Minister :Zimbabwe diamond torture camps report 'ridiculous'

Zimbabwe's mines minister dismissed as "ridiculous" Tuesday a BBC report of diamond mining torture camps as the European Union asked the government to open an inquiry into the claims. The BBC Panorama programme aired Monday uncovered a camp it alleged is run by Zimbabwe's security forces where civilians are forced to dig for diamonds and tortured in the in the diamond-rich Marange area in the country's east. "That is a ridiculous allegation from the desperate BBC," mines minister Obert Mpofu told AFP, saying the report was based on false information meant to block the country from benefitting from its diamond sales. "Why would the army do that? This is the usual BBC nonsense. These are crazy people who want to frustrate our development." The Marange fields have been at the centre of years-long controversy over alleged abuses by President Robert Mugabe's army, forcing the Kimberley Process "blood diamond" watchdog in 2009 to suspend exports of gems from them. The EU on Tuesday called on Harare to investigate the allegations in the BBC's documentary which included accounts of "severe beatings and sexual assault." "We are greatly concerned by the allegations and ask Zimbabwe's government to open an inquiry into these claims," said Michael Mann, spokesman for EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton. But Mann reiterated that the EU does not have "solid proof" of the existence of torture camps and was pushing for two mines in the Marange region, approved by Kimberley experts, to be allowed to sell diamonds again. "We are not talking about a general return to diamond exports but authorising sales from two mines because they meet the standards of the Kimberley process," Mann said. The BBC reported a main camp in Zengeni, known locally as Diamond Base, is a tented military-like enclosure with razor wire where prisoners are held, with one person describing it as a "place of torture where sometimes miners are unable to walk on account of the beatings". A former paramilitary police unit member, who worked at the camp in late 2008, told of once torturing people with mock-drowning and whipping genitals, the report said. A second camp was located nearby, it said. Diamonds were discovered in Marange in 2006, drawing in thousands of small-time miners hoping to get rich quick. The army cleared the area in late 2008, when Human Rights Watch says more than 200 people were killed. In June the Kimberley Process (KP) approved the export of rough diamonds from Marange by two companies, a decision supported by China and India but opposed by Western nations, rights groups and the industry. Zimbabwe conducted a KP-monitored sale last year, although the move was opposed by countries such as Canada and United States. It raised $100 million dollars, according to government figures, after selling 400,000 carats. Harare is said to have stockpiled gems now estimated to be worth up to $5.0 billion (3.5 billion euros). Mpofu also backed calls on Monday by Mugabe for action against British companies, with the president slamming former colonial power Britain for imposing sanctions on him and his allies. "We will take action against British companies who have been exploiting our minerals. They have been exporting our diamonds, our platinum, our gold without our interference," Mpofu said.