http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/03/robert-mugabe-to-nationalise-zimbabwes-diamond-industry
Zimbabwe's collects a total of $3.263 billion from exports so "$23 million" per year for diamonds is an insulting lie when 13% of the world's diamonds are mined out of fields in Marange, one of the richest diamond deposits in the world. A November 2012 report by a non-governmental organisation revealed a huge lack of transparency of diamond revenues in Zimbabwe. It turns out that nearly all of those diamond dollars have been going to Dictator Robert Mugabe and his rich friends. So then, what is the real number? According to the Associated Press, $2 billion as of Nov. 2012. To put this into perspective, Zimbabwe's mineral exports were $1.8 billion for that year. What's even worse is that some of those diamonds are tainted with blood. In the 2008, the Zimbabwean government used soldiers to mine and enslave villagers to also mine.
I wonder what difference this will make in Zimbabwe. It really doesn't sound like it could be any worse.
-------------------------------
Background:
I just did some reading on this guy and he's a real piece of work. He became an African legend after leading a successful rebellion against the white rulers of Rhodesia. Mugabe easily won the first Zimbabwe election in 1980 and showed his true colours very soon after that. As president, he immediately established a one-party state and put together a North Korean trained security force called the Fifth Brigade. One of their first tasks was genocide against the minority Ndebele tribe, the tribe that the only other candidate of that 1980 election hailed from. Between 1982 and 1985, at least 20,000 Ndebele people were killed and buried in mass graves. Several years later, Mugabe expanded his powers, officiating himself as a dictator. It's been more than 36 years since Mugabe won that 1980 election and he has remained the ruler of Zimbabwe ever since. Born just before the fall of the Ottoman Empire and three years after Albert Einstein won the Nobel Prize for discovering the photoelectric effect, Robert Mugabe is 92 years old.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Zimbabwe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marange_diamond_fields
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mugabe
the guardian said:
Zimbabwe's collects a total of $3.263 billion from exports so "$23 million" per year for diamonds is an insulting lie when 13% of the world's diamonds are mined out of fields in Marange, one of the richest diamond deposits in the world. A November 2012 report by a non-governmental organisation revealed a huge lack of transparency of diamond revenues in Zimbabwe. It turns out that nearly all of those diamond dollars have been going to Dictator Robert Mugabe and his rich friends. So then, what is the real number? According to the Associated Press, $2 billion as of Nov. 2012. To put this into perspective, Zimbabwe's mineral exports were $1.8 billion for that year. What's even worse is that some of those diamonds are tainted with blood. In the 2008, the Zimbabwean government used soldiers to mine and enslave villagers to also mine.
I wonder what difference this will make in Zimbabwe. It really doesn't sound like it could be any worse.
-------------------------------
Background:
I just did some reading on this guy and he's a real piece of work. He became an African legend after leading a successful rebellion against the white rulers of Rhodesia. Mugabe easily won the first Zimbabwe election in 1980 and showed his true colours very soon after that. As president, he immediately established a one-party state and put together a North Korean trained security force called the Fifth Brigade. One of their first tasks was genocide against the minority Ndebele tribe, the tribe that the only other candidate of that 1980 election hailed from. Between 1982 and 1985, at least 20,000 Ndebele people were killed and buried in mass graves. Several years later, Mugabe expanded his powers, officiating himself as a dictator. It's been more than 36 years since Mugabe won that 1980 election and he has remained the ruler of Zimbabwe ever since. Born just before the fall of the Ottoman Empire and three years after Albert Einstein won the Nobel Prize for discovering the photoelectric effect, Robert Mugabe is 92 years old.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Zimbabwe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marange_diamond_fields
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mugabe
