A young boy fires an AK-47 rifle in this screen grab from a film clip produced by Amnesty International to publicise its Control Arms campaign. The clip features presenters on a spoof shopping channel trying to sell the guns to the public. Amnesty International
Today&${esc.hash}39;s blog has a media theme...Another charity "viral film clip" streamed its way into an AlertNet reporter&${esc.hash}39;s inbox this morning. This one is from human rights group Amnesty International and is aimed at publicising its Control Arms campaign.
Two presenters on a spoof shopping channel chat cheerfully about the merits of the AK-47, flagging up how easily it can be used by child soldiers. A young boy comes on and blasts a model man with the gun. That&${esc.hash}39;s followed by close-ups of the &${esc.hash}39;wounds&${esc.hash}39;, as we are reminded how simple it is to buy one. Next item: dressing-gowns&${esc.hash}39;
Amnesty is counting down to June&${esc.hash}39;s U.N. conference on small arms (87 days to go), and says that in the 100 days leading up to the conference, over 100,000 people will be killed by armed violence. A recently released report shows how U.N. arms embargoes have been consistently violated over the past 10 years. The aim of its campaign is to secure global controls on the small arms trade.
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Another recent film that&${esc.hash}39;s heavy on arms is "Shooting Dogs" , the British movie that tells the story of the April 11, 1994 massacre at the Ecole Technique Officielle (ETO) in Kichukiro, a southern suburb of the Rwandan capital, Kigali. The film was made in Rwanda with Rwandan actors and crew, and controversy continues to rage about the impact of the film on survivors of the genocide.
According to the Independent, schoolgirls who watched the filming at the school needed treatment for flashbacks after hearing the actors repeat the chants preceding the slaughter. It also reports how one senior aid worker criticised the decision to show the film to a local audience of 2,000 in Kigali, calling it "a very violent form of therapy". At the screening two days ago, there was no applause when the titles rolled. Just the sound of sobbing as people recalled their terrible experiences.
In defence of the film, Beata Uwazaninka-Smith argues in the newspaper: "Of course the film is hard for us survivors, but we did not go on to the set thinking it was for laughs. I cried at times, but the trauma is caused by what we went through, not what was being acted. Trauma will be with us until we die - it is a part of who we are."
Rwandan President Paul Kagamehas also defended the film, one of several recent accounts of the bloodletting. "The film as such is going to be a continued part of our memory relating to the genocide and I think that memory needs to be kept," he told reporters.
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Moving on to radio, Reuters reports how the royalist government in Nepal is planning to set up six FM stations to counter what it regards as propaganda being spread by Maoist rebels who want to topple the monarchy. The media in Nepal is heavily regulated, with private news stations banned from running news bulletins. Some flaunt this ban, and the Maoists use portable transmitters to get their message out across the country. Now the army wants to muscle in on the airwaves too, promising a mix of entertainment and news. What next: a road show starring top royal DJ &${esc.hash}39;The King&${esc.hash}39; Gyanendra?
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For those who want to check out what Saddam was really up to before he was unseated in Operation Iraqi Freedom (as the military dubbed the US-led invasion), well now you can... The Joint Reserve Intelligence Centre of the Foreign Military Studies Office has created a portal to provide the general public with access to unclassified documents and media captured during the operation.
The Guardian reportsthat the documents, most of which are in Arabic, have set the blogging world alight, and have already caused a diplomatic incident by suggesting Russia handed (bogus) attack plans to Baghdad.
Documents include "Personal email messages", a variety of weapons inventories, "SECRET MEETING WITH TALIBAN GROUP MEMBER AND IRAQI GOVERNMENT" (sic), and a video of "Propaganda By Iraq TV including dancing and singing with Iraq national songs, praising Saddam Hussein&${esc.hash}39;s achievements for Iraq and shouting dreadful words against the United States" (sic).
The documents come with a health warning: The U.S. government says it can&${esc.hash}39;t guarantee the authenticity or accuracy of the documents, and the site recommends that if users come across "documents they feel are inappropriately released", they should contact officers at the centre. Did no-one mention there&${esc.hash}39;s not much point locking the stable door after the horse has bolted? Especially when it&${esc.hash}39;s a virtual horse&${esc.hash}39;
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We&${esc.hash}39;ve also got our eye on a couple of hotspots today. The BBC&${esc.hash}39;s File on 4 programme visited a refugee camp on the eastern Chad border with Sudan, where local people have been fleeing attacks by the Sudanese government-backed militia, the janjaweed. A local Chadian official told the BBC the Sudanese government is trying to "destabilise" Chad by getting the militia to loot villages across the border.
There are now fears Chad may be facing a humanitarian crisis as violence spills over from Darfur and Chad rebels continue to plot against the government. The U.N. refugee agency says that some 30,000-40,000 Chadians have been displaced.
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There are concerns that fighting could start up again in Mogadishu and possibly spread to the seat of Somalia&${esc.hash}39;s interim government, Reuters reports. Since last week&${esc.hash}39;s clashes &${esc.hash}39; the worst in years, in which 70-90 people died - religious leaders and elders have been trying to broker a full ceasefire between militias.
But the warlord alliance - which dubbed itself the "Anti-terrorism Coalition" - has not turned up to the negotiations. "The talks have collapsed since they have failed to attend sittings," Islamist militia leader Siyad Mohamed told Reuters. "It looks like they are ready for new fighting."
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News has also come in that former Liberian President Charles Taylor was arrested in northern Nigeria on the border with Cameroon. His capture comes a day after the Nigerian authorities said he had "disappeared" from his villa in southeastern Nigeria where he lived in exile since stepping down in 2003 as part of a deal to end 14 years of civil war in Liberia.
Advocacy group Global Witness hailed the arrest as a step towards ending impunity for heads of state "responsible for conflict, and crimes against humanity" in Africa.
This latest twist in the tale will be a relief to many in Liberia who had feared his escape could herald more trouble for the war-torn country. In a column from the Monrovia-based Analyst newspaper, he is referred to by one elderly lady as a "hellaba", which in Liberian parlance means "troublesome". You can say that again...
Best wishes,
Megan Rowling AlertNet journalist
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