HARARE -- The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KP) will next month convene in Russia to determine the fate of diamonds from Zimbabwe's Marange fields after four-day a meeting in Tel Aviv closed Thursday with members failing to reach consensus on Zimbabwe's compliance with the diamond watchdog's requirements, the KP has announced.

 KP chairman Boaz Hirsch said the result of the meeting that began on Monday was "unprecedented" for the world diamond body.

"But all parties are committed to further engagement," said Hirsch, adding that the KP chair and World Diamond Council president Eli Izhakoff will jointly convene a mini-summit of major KP stakeholders in St Petersburg on July 14 to discuss the controversial Marange diamonds.

"Deliberations will continue in order to find a consensus-based resolution," Hirsch said. 

According to the KP, members monitoring compliance progress in Zimbabwe failed to agree on whether the country could begin exporting rough diamonds with the United States (US), European Union (EU), Australia and Canada concluding that Marange was not yet fully compliant. 

However Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, China, Russia and India were ready to approve rough exports.

Zimbabwe's Mines Minister Obert Mpofu has been telling various press agencies at the KP's Tel Aviv meeting that his country is ready to ship more than 3 million carats of stockpiled diamonds from Marange fields and will be exporting them with or without certificates to awaiting buyers -- a move that would anger civil society groups who are campaigning to stop the sell of the diamonds.

Mpofu said this week that the country had met KP minimum standards on diamond mining from Marange, referring to a report by KP monitor Abbey Chikane, a South African national, who said in his report that the country had met the minimum conditions set by the regulator and could start gem exports.

It is Chikane’s report that KP members were unable to reach consensus about in Tel Aviv.

Rights groups say the military committed serious abuses in a bid to force out some 30 000 artisan diggers who had descended on the poorly secured fields in 2006. -

By Zimonline