Undercover At The Chiadzwa Diamond Fields
In a remote corner of Zimbabwe, the true worth of a vast new diamond field emerges. Robert Mugabe's response? To allow his mutinous military to enslave villagers as miners and seize the profits - and destroy fragile protocols against blood diamonds. Foreign Reporter of the Year Dan McDougall and photographer Robin Hammond risked their lives to get dramatic first-hand evidence of the unimaginable suffering of the miners for Live magazine. Their despatch poses the question - can you go into your local jewellers with a clear conscience ever again? Harare, Zimbabwe, 21 September 2009 The mailashas emerge as cautiously as impala from the shadows of scorched yellow kikuyu grass that fringes the long highway to Mutare. Their name translates as 'smugglers'. It's our first sight of them. There are three in all and they're no more than 14 years old. They reach out into the road at the approach of our slowing BMW and take a deadly gamble, forming their fingers into a distinct...