Antwerp Refutes Global Witness’s Zimbabwe Claims

RAPAPORT… Belgium’s diamond industry has refuted allegations by
non-profit organization Global Witness that illicit goods from Zimbabwe have
been traded in Antwerp.



Dealers in Antwerp bought and sold diamonds from Zimbabwe
that may have funded human-rights violations, Global Witness claimed in a
report Monday. Trading in Zimbabwean diamonds was also likely to be in breach
of European Union (EU) sanctions, the organization further alleged.


Global Witness’s claims were based on a statement by a
Zimbabwean minister that had been dispelled, the Antwerp World Diamond Centre
(AWDC) said in response to the report. It also argued that one of the companies
that supplied the goods was not on the EU sanctions list.


The AWDC took several measures to ensure it could allow
Zimbabwean goods onto the Antwerp market when the EU lifted sanctions on the
country in 2013, the trade body’s CEO Ari Epstein said. These included an
investigation into the companies involved in mining the diamonds. It also
consulted with the EU and the Kimberley Process to check it could import the
goods, the AWDC said.


Zimbabwe’s diamond trade
has come under scrutiny after Global Witness’s report
alleged that military and political elites in the country had exploited the
sector and concealed its finances from public scrutiny.


Diamonds have failed to
benefit the Zimbabwean people, instead funding their oppression by state
security forces, according to the organization.