The News Review:
- Insight: Tory MP in 1.5m diamond mine row
- Sierra Leonean leader commissions “first independent”…
- Sierra Leonean minister pleads for Kyoto protocol.
- UN to review Nepal role in peace missions?
- In Congo, Peace Eludes Its UN Keepers
Insight: Tory MP in 1.5m diamond mine row
Times Online – Mar 27, 2005
A foreign minister in John Major’s government, he now has extensive commercial interests and has been criticised in the past for his sporadic attendance in the Commons. In March 2000, he was censured by the parliamentary commissioner for standards for failing to declare the receipt of a £5,000 personal loan from a solicitor shortly before he recommended him for an honour. Baldry has long-standing personal links with Sierra Leone. He is a former colleague of President Ahmad Kabbah, who once practised in the same London chambers, and remains head of the chambers that acts for the Sierra Leone government in Britain. According to Nissam Levy, the Israeli joint owner of Milestone, Baldry was hired on the advice of senior figures in the Sierra Leone regime who described him as the west African state’s best friend in Britain. He came recommended by Sierra Leone’s minister for mines, its vice-president and other cabinet ministers, according to Levy. His initial role was to help Milestone smooth over allegations of links to the mafia…
It’s always good in any country that you have very good contacts. He knows them very well. “Baldry made two week-long trips to Sierra Leone in November last year and this January, arranging meetings between Levy and Kabbah and other ministers. His letter to Benn was to seek the government’s seal of approval for the company. Baldry asked Benn if British officials in Sierra Leone would meet Milestone representatives and ensure the company is “fully 100% in accord.
Sierra Leonean leader commissions “first independent”…
Free with registration – Asia Africa Intelligence Wire – AccessMyLibrary.com – Mar 27, 2005
Sierra Leonean leader commissions “first independent” television station. | Asia Africa Intelligence Wire (March, 2005).
Sierra Leonean minister pleads for Kyoto protocol.
Free with registration – Asia Africa Intelligence Wire – AccessMyLibrary.com – Mar 26, 2005
Sierra Leonean minister pleads for Kyoto protocol. | Asia Africa Intelligence Wire (March, 2005).
UN to review Nepal role in peace missions?
MONUC RD Congo – Mar 28, 2005
“We recognise the financial and professional importance that the RNA vest in their service with UN peacekeeping operations and the leverage this may provide us to influence conditions in Nepal positively,” he said. The UN will take the matter into account in its future discussions with the Nepal government, Guehenno said. Allegations about the misconduct of UN forces in devastated communities around the world ? ranging from Haiti, Sierra Leone, Bosnia and Cambodia to East Timor and Congo ? hit a new low Thursday when Jordan’s ambassador to the UN published a critical report that was endorsed by Secretary General Kofi Annan. Annan called the acts “abhorrent” and a “violation of the fundamental duty of care”. The report by Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein said peacekeepers in Congo persuaded abandoned orphans to consent to sexual encounters by offering gifts as trivial as two eggs. Nepal has about 3,000 military personnel engaged in several UN missions around the world, including Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Burundi, Kosovo, Lebanon, Ethiopia-Eritrea, Haiti, Sudan and East Timor. Their deployment in UN missions is a matter of great pride for the army.
In Congo, Peace Eludes Its UN Keepers
Washington Post – Mar 28, 2005
The United Nations has given the fighters until April 1 to hand in their weapons, saying that those who do not could face prosecution. But there is little incentive for them to put down their weapons. “In Liberia and Sierra Leone the fighters were tired. Here they are ready. Is it the role of peacekeepers from day to day to side with one faction or another and fight an entire war?” said Hassan’s boss, Maj. “It’s a very tough issue when you have so much war during peacekeeping.