Zimbabwe in June and July. Their recommendations are in a confidential report obtained by The Associated Press Wednesday. Zimbabwean authorities have repeatedly denied such charges, including in statements to Kimberley Process investigators and officials. The investigators said they found evidence contradicting the official account, and that information provided by ... Read Full Story

Zimbabwe has made progress in complying with the requirements of a diamond watchdog body, a state daily reported Wednesday as the Kimberley Process retreats in Namibia. "We strongly believe that as a country, we have done all in complying with the requirements of the process," Mines Minister Obert Mpofu was quoted as saying by The Herald at Kimberley Process annual meeting. His remarks came as civil society groups, which are part of the process, are demanding the suspension of Zimbabwe's international diamond trade, after a Kimberley team documented "horrific" abuses by the army against civilians in the eastern Marange diamond fields in July. Mpofu ... Read Full Story

KIGALI (Reuters) - The United Nations genocide court in Tanzania is reneging on its promise to transfer Rwandan convicts to serve the remainder of their sentences in their homeland, Rwanda's justice minister said. Tharcisse Karugarama said he did not understand why the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) had not returned convicts when Rwanda's jails were deemed sufficient for those convicted by Sierra Leone's war crimes court. "We signed an agreement with ICTR to transfer the convicts to serve out their sentence here. So far they have not done it. We don't know why," he told Reuters on Monday. About 800,000 Tutsis and moderate ... Read Full Story