Source: International Crisis Group (ICG) 
Full_Report (pdf* format - 351.1 Kbytes)Thierry Vircoulon | 4 Nov 2010
On 11-12 September 2010, Zimbabwe auctioned diamonds from the controversial Marange mines. There was little international condemnation, especially compared to the controversy over the first sale of Marange diamonds in August. Since an export ban was imposed on diamonds from Marangein November 2009, the Kimberley Process (KP) has permitted Zimbabwe to hold two auctions, although the country has not been able to guarantee that widespread human rights violations in the mines and smuggling have stopped. Criticised by both those who favour and those who oppose the ban, this unusual compromise demonstrates that the KP's narrow definition of conflict diamonds is inadequate, and that the body must expand its authority if it is not to loose its credibility and legitimacy as the diamond-trade watchdog.
A. Zimbabwe : Still Trying for Democracy
Zimbabwe, a landlocked country of some 12.5 million inhabitants, is stuck in a decade-long political crisis and struggling to move from dictatorship to democracy. For 28 years from independence in 1980, Robert Mugabe ruled uninterrupted. During the first ten years, the country was a major tobacco producer and a main food supplier for the region. Starting in the early 1990s, however, the de facto one-party state implemented various measures to increase its grip on power, including a crack-down on civil liberties, and by the last years of the century, the increasingly mismanaged economy had started to crumble.
The economic problems and political repression triggered opposition, as the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Morgan Tsvangirai threatened to end ZANU-PF's domination. The defeat of Mugabe's proposed constitutional referendum on presidential powers and controversial land reforms in 2000 was a clear sign of the changing political landscape. The ZANU-PF government reacted brutally to the growing opposition by suppressing press freedom, intimidating the opposition and launching a forced distribution of white-owned commercial farms. The latter campaign led to massive flight of white farmers, serious food shortages and the beginning of the collapse of the agriculture-based economy. The result was hyperinflation, unemployment and deteriorating living conditions.
