To NGOs, the gems represent the repression they campaign against. But these riches could transform my country...

The Zimbabwe high court has approved the sale of diamonds from a field plagued by human rights abuses, as Harare moved to defy the Kimberley Process, state-run media reported on Tuesday.

The sale of 300 000 carats of diamonds from the eastern Marange fields was blocked last year by the international regulator after it found that Zimbabwe had failed to comply with human rights standards.