Airstrip Built at Zimbabwe Diamond Field
February 1st, 2010Via: Telegraph:
A secret airstrip is being built in a diamond field illegally seized by the Zimbabwean army 14 months ago which would enable clandestine weapons shipments.
Diplomats and analysts believe that the mile-long runway is intended for arms shipments, probably from China, for which troops loyal to President Robert Mugabe would pay on the spot with gemstones from the Chiadzwa diamond mines.
Aerial pictures show construction work is well under way, with a newly built control tower apparently complete and the runway nearly ready for surfacing.
There are other airfields within a short distance of the mining area, and no obvious need for a runway long enough for transport planes to take off and land even closer to the mines. A Western diplomat said the existence of the runway, out of sight except from the air, was “extremely” worrying.
The images also show what appears to be a tented army camp in the diamond fields, which would be in violation of Zimbabwean court orders and of an undertaking to the Kimberley Process, which was set up to prevent “blood diamonds” from conflict zones entering the global gem trade.
According to human rights groups, hundreds of independent miners were killed when soldiers seized control of the Chiadzwa area in November 2008, since when others have been compelled to work for only a fraction of the value of the diamonds they unearth. Officers use the proceeds from their sale to enhance their meagre pay – a ploy encouraged by Mr Mugabe’s henchmen to help ensure the army’s continued loyalty.
But the construction of the runway suggests that the army has now widened its ambition and wants to use its access to the raw diamonds – whose production is worth an estimated £125 million a month – to obtain goods from abroad, in particular weapons.
