FIBS NEWS DIRECT: MONDAY, 16 JUNE 2003
THREE COMPLETE SAMA’82 CHALLENGE:
Three young Falkland Islanders completed a tough challenge this weekend when they bagged the peaks around Stanley. Sean Moffatt, Zoran Zuvic and Matthew Eccles spent Liberation Weekend out in the cold, walking to raise money for SAMA’82. They arrived back in Stanley at 1700 yesterday afternoon.
CG: You can see the lights of the Memorial after your hard challenge. How do you feel?
Voice 1: I feel good. I am pleased with myself.
Voice 2: Very good.
CG: How did it go?
Voice 1: It went well.
CG: What would you say was probably the most challenging bit of the whole walk?
Voice 3: Probably the southern Two Sisters. That was really hard. It was covered in big snow drifts and it’s quite cold up there.
CG: Have you got any idea how much money you’ve raised?
Voice 2: No idea. I haven’t a clue.
Voice 3: £500.00, I think.
CG: Family, Friends, and Terry Peck (TP) from SAMA’82 met the trio after their long haul. I asked Terry how he was feeling.
TP: I am very proud of them. It’s been going on not for very long and for them to mark this exercise over this weekend has been tremendous. What they’ve achieved is second to none. On behalf of SAMA’82 we are so proud to have the calibre of these youngsters in our community and it shows the lads that were here in ’82, the lads today are just as equal to them as well.
CG: The boys are hoping to collect their sponsorship money as soon as possible.
ISLAND GAMES:
The opening ceremony of this year’s Island Games is being lead by Graham Didlick. This is happening on the 28th at St. Peter Port Harbour in Guernsey. The events kick off early the next morning with the full bore practice shoot, which Garreth Goodwin and Chris McCullam are taking part in. They will be shooting guns the same afternoon in the Pairs Queen’s Two Shoot. Also, on the first day, Doug Clark, Ian France, Nikki Luxton, Trudy Clarke and Lynn Brownlee will be taking part in the preliminary round badminton team event. And, David Fife and Marty Barnes will be running in the 10,000 metres.
ABATTOIR OPEN DAY:
FIDC is holding an open day at the Abattoir to mark the end of Farmers’ Week next month. As part of the event, along with the Falkland Islands Meat Company, they are looking for traditional local recipes using mutton. They are hoping to collect not just oven ready dishes but also food that can be eaten on the move. They say they are not just looking for the ultimate Falklands recipe but also would like to have an appropriate name. There are three categories for the competition: adults, 11 to 16s and the under 11s.
COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTARY ASSOCIATION:
The latest round of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Meetings are kicking off this week. This year, we are being represented by Cllrs. Richard Cockwell and Stephen Luxton. The meetings are taking place in London.
(100X Transcription Service)
"A" Press: 14 June 2003
There are two Falklands related articles in Clarin this morning.
First is an article by Ana Gerschenson reporting the speech made by Sukey Cameron at the Lincoln's Inn in London.
Ana Gerschenson reports it with her customary hostility, and says that the message from the Kelpers has no chance of acceptance by Argentina, as Kirchner had already indicated that the sovereignty claim would be one of the priorities of his foreign policy. She goes on to say that Argentine Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa is flying tomorrow to New York to take part in the Committee of 24 debate and that he will completely bury the "policy of seduction" then - although he will not go as far as Giavarini did when he didn't even greet the Islanders when he met them at New York. In other words there will be no attempt to persuade the Islanders now and Argentina will deal only with Britain. The article also says that President Kirchner will use his visit to Britain in July to promote Argentina's claim.
The second article in Clarin says that Foreign Minister Bielsa has co-opted Lucio Garcia del Solar into his Falklands team for the meeting of the Committee of 24 in New York. Lucio is a very well known hard-liner on the Falklands and the man that first got negotiations going with Britain in 1965. He is known to have strongly disapproved of Di Tella's policy of seduction of the Islanders. The article says that Lucio, an expert on the subject, can advise Bielsa on how to refute the aspirations of the Islanders.
This appointment of Lucio is a message that the Kirchner administration is going to be hard-line over the Falklands.
"A" Press: 16 June 2003
There's a real gem in Clarin this morning over the Falklands. It is carrying a major article about an idea by Daniel Barenboim, the well known musician, of creating an orchestra made up of Falklands, British and Argentine children! This is supposed to hold concerts in Buenos Aires, "Stanley" and London. Apparently Barenboim explained this to Argentine Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa in New York yesterday. It's the young people trick again - and about as crude a Trojan Horse type operation as one could imagine. La Nacion reports Barenboim's idea too, but doesn't give it much prominence.
A quote in Clarin from one of Bielsa's delegation illustrates their intentions and the problem they have in trying to involve Islanders and at the same time exclude them from the negotiations they are so keen to have:
Bielsa likes the initiative from Barenboim because he thinks that music and art can create a favourable climate for negotiation. But this does not mean that the Kelpers will be part of this (negotiation)".
These articles today stress that the present government's policy is to deal only with the British government and bury the "policy of seduction".
Both these articles report that John Summers and John Birminghan (sic) will present the Islanders case, and that James Douglas Lewis and Alejandro Jacobo (presumably Betts), two "ex-islanders" that now live on the continent will speak in favour of Argentina - no surprise there.
There were two Falklands articles in Clarin yesterday (Sunday) and two in La Nacion. All of them hyping up the meeting today at the UN Committee of 24. There was nothing new. All are emphasising that Argentina is taking a more active and harder line over the Falklands - with Lucio Garcia del Solar to advise - and that Argentina is burying Di Tella's policy of seduction and will accept only Britain as a negotiating partner.
(100X Translation Service)
