The News Review:
- Sierra Leone’s civil war relived by its survivors at Freetown…
- Blair’s Africa visit to focus on G8, trade
- COMPANY RELEASES Cream Minerals – Casierra project, Sierra Leone
- Paramount Chief MP Angry With DFID Customs Interference in Sierra…
Sierra Leone’s civil war relived by its survivors at Freetown…
Reuters AlertNet – May 29, 2007
“Humanitarian tragedy”The agency worked closely with Warner Brothers to make the on-screen aid operations as realistic as possible, and the result are scenes that brought home to millions of viewers the indescribable humanitarian tragedy that defined one of West Africa’s most vicious civil wars. Until now, the film had never been shown in the country whose bloody history it portrays, a country without real cinemas of its own. “We wanted to give the people at the very heart of the story a chance to see this film,” said County Director Felix Gomez. “We hope Sierra Leoneans will look back and take pride on everything they have achieved since the end of the war,” he said…
CheersIn Freetown, the viewers owned the story, cheering enthusiastically when the good guys won, shouting abuse at the South African mercenaries when they appeared on-screen. As Sierra Leonean journalist Idriss Kpange told me, the movie really did show what life was like during the war. He only wished it had been shot in Sierra Leone. For Mohammed, production details were incidental. The film made him remember the years of brutality that ripped his country apart and changed his life forever. But as the lights came up and people began filing out of the hall, the boy in the wheelchair had a wide grin on his face. Yes, he said, it was a really good show.
Blair’s Africa visit to focus on G8, trade
Washington Post – May 29, 2007
correction {margin-top:8px;padding-top:10px;margin-bottom:8px;border-bottom:1px solid #CCCCCC;padding-bottom:10px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:11px;color:#333333;}. correction strong {color:#CC0000;text-transform:uppercase;}Blair’s Africa visit to focus on G8, tradeBy Adrian CroftReutersTuesday, May 29, 2007; 1:06 AMLONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Tony Blair wantsto use a farewell trip to Africa this week to build momentumfor a rich nation summit that will focus on Africa and to pushfor a world trade deal, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday. Blair flies to Libya, Sierra Leone and South Africa on oneof his last trips abroad before stepping down on June 27 aftera decade in power, handing over to finance minister GordonBrown. Aides to the prime minister say the visit comes at acritical time a week before a June 6-8 summit of the Group ofEight industrialized countries in Germany and when talks on along-delayed global free trade deal are coming to a head. Blair wants to use the Africa trip to “build momentum forprogress” at the Heiligendamm summit, a spokeswoman said. Blair hopes the G8 will reaffirm generous debt and aidcommitments it made at a summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, in2005 as well as making new pledges on education and AIDS, shesaid. He also hopes the summit will agree steps to combat globalwarming…
Blair has sought to focus international attention onAfrica’s problems during his decade in power. This week’s trip takes him back to Libya which he firstvisited in 2004, sealing Tripoli’s return to the internationalfold after it abandoned efforts to acquire banned weapons andagreed to pay damages for a 1988 airliner bombing overScotland. In Sierra Leone he may win praise for sending Britishtroops to the country in 2000 to help shore up the UnitedNations peacekeeping operation there and hasten the end of acivil war marked by atrocities against civilians. The South African government said Blair would hold talkswith President Thabo Mbeki and deliver a major policy speech onAfrica during a visit on Thursday and Friday. (Additional reporting by Pascal Fletcher in Dakar andAndrew Quinn in Johannesburg)© 2007 Reuters.
COMPANY RELEASES Cream Minerals – Casierra project, Sierra Leone
Mineweb – May 29, 2007
(CMA — TSX-V) (”Cream” or the “Company”) is pleased to report that the first three bulk samples taken under the Sewa River Exploration Licence sampling program successfully confirmed estimates of diamond grades as reported by the Geological Survey of Sierra Leone. Three bulk samples of approximately 6 cubic meters of diamondiferous alluvial products yielded ten (10) individual diamonds whose total weight averaged 0. 55 carats per cubic meter. The ten individual stones recovered included seven good clarity white and pale gold coloured stones and three coated stones.
Paramount Chief MP Angry With DFID Customs Interference in Sierra…
Awareness Times – May 29, 2007
He said the penchant to raise this amount through the means available to the NRA at the time proved difficult thereby impacting negative on governments budget estimation. He said this years revenue generation as pegged by DFID is Le 364 billion, again without any clear source or means of generating this amount even when the NRA failed to meet the same DFID income projection estimate for the last fiscal year. This has been the cause of punishment Sierra Leone faces at the hands of the World Bank, the IMF, the Paris Club and other international funding and aiding organisation. These economic projections proposed by DFID is in a way giving the impression to these funding bodies that Sierra Leone is unable to generate funds from the numerous income sources in the country. This is like giving the country bad name in the eyes of the international community,” Hon.