A new Kimberley Process monitor for Zimbabwe has arrived in Harare on a mission to determine if human rights standards are being met in the Marange diamond fields, state media said Tuesday.

The Kimberley organisation announced on Monday that Abbey Chikane, a South African, was named the monitor for Zimbabwe, after it last year documented "horrific violence" by the military in Marange, including forced labour, torture and beatings of civilians.
 

Chikane arrived on Monday, and was expected to visit the Marange fields in the east of the country on Tuesday, the state-run Herald newspaper said.
 

"Zimbabwe has done its best to meet the set-out standards towards KP compliance," Mining Minister Obert Mpofu said in the paper.

Chikane has already met with mining ministry officials, as well as representatives of Mbada Diamonds and Canadile Miners, two South African firms now contracted to operate in Marange, the paper said.

Human rights call
Despite calls for a ban on Zimbabwe diamonds, the Kimberley Process last year gave Zimbabwe until June to comply with human rights standards.
 

In January, the watchdog halted the sale of 300,000 carats of diamonds from Marange, saying the auction did not have approval.
 

The three day mission by Chikane, a founder chairman of the Kimberley Process, will be a key step toward deciding if Zimbabwe can sell the gems.
 

Global Witness, a British based group that monitors the exploitation of natural resources, in January warned that the military still appeared to control large swaths of the Marange fields, which cover some 66,000 hectares.

President Robert Mugabe, who controls the military under Zimbabwe’s power-sharing regime, has threatened to pull out of the Kimberley Process if the country is not allowed to sell its gems.
 

Source: AFP