I think now it's time to get your suitcase packed, fasten your seatbelt and get ready for a trip to Zimbabwe.

Thanks to a thumbs-up from the Kimberley Process, which had previously banned Zimbabwe from trading diamonds mined in the Marange fields due to concerns over reported human rights violations and smuggling, the country will soon put a stock of diamonds worth at least $1.7 billion up for sale.

The Kimberley Process decided last week to allow Zimbabwe unload the 4.5 million carats worth of diamonds extracted from the Marange fields in two supervised sales. The decision on Zimbabwe's Marange diamonds was taken at a meeting last week in Russia that included two days of intense discussion on the issue.

Zimbabwe's monitor for the Kimberley Process Abbey Chikane will be a member of the KP review mission set up to oversee the diamond sales and report on them. The mission's report will serve as a basis for future KP decisions on diamond exports from Zimbabwe.

According to Zimbabwe's Mines Minister Obert Mpofu, the nation's cabinet had agreed to start selling off the diamonds immediately. Speaking in Harare Wednesday, Mpoful noted that the government was finalizing the details of the sale, and the auction would take place "within weeks."

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