Conflict Diamonds

After watching the movie Blood Diamond which is such an amazing movie, i decided to do some research into the idea of a conflict diamond.
i have placed references after the paragraphs, if you want to read more into it.

Conflict diamonds captured the world's attention during the extremely brutal conflict in Sierra Leone in the late 1990s. During this time, it is estimated that conflict diamonds represented approximately 4% of the world's diamond production. Illicit rough diamonds have also been used by rebels to fund conflicts in Angola, Liberia, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo

In July 1999, following over eight years of civil conflict, negotiations between the Government of Sierra Leone and the Revolutionary United Front led to the signing of the Lome Peace Agreement under which the parties agreed to the cessation of hostilities, disarmament of all combatants and the formation of a government of national unity.

http://www.un.org/peace/africa/Diamond.html



A diamond merchant shows his wares June 15, 2001 in Kenema, Sierra Leone. Muslim militant Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network has collected millions of dollars from the illicit sale of diamonds mined by Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in Sierra Leone. © Chris Hondros/Getty Images.


While the wars in Angola and Sierra Leone are now over, and fighting in the DRC has decreased, the problem of conflict diamonds hasn't gone away. Diamonds mined in rebel-held areas in Côte d'Ivoire, a West African country in the midst of a volatile conflict, are reaching the international diamond market. Conflict diamonds from Liberia are also being smuggled into neighboring countries and exported as part of the legitimate diamond trade.
http://www.amnestyusa.org/Our_Issues/Conflict_Diamonds/page.do?id=1011014&n1=3&n2=74



Sierra Leone
The economic and social infrastructure of Sierra Leone is not well developed. Around two thirds of the population survive by subsistence agriculture, although alluvial diamond mining (mining that extracts diamonds from deposits of sand, gravel and clay, which have been naturally transported by water erosion and deposited along either the banks of a river, the shoreline or on the bed of the ocean) accounts for nearly half of the country's exports and is the most significant source of hard currency earnings.
Diamonds were first discovered in Sierra Leone in 1930. In addition to diamonds, the country also has several other natural resources - titanium ore, bauxite, iron ore, gold and chromite.
Between 1991 and 2002, the country suffered a brutal, ten-year civil war during which the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) committed horrendous atrocities, terrorizing the population and gaining control of the country's diamond mines.

Eight years of protracted war left tens of thousands of people displaced and unknown numbers dead or mutilated. Half a million of Sierra Leone's people were forced to flee the country. The UN Security Council established the Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) in October 1999 to help restore peace. At its height, UNAMSIL had 17,000 troops and was the biggest UN peacekeeping operation in the world. The Abuja Agreement in 2001 finally led to a reduction of hostilities and by early 2002, tens of thousands of ex-combatants had been disarmed and demobilized. By January of 2002, the civil war was over and Sierra Leone became a democratic country.

http://www.diamondfacts.org/conflict/background.html#sierra

German Coast Guard

My sister nat referred me to this clip... makes me laugh every time

extreme break dancing

Its so cool.... i played this video for gaetan in hopes that he will try and get back into break dancing... but it didnt work

THE OFFICE'S RAINN WILSON GETS SPIRITUAL - Talks about the Baha'i Faith

http://www.ifmagazine.com/feature.asp?article=1976

...

Naughty Ribena

Ribena maker admits misleading public

The Age: March 27, 2007 - 10:30AM



Global drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline has admitted that it misled the public
over the vitamin C content of its popular blackberry drink Ribena.


The company faced 15 charges related to misleading advertising in an
Auckland court today, risking potential fines of up to $3 million.


The Commerce Commission called for penalties of between $275,000 and
$300,000 to be imposed on the firm. It also said the company should be
forced to take out adverts to inform the public that it had been misled.


The case came after two high school students, Anna Devathasan and Jenny
Suo, tested the children's drink against advertising claims that "the
blackcurrants in Ribena have four times the vitamin C of oranges" in 2004.


Instead, the two found the syrup-based drink contained almost no trace of
vitamin C, and one commercial orange juice brand contained almost four
times more than Ribena.


"We thought we were doing it wrong, we thought we must have made a
mistake," Devathasan, now aged 17, told New Zealand newspapers of the
school experiment.


GSK paid little attention to the claims of Devathasan and Suo until their
complaints reached the Commerce Commission.

Isra's Mac computer

So last weekend Gaetan and I went to Sydney to visit my family, the first time we had been back since we moved here (Canberra) over 2 months now.
we met up with gaetan's cousin Badi who is visiting venus, which was nice to finally get to meet him, especially since i had heard so much about him.
so we all decided to pop in and see Isra....but we ended up spending more time with her chic apple mac, she has this amazing photo program which completely distorts your face..it was hillarious.. and im still laughing at the site of the pics.

here are just a few

HAPPY NAW RUZ

Russell Peters Part 1

Russell Peters - Beating Your Kids

Ive recently been introduced to Russell peters and cannot get enough
check this out

MY GRANDFATHER

I thought since i hadn't blogged in a while that the first one i do would be about my Grandfather who has passed to the Abha Kingdom.

About two months ago, my dear grandfather passed away in his home town of Sari, Iran. He was hit by a car while walking down a main road. No one in the family knew what had happened, as we all live in Australia (he went back home to sell his property), my mum became worried when we hadn't heard anything from him for a while, but all her calls to family members and friends proved fruitless as no one had any idea where he was. we found out one month later that he had been hit by a car, went into coma and because no one had raised any alarm bells querying his wear abouts, they took his ID and claimed he was Muslim and was going to bury him as such. The only reason we found out was because a friend of my uncles who is Muslim started asking around, and eventually found out that there was an unknown old man in the morgue. and when he investigated further he found it was him.

It came as a big shock to us as he was a man of great strength, health and full of life. He would always tell us, his grandchildren, some advise on life, that in everything we do it should be directed to the Cause of God, he was a great source of strength for the whole family. He was such a beautiful man, so loving, gentle and kind and I hope that I may follow his example.

" ... life in this fast-fading world is as fleeting and inconstant as the morning wind, and this being so, how fortunate are the great who leave a good name behind them, and the memory of a lifetime spent in the pathway of the good pleasure of God"...

Abdu`l-Baha

WHERE AM I

Hey all
excuse the LOOOONNNNGGGG absence, ive been travelling around France for a month for my belated honeymoon and just recently moved to Canberra for work
so when i gaetan and i move into our new place shortly i will resume the blogging
well lets hope

cheers