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Article

17 Jul 2016

Author:
The Southern Daily (Zimbabwe)

Zimbabwe: Police accused of escalating rights violations against villagers accused of illegal diamond mining in Marange diamond fields

"Human rights abuses escalate in Chiadzwa, Police launch covert operation targeting villagers", 12 July 2016

Police have launched an all offensive brutal attack characterised by arbitrary human rights abuses against people residing in Chiadzwa and surrounding areas close to the diamond fields in Manicaland province...The police operation...[involves]...members of the force targeting men and women of youth resemblance whom they accuse of touting and illegal [diamond] panning...The operation seems designed to quell the tension that has grappled areas surrounding the diamond fields since February this year when Mbada Diamond Mining Company shut down its operations, jeopardizing the livelihood of the entire rural community who depended on the mine and / or its activities...According to a source in the force, the police have implemented an unofficial curfew, while they unleash human rights abuses that evoke parallels with the killings of illegal panners almost a decade ago – a situation that led to classification of Zimbabwe’s diamonds as conflict (blood) diamonds.