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Sierra Leone's first look at 'Blood Diamond'

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), together with the United States film company Warner Bros. Pictures, will host Sierra Leone's first-ever screening of the film 'Blood Diamond' in Freetown on 8 and 9 May 2007.

The movie, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou, is said to be inspired by Greg Campbell's book Blood Diamonds: Tracing the Deadly Path of the World's Most Precious Stones. The film portrays bloody civil war incited and funded by the illegal diamond trade that gripped the country during the 1990s.

The film has never been publicly shown in the country, and it's expected that around 600 people will turn out for the two free viewings.

“It is wonderful to have the chance to make this story available to the people of Sierra Leone,” said the film’s director Ed Zwick. “After all, it is a story that belongs to them.”

Reports say that the government was initially opposed to the Oscar-nominated film; fearing the movie's depiction of the country would have adverse affects on the progress its made since the end of the war and its joining of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. In a country where diamond mining remains a major source earnings (accounting for almost half the country's exports), they were worried that diamond buyers would be put off and look elsewhere to purchase the gems.

"The situation portrayed in the film is not the current situation. It is history," said Director of Mines, Alimany Wurie, in a report by Victoria Averill.

"We asked them to say at the end of the film that the country is now peaceful, the war has ended, and there are no more blood diamonds," said Wurie. "But Hollywood did not listen."

WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said the movie opened the world's eyes to the tragedy, but the nation should be proud of its progress: “Sierra Leoneans can take great pride in the immense achievements since the end of the war.”

The WFP's white and blue logo prominently appears in a number of the movie scenes, and it's said the agency continues to provide food assistance to over 300,000 people as part of a redevelopment scheme.

The movie realistically portrays aid operations, such as those undertaken by the WFP in the '90s to feed thousands who fled their homes during the conflict.

Last month, the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) had set aside over US$100 million to combat rural poverty in developing countries of Africa and Asia, as well as regions of Latin America and the Middle East.

Actors Connelly and Hounsou have added their voices to the call to end hunger by participating in a public service announcement for WFP which has been broadcast around the world.

Source: United Nations; CSMonitor

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