World diamond trading group bans Zimbabwe stones

[August 16, 2010]  HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- One of the world's largest diamond trading networks says it will expel members who knowingly trade Zimbabwean stones tainted by allegations of killings and human rights abuses.

The U.S.-based Rapaport Diamond Trading Network said Monday that any of its 10,000 members offering Zimbabwean diamonds will also have their names published.

The group said that though the world diamond control body approved a recent auction in the southern African country, it did not guarantee the stones "free of human rights violations."

Zimbabwe last week held its first auction of some 900,000 carats of diamonds, ending a nine-month ban. The Kimberley Process approved stones from two mines from which soldiers had withdrawn and which monitors said were operating at "minimum" standards.

[Associated Press]

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