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Marange Diamonds Heading to the Bank

Zimbabwe's Supreme Court has ordered the country's central bank to safeguard millions of dollars' worth of diamonds from a mine where the military is accused of killings and forced labour, the AFP reported Wednesday.

The diamonds are being fought over by the British firm African Consolidated Resources (ACR) and the government mineral corporation Zimbabwe Mining Development Corp. in a broader ownership battle over the Chiadzwa diamond fields in the country's eastern Marange districts.

"The chief justice said the diamonds should be kept by a neutral party pending the resolution of an ownership dispute which is before the court," said Jonathan Samkange, lawyer for British firm African Consolidated Resources (ACR).

The court order affects 129,000 carats of diamonds, including gems mined by ACR and seized by police as well as all the precious stones mined since.