MEDIA ADVISORY - Blood on the Stone: Greed, Corruption and War in the Global
Diamond Trade

OTTAWA, Oct. 21 /CNW/ - 'Smillie is lying through his teeth,' said former warlord and Liberian President Charles Taylor at his war crimes trial in The Hague, where Canada's Ian Smillie was the first witness.  Smillie will discuss his account of this exchange at the launch his new book, Blood on the Stone: Greed, Corruption and War in the Global Diamond Trade, October 24^th, as part of a lecture by Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and The Ottawa International Writers Festival. In a conversation with Lee Berthiaume, Managing Editor at Embassy Magazine, Smillie will discuss the cartel, the warlords, the gun runners and the shadowy traders who populated Africa's bloody diamond wars, and a faltering, decade-long effort to clean up an entire industry. 

When: Sunday, October 24, 2010, 8:00 p.m.
Where: Southminster United Church, 15 Aylmer Avenue (at Bank St.)

Ian Smillie has lived and worked in Africa and Asia as a teacher, consultant, investigator and writer. For the past ten years his focus has been blood diamonds, the wars they fuelled and a scheme designed to stop them. This has taken him from the jungles of West Africa to the backstreets of Antwerp and a war crimes tribunal in The Hague.  He was a leading NGO participant in the Kimberley Process from its inception until he resigned in 2009. Ian Smillie was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2003.

Blood on the Stone: Greed, Corruption and War in the Global Diamond Trade, is jointly published by IDRC and Anthem Press. 

The event is open to the media. Spaces are limited and journalists are encouraged to register by calling Isabelle Bourgeault-Tassé at 613-696- 2343 or e-mailing at [email protected].

Journalists and the public can join in the conversation through Twitter (#IDRC) and Facebook.

About IDRC
To achieve self-reliance, poor communities need answers to questions like: How can we grow more and healthier food? Protect our health? Create jobs? IDRC supports research in developing countries to answer these questions. IDRC also encourages sharing this knowledge with policymakers, other researchers, and communities around the world. The result is innovative, lasting local solutions that aim to bring choice and change to those who need it most.

For further information:

Isabelle Bourgeault-Tassé / ([phone] / [email protected]