Zimbabwe yesterday denied it was violating international regulations on conflict diamonds, as a Kimberley Process team started a probe of the country's eastern Marange diamond fields, Agence France Press reported.



Mining Secretary Thankful Musukutwa told journalists in the capital that complaints against Zimbabwe for trading in rough diamonds and violating human rights were not true.



"Under the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), conflict diamonds are rough diamonds used by rebel movements or their allies to finance conflict armies at undermining legitimate governments," he said about the scheme against "blood diamonds."



"There is no armed conflict or any involvement of a rebel army or movement in Zimbabwe; therefore Marange diamonds do not fall within KPCS definition of conflict diamonds."



A Human Rights Watch report last Friday accused Zimbabwe's armed forces of using torture and forced labor to control the Marange diamond fields, saying more than 200 people had been killed last year, the AFP report said.



Zimbabwe last week denied any killings by security forces, it said.



"What we have in Marange are illegal panners who from time to time evade security forces and engage themselves in illegal digging and trading of diamonds," Musukutwa reportedly said.



The Kimberley team's visit was announced on Friday after a three day conference in Namibia where chairman Bernard Esau said the group had no proof of rights violations in the Marange diamond fields but had noted the HRW report.



Musukutwa said Monday's visit is the third by the scheme. "During the last two visits, they found Zimbabwe fully compliant with KPCS rules and regulations," he said. In March this year, the chair of the KPCS visited Zimbabwe and toured the Marange and Murowa diamond fields. He again reported that the country was compliant to the KPCS regulations."



Human Rights Watch wants the Kimberley Process to review and broaden the definition of "conflict diamonds" to include diamonds mined amid rights abuses. The group believes some income from the diamond fields has been funneled to high-ranking ZANU-PF officials, the party of President Robert Mugabe who joined Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in a unity government in February.



According to the AFP report, The Kimberley team is led by Liberian deputy mines minister Kpandel Fiya and includes members from the European Commission, World Diamond Council, US State Department, and the South African Diamond and Precious Metals regulator.