Minister Accuses AFGEM of Starting
Tanzanite-al Qaeda Story
By Hamza Kondo, Tanzania Correspondent

Edgar Maokola Majogo

ARUSHA, TANZANIA -- Tanzanian Minister for Energy and Minerals Edgar Maokola Majogo has openly condemned South African mining company African Gem Resources (AFGEM) for allegedly engineering press reports that linked tanzanite with terrorism.

Majogo made the accusation at a meeting on February 28 which brought together stakeholders in the gemstone industry. The meeting took place in the city of Arusha, in the northern part of Tanzania, the closest major city to the tanzanite mines of Mererani.

"We have written evidence that you [AFGEM] did invite the Wall Street Journal reporter Robert Block to Arusha, and then to the tanzanite mining site at Mererani. He then went back to the United States of America and published an article which linked tanzanite with terrorism," Minister Majogo said in front of senior AFGEM executives, local tanzanite stakeholders, and government officials in Arusha. It was Block's article which first linked the tanzanite trade to the al Qaeda network, and the story caused several major retail jewelers to suspend their tanzanite sales.

A miner cames out of a modern tanzanite mine shaft provided with electricity at Mererani's Block C mine, owned by South African company, AFGEM. Photo © Hamza Kondo, SENA NEWS.

Majogo did not give specifics on the nature of the written evidence.

He further alleged that one of the AFGEM officers, Joanne Herbstein, thanked the Wall Street Journal story for helping the company.

"AFGEM's objective was to create a situation whereby tanzanite from local miners, which is unbranded, would be rejected in the international market by linking it with Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda organization," Majogo stated.

According to the minister, tanzanite mined by AFGEM has been branded under the name Tanzanite Foundation, which the company launched last year against Tanzanian government directives that tanzanite should not be branded.

"But after the article was published, tanzanite from both AFGEM and local miners was rejected," said Majogo, adding that "AFGEM was forced to join hands with other stakeholders to seek a solution, something that took us to America for meetings to clear the name of our country as well as tanzanite."

Responding to the minister's allegations in a written statement, AFGEM denied being in any way responsible for the Wall Street Journal article. According to the release, AFGEM was contacted by

General manager of AFGEM’s Merelani Mine Ltd. Joe Kimble shows Colored Stone a cross-section of the modern tanzanite plant put in place at Block C. Photo © Hamza Kondo, SENA NEWS.

Block for comment about the tanzanite trade and about the company, but "AFGEM made every effort to dissuade Block from pursuing the article, recognizing that the [Wall Street Journal] had significant coverage in the United States and that negative publicity, particularly relating to terrorism, would have a significant and lasting damaging effect on the industry. . . . At no point in time did any AFGEM employee, member of management or official visitor suggest or imply that Block's allegations might be justified."

At the meeting, the minister, who was not in a happy mood, also appointed a committee to regulate the measures that had been agreed to in the United States, the Tucson Tanzanite Protocol. Two days before, a committee of U.S. jewelry industry members known as the Tanzanite Task Force had sent the minister recommendations for specific tracking measures, including an export certificate, packaging materials, and a monitoring system. See Industry Introduces Tanzanite Tracking, from the March/April issue.

The committee would also receive suggestions from all interested parties in the tanzanite industry regarding the issue of branding, the minister emphasized.

The committee will be chaired by the retired chief of Tanzania's defense forces, General Robert Mboma, with the Ministry of Energy and Minerals' mineral commissioner, Gray Mwakalukwa, as its secretary. Committee members will include a legislator from Mbozi west, Eliakimu Simpasa, and Arusha regional security officer Godfrey Mhando, Majogo said.

AFGEM non-executive Chairman Ami Mpungwe said at the meeting that it was necessary to maintain peace and security at the tanzanite mines, since it was a necessary precondition for the flourishing of tanzanite trade. Local miners have been trying to drive AFGEM out of Mererani for over a year, sometimes physically attacking the plant and its workers.

Mpungwe added that it was necessary for all conflicting parties to come together and find ways to end the tanzanite mining crisis.

For more on the continuing conflict between AFGEM, the local miners of Mererani, and the government of Tanzania, see the May/June 2002 issue of Colored Stone.