Counting the cost of Zimbabwe's 'blood diamonds'

Gamba has just bought big. This week he paid $22,000 for a single diamond. Judging by the big wad of folded US dollar bills in his pocket, it will not be his last. In three years Gamba estimates he has made more than $200,000 from black market diamond dealing, enough to buy his family a house and three cars. He is a crucial link in a chain said to connect Zimbabwe's "blood diamonds" with Mozambique, South Africa, Dubai, Belgium and, ultimately, Bond Street in London and Fifth Avenue in New York. "I've lost count of how many diamonds I've bought - but it has made me rich," said the 34-year-old, previously an accountant for a car hire firm. "You can make $1,000 every week, but the diamonds are different quality. If you buy the right things, you score. If you buy the wrong things, you sink." Mutare, a nest of spies and paranoia in Zimbabwe's wild east, is the latest corner of Africa to discover the corrupting power of diamonds. The nearby Marange fields contain deposits claimed to be worth billions of dollars, potentially making the crisis-torn country one of the world's top diamond producers.