In itself, that is bad news for Africa, where at least half a dozen wars are raging, invariably over the continent's mineral riches.

But if the Harare government does go ahead with its plans, the diamond sale will benefit the country's powerful defense minister, Emerson Mnangagwa, by giving him the funds to buy support to take over from President Robert Mugabe.

Zimbabwe was forbidden to sell diamonds by the South Africa-based Kimberly Process Certification Scheme in late 2009 because of alleged human-rights abuses by security forces, headed by Mnangagwa, that control the large Marange diamond fields in the east of the country.

Human-rights watchdogs, such as Global Witness, say that military commanders, tightly linked to the leadership of Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF Party, smuggle Marange diamonds out of the country to neighboring Mozambique to line their own pockets and the party's coffers.

Mines Minister Obert Mpofu, a Zanu-PF stalwart, announced the proposed diamond sale Wednesday in open defiance of the ban by the KPCS, the world's leading international diamond trade regulatory body.

The Kimberly Process has so far not responded to this challenge, but its track record of enforcing its decisions is poor.

For weeks it has stalled on approving a recommendation by its Zimbabwe monitor, South African businessman Abbey Chikane, in May to lift the ban despite the actions of the government and its military.

British-based Global Witness, which has campaigned for years for an end to the human-rights abuses in Zimbabwe's diamond mines, denounced KPCS June 14 "for repeatedly failing to react effectively to the crisis in Zimbabwe."

It declared: "Over the past three years, the national army has visited appalling abuses on civilians in Marange's diamond fields.

"Nobody has been held to account for these crimes, and now it turns out that the joint venture companies nominally brought in to improve conditions are directly linked to the Zanu-PF and military elite."

"Thanks to the impunity and violence in Zimbabwe, blood diamonds are back on the international market," said Global Witness official Elly Harrowell.

The two companies in question, which have no professional background in diamond mining, are Canadile Miners and Mdaba Diamonds. Global Witness says Mpofu has packed their boards with his allies.

The companies were selected by Mpofu, who has business connections with Gen. Constantine Chiwenga, the military commander.

The Marange contracts were awarded in November 2009 in defiance of a Harare High Court order that held the fields were owned by African Consolidated Resources.

The British-registered ACR was thrown out of Marange by the Zimbabwe military in December 2006. The court ordered the military out of the diamond fields, but they remain there.

Mdaba is chaired by Robert Mhlanga, a former air vice marshal who is close to the Mugabe family. He is reputed to have made a fortune in the diamond trade in the war-torn Democratic republic of Congo when Zimbabwean troops were deployed there.

Global Witness called for international action to suspend Zimbabwe from the Kimberley Process. That would apply only to the export of so-called rough diamonds. Once they've been cut, KPCS has no power to block their export.

Before ACR lost control of Marange, it claimed the field could produce 3 million carats a month for 14 years. In 2008 the Kimberly Process estimated the value of the field's diamonds at roughly $150 per carat.

That makes Marange a vital source of revenue for Mugabe's government, which has bankrupted a once-prosperous land since independence in 1980.

The planned diamond sale also has political significance. Elections are scheduled for late 2011 and U.S.-based global security consultancy Stratfor says Mnangagwa is likely to seek to succeed Mugabe, 86, whose catastrophic policies have eroded his support in Zanu-PF.

The diamond sale would finance Mnangagwa's "undeclared leadership bid and outmaneuver his chief political rival, former army commander Solomon Mujuru," Stratfor observed.

Mujuru's wife, Joyce, is first deputy president. He also controls the southern River Ranch diamond field, which has avoided KPCS scrutiny. But his support in Zanu-PF is believed to be waning.

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