News / National
Zimbabwe torpedo Australia's KP vice chair aspirations
14 Nov 2014 at 14:03hrs | Views
The 12th Kimberly Process plenary meeting has ended without consensus on which country will assume the 2015 KP vice chairmanship in 2015 between the United Arab Emirates and Australia.
The KP plenary meeting closed with the issuing of a 52-point communique which among other resolutions welcomed Angola as the incoming chair for 2015, although failing to reach a conclusion on which country will be the vice chair for next year and automatically the chair for 2016.
Zimbabwe was backing the United Arab Emirates as it submitted its bid first in march and has a proven record of working with African diamond producers, whereas Australia has imposed illegal sanctions on the country.
Sources say Australia needed Zimbabwe's backing but in turn, Zimbabwe needed re-assurance whether the illegal sanctions will not hinder the country's participation in the diamond body.
The plenary undertook to amend its selection criteria for candidates for vice chair given the consensus rule which requires all decisions to be unanimously agreed to by all participants.
In an interview, KP chair Bernado Campos said there is need for an improvement of the mechanisms for electing the KP vice chair, adding his organisation will do all it can to ensure there is a new vice chair in place before the 2015 plenary meeting.
Campos said Angola is committed to working with the three pillars of the KP which are government, civil society and industry.
Angola's assumption of the KP chairmanship is symbolic in that the same diamonds which used to fuel war in the country are now a source of economic development.
The Zimbabwean delegation led by the country's ambassador to China Paul Chikawa and the Deputy Attorney-General Kumbirai Hodzi described the plenary meeting as successful.
They said although Zimbabwe was not on the agenda, the team was ready to defend the country's diamond industry.
The deputy attorney general paid tribute to government for ensuring the diamond mining industry is fully compliant with the requirements of the KP, adding Zimbabwe's position in the diamond watchdog is safe.
54 countries representing 84 nations took part in the plenary together with observers from the World Diamond Council, the Civil Society Coalition, the Diamond Development Initiative, the African Diamond Producers Association and the United Nations Panel of Experts on the Central African Republic and the UN Group of Experts on Cote'd Ivoire.
The KP plenary meeting closed with the issuing of a 52-point communique which among other resolutions welcomed Angola as the incoming chair for 2015, although failing to reach a conclusion on which country will be the vice chair for next year and automatically the chair for 2016.
Zimbabwe was backing the United Arab Emirates as it submitted its bid first in march and has a proven record of working with African diamond producers, whereas Australia has imposed illegal sanctions on the country.
Sources say Australia needed Zimbabwe's backing but in turn, Zimbabwe needed re-assurance whether the illegal sanctions will not hinder the country's participation in the diamond body.
The plenary undertook to amend its selection criteria for candidates for vice chair given the consensus rule which requires all decisions to be unanimously agreed to by all participants.
In an interview, KP chair Bernado Campos said there is need for an improvement of the mechanisms for electing the KP vice chair, adding his organisation will do all it can to ensure there is a new vice chair in place before the 2015 plenary meeting.
Angola's assumption of the KP chairmanship is symbolic in that the same diamonds which used to fuel war in the country are now a source of economic development.
The Zimbabwean delegation led by the country's ambassador to China Paul Chikawa and the Deputy Attorney-General Kumbirai Hodzi described the plenary meeting as successful.
They said although Zimbabwe was not on the agenda, the team was ready to defend the country's diamond industry.
The deputy attorney general paid tribute to government for ensuring the diamond mining industry is fully compliant with the requirements of the KP, adding Zimbabwe's position in the diamond watchdog is safe.
54 countries representing 84 nations took part in the plenary together with observers from the World Diamond Council, the Civil Society Coalition, the Diamond Development Initiative, the African Diamond Producers Association and the United Nations Panel of Experts on the Central African Republic and the UN Group of Experts on Cote'd Ivoire.
Source - zbc
