An estimated 1000 people have been killed on Zimbabwe's Chiadzwu diamond fields since the signing of the unity government agreement more than a year ago.

And the killing of diamond panners by state agencies continues, says the Centre for Research and Development, a Mutare rights-advocacy group.

Many more panners have been tortured, the group says.

People living in eastern Zimbabwe have been displaced as the area has been militarised.

A documentary on the criminalisation of the panners, Zimbabwe's Blood Diamonds, is to be shown on Special Assignment on SABC3 tonight.

According to the documentary, many of the diamonds from these rich alluvial fields are sold on the black market, leaving the country through its porous borders.

The money earned has been used to support President Robert Mugabe's power base, fuelling Zimbabwe's social, political and economic crisis. The income from the diamonds -said to be about R7.5-million a month- could fund the reconstruction of the country, researchers say.

The rights group's Farai Maguwu said: ''We are not poor because the country is poor but because of the mismanagement of natural resources."