MUTARE – Four Zimbabwe army soldiers were last week shot dead in two separate incidents believed to have been sparked by disputes over proceeds from the sale of diamonds illegally mined and smuggled from the lucrative but dangerous Chiadzwa diamond fields near Mutare city.

The government has deployed hundreds of heavily armed soldiers in the Chiadzwa area to protect the diamond fields from illegal miners and traders. But the soldiers have themselves taken to illegal mining of the diamonds.

The first shooting incident is believed to have occurred on May 24, when two soldiers were found dead about 100 metres away from their base. The second incident happened the next day at a roadblock leading to the diamond fields.

Police are withholding the names of the dead soldiers until next of kin are informed.

A police spokesman Andrew Phiri told journalists last week that investigations into the fatal shootings were underway.

“We are investigating the two cases involving soldiers who were on duty in Midrange,” said Phiri.

He added: “The first case happened on May 24 in which two soldiers were found dead about 100 metres away from their base. Investigations carried out showed that the two had their rifles, but with spent cartridges entailing they had discharged their firearms. The cause of the deaths is yet to be ascertained but there is a high possibility that they could have turned their rifles on each other.”

The police spokesman said the second incident was sparked after soldiers manning a roadblock had a heated argument resulting in a shootout which killed two soldiers.

Sources this week said the soldiers fired at each other following heated arguments over sharing of proceeds from the illegal trade of diamonds they had smuggled from Chiadzwa.

There are widespread reports linking soldiers to notorious syndicates involving wealthy foreign buyers and daring dealers based in Mutare and Harare, who in turn smuggle the gems to buyers on the international black-market for diamonds.

The government has deployed soldiers in the diamond rich area after thousands of illegal miners had descended on Chiadzwa.

Although the soldiers managed to flush out the illegal miners there were outcries from human rights organisations that they had used heavy-handed methods and violated the rights of the illegal miners and innocent villagers living near the diamond fields.

Some human rights groups claim that as many as 200 people may have been killed during the army and police operation to flush out illegal miners from Chiadzwa. But human rights groups have not been able to back up their claims with concrete evidence because the army will not allow them to in the diamond fields to carry out investigations.

The government denies soldiers and police killed illegal miners.  -- ZimOnline