Zimbabwe diamond exports fund spy agency accused of rights abuses, Global Witness says
Harare — Zimbabwe’s government is using money earned from diamond exports to fund its Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), blamed for a raft of human-rights abuses as it has helped to keep President Robert Mugabe in power since 1980, Global Witness said. Diamonds dug from the Marange fields in eastern Zimbabwe are channelled through Dubai, India, the Netherlands and SA by a complicated web of cross-owned companies based in places as diverse as Mauritius, Hong Kong and Johannesburg, the London-based group said in a report released on Monday. The companies have one thing in common: partnerships with businesses owned by the Zimbabwe government or its military. The earnings, says Global Witness, are funnelled back to the CIO and army "off budget". Zimbabwe’s army and the CIO declined to comment. Calls to the mining ministry were not answered. In 2011, the finance minister at the time Tendai Biti said the government had lost as much as $15bn in revenue as a result of diamond looting,...
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