Tanzania: RAID's ongoing research into violence at Petra Diamonds’ mine finds guards altered ammunition “to cause indiscriminate injury”
"Petra Diamond’s mine guards face fresh human rights abuse claims", 25 March 2021
UK-based corporate watchdog RAID said on Thursday it had further evidence that guards employed by Petra Diamonds at its Williamson diamond mine in Tanzania deliberately caused “serious harm” to local residents shot on the company’s concession.
The fresh report includes eye witness accounts indicating that Zenith Security guards employed at the diamond mine intentionally swapped rubber projectiles with metal shot in their weapons to intimidate trespassers.
While rubber bullets can cause serious injury, even kill, they are not supposed to penetrate, whereas “the gun pellets can enter someone’s body and stay there,” a former security guard told RAID. “Someone would need an operation to remove them, and if they are close to the gun, they can definitely cause death.”
RAID said it has found proof of 10 killings and 50 injuries of local residents by security personnel, with the most recent assault occurring in late December 2020.
The NGO noted the information was uncovered as part of ongoing research into human rights abuses at the mine.
... Petra reacted to the report by saying it had taken a number of actions to address the situation at the mine, including the replacement of the third-party security contractor Zenith.
... “We are committed to provide feedback on the investigation being carried out by an external advisor, in conjunction with our legal advisors; the scope of this investigation already includes the allegations mentioned by RAID in their report,” the company said on Thursday.
... UK-based law firm Leigh Day filed similar claims against the South African miner in May 2020 in the High Court of England. Those accusations included reports of personal injuries and deaths at the diamond mine, allegedly caused by security guards...