Just when it appeared that conditions were emerging for some form of a settlement to the vexed issue of export of diamonds from the Marange fields in Zimbabwe, there has been a new twist to the already prolonged saga—fresh reports about ongoing human rights abuses!

These came in the form of a BBC documentary that reported the existence of a torture camp near the fields and aired interviews with victims, as well as the publication of a new report by Human Rights Watch, which reported violence and abuse by the security apparatus at the fields.

Supporters of the ban, who have been opposing recent attempts to broker a compromise, have already gone aggressive. And though no one has as yet criticised the KP fact finding team which last year reported that there was no evidence of torture or human rights abuse at the site, the implications are clear -- they were misled by the government.

Expectedly, the KP Chair has sought ‘information’ from BBC and ‘clarifications’ from the Zimbabwe government, thus buying time to formulate a response. Clearly the glimmer of hope that was raised following indications of some softening in stances of at least some of the concerned governments during the last KP Intersessional has faded into the background.