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Leber outraged over KP's decision on Zimbabwe

'It is up to consumers to say no to Zimbabwean diamonds'

November 12, 2009

Chicago--Leber Jeweler Inc., a third-generation, family-owned business wholly dedicated to socially responsible jewelry, is expressing outrage over the decision by the Kimberley Process (KP) governing body to allow Zimbabwe to remain a member in good standing, despite alleged human rights violations directly tied to the country's diamond mining industry.

KP member governments have decided instead to immediately implement an intensive, on-the-ground inspection program in Zimbabwe's Marange diamond fields, which will monitor and audit the export of diamonds from the area.

According to a media release issued from Leber, smuggling of conflict diamonds and other precious minerals out of Zimbabwe is rampant, with revenue benefiting allies of the country's president, Robert Mugabe, and not the people of Zimbabwe.

In addition, the release says, in an effort to drive independent miners from the Chiadzwa diamond fields in Marange, the Zimbabwean military and police launched a crackdown in October 2008 that killed hundreds of miners and injured scores more in a campaign described by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights as "resembling a war."

"The Kimberley Process has failed," Leber Jeweler President Brian Leber said in the release. "The current chair of the Kimberley Process, Namibian Deputy Mining Minister Bernhard Esau, has said that calls to suspend Zimbabwe from the Kimberley Process over human rights abuses 'will not be taken seriously.' Unfortunately, he has lived up to his word."

Leber went on to say that it is up to consumers to say no to diamonds from Zimbabwe.

"Unless a seller can guarantee the diamonds they sell do not come from Zimbabwe, an 'unknown origin' diamond may very well be funding the violence that plagues Zimbabwe," Leber said in the release.

The U.S State Department said on Wednesday that if a plan to place strict controls on Zimbabwe's Marange diamond fields is not "thoroughly implemented," the country will be suspended from the KP.
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