Zimbabwe govt, central bank in blood diamond trade-WikiLeaks

JOHANNESBURG, (Reuters) – The illicit diamond trade in  Zimbabwe has led to the murder of thousands, enriched those  close to President Robert Mugabe and been financed in part by  the central bank, according to U.S. documents on WikiLeaks.
“In a country filled with corrupt schemes, the diamond  business in Zimbabwe is one of the dirtiest,” according to a  classified document dated in November 2008 from the U.S. embassy  in the country, released this week on WikiLeaks.
Mugabe was forced into a unity government with long-time  rivals nearly two years ago and the state has been trying to  boost the economy by winning approval for diamond sales through  the Kimberly Process, a world monitor of the diamond trade.
In the classified documents that date from before the unity  government came to power, U.S. diplomats cite a well established  British mining executive as saying those close to Mugabe,  including his wife, “have been extracting tremendous profits”  from the Chiadzwa mine in the eastern part of the country.
“The diamonds that are sold to regime members and elites are  sold for freshly printed Zimbabwean notes issued by the RBZ  (Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe),” one document from late 2008 cited  British mining executive Andrew Cranswick as saying.
The stones dubbed “blood diamonds” because of the human  rights abuses associated with their extraction, were then resold  to foreign buyers, earning each of the members of the powerful  group hundreds of thousands of dollars a month, it said.
Rights groups have accused Zimbabwe’s military of widespread  atrocities in the diamond fields in 2008 as Mugabe’s previous  government moved to stop thousands of illegal miners on the  poorly secured fields in the east of the country.
Mugabe has accused Western countries of working to stop  Zimbabwe from benefiting from its mineral resources.
Ministry of Mines secretary Thankful Musukutwa told a  parliamentary committee earlier this year the government was  complying with demands from diamond trade regulator Kimberly  Process.
A separate document from January 2009 said that as the local  currency became essentially worthless, the Zimbabwe military  stepped more deeply into the diamonds trade, using hard cash  from abroad to finance operations.
“This has not deterred the continued brisk diamond trade  involving foreign buyers, including most prominently the  Lebanese,” said a document from January 2009 citing a classified  report from an unnamed U.S. political officer.
Just before the power sharing government was installed, the  military intensified its control over the diamond fields, aiming  to gain as much money as possible, it said.
The government deployed soldiers at the diamond fields in  Marange in 2008 to seal off the area and clamp down on illegal  mining, but rights activists say this resulted in serious rights  abuses by the army.
Villagers were uprooted and murders increased, the  classified U.S. documents said.
A classified document cited a village chief as saying the  government had relocated as many as 25,000 villagers in an  attempt to secure more money.
Zimbabwe is now struggling to sell its Marange diamonds  after the Kimberley Process barred its members from dealing in  the stones, saying their certification by global regulators did  not guarantee they were free from human rights abuses.