Diamonds may be regarded as a girl’s best friend; to others, they are a downright nightmare. All across the African continent, these precious stones – the symbol of eternal love and devotion – are being, or have been used, to fuel cross-border armed conflicts and civil war. Liberia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for instance. However, blood or conflict diamonds are also found much closer to home.

Although Zimbabwean diamonds from the Marange fields, situated in the Chiadzwa district in the country’s Mutare West constituency, are not used to fund rebel groups or fuel war, they nevertheless are classified as blood diamonds.

The reason for this is the human rights violations to which the people living in this part of the world have been subjected for the past years.

The seeds for the tragedy were sown in 2006 when De Beers sold the Marange fields to African Consolidated Resources (ACR). Soon, test mining of alluvial diamonds kicked off.
Not too long after the first shovel was stuck in the ground, the Zanu-PF government began to dispute the ACR’s legal claim on the land.

In an attempt to get the company off the land and gain control of the wealth it harboured, the national authorities invited ordinary Zimbabweans to come and dig for diamonds. Full story