Blood Diamonds Aren't a Girl's Best Friend

Marilyn Monroe left some tough shoes to fill, but this week in Namibia, a group of South Africans may be stepping into her role as Lorelei Lee in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" -- only this time, the song they sing might be better titled, "Blood Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend."
OK. That's a cheeky, stupid bit of chicanery, but South Africa, a longtime defender of Zimbabwe's octogenarian strongman President Robert Mugabe, is in a key position to ensure that Mugabe & Cronies are taken to task for their extraordinary human rights violations in the mining of diamonds. South Africa is a leading member of the Kimberly Process, an initiative to stop the flow of conflict diamonds. Thursday, at a meeting of Kimberly Process participants, South Africa is in a pivotal position to put an end to the violence and rape linked to illicit diamond mining in Zimbabwe. Whether it will do so remains to be seen.

The New York Times Wednesday leaks a confidential report by Kimberly Process investigators that accuses Zimbabwe's army of operating illegal syndicates to smuggle diamonds from fields in eastern Zimbabwe into Mozambique. The report says investigators witnessed soldiers "supervising and directing illegal mining operations," while at the same time "using extreme force, including two helicopters, attack dogs and AK-47s, against illegal miners. Some victims told the investigators that military officers had repeatedly raped them."

The Kimberly Process focuses on conflict diamonds specifically, and Zimbabwe isn't accused of producing those kinds of gems, per se. But the meeting in Namibia will address the fact that Zimbabwe's smuggling opens a secret channel in the diamond trade that "makes possible the introduction of conflict diamonds." In line with his usual stance regarding questions of human rights and justice, President Mugabe has denied any wrongdoing and blames "rogue elements" for any illegal mining. In the meantime, he's trying to curry favor with regional "friends" in the Kimberly Process group, including powerhouse South Africa, which has a track record of coming to his rescue.

Voting to suspend Zimbabwe from the Kimberly Process would put a serious kink in Zimbabwe's diamond industry, and would be a blow to one of Mugabe's few remaining sources of patronage for his military thugs -- the same goombas responsible for the violent attacks on and killing of opposition voices during Zimbabwe's election last year.

South Africa is being offered a chance to do its part in putting an end to this horrific harvest of gems. It also has the opportunity to show some real backbone when it comes to regional leadership, by standing up to an illegitimate and corrupt government that it has shielded for far too long. If blood diamonds have a best friend these days, it's Robert Mugabe.