This week on the Foreign Office Global Conversations blog
World Press Freedom Day, Iraq, Osama Bin Laden were amongst the topics discussed by Foreign Office bloggers.
World Press Freedom Day was marked with blog posts from UK Ambassadors accross the world; Frances Guy, Julie Chappell, Nigel Baker, Christopher O’Connor, Greg Dorey, Dominic Asquith, Charles Lonsdale and Stephen Lillie based in Lebanon, Guatemala, Bolivia, Tunisia, Hungary, Egypt, Armenia and the Phiippines.
Foreign Office Political Officer, Barrie Peach discussed the ‘Benghazi Free Press’ noting that “The new generation of free Libyan journalists have set themselves up in the burned out remains of the Courthouse building. There you will find correspondents for 7 newspapers, of a sort. Finding enough of the proper kind of paper for the print edition is just one of their challenges. There are also a number of radio stations, some of which can be heard in Tripoli and the other areas which Qadhafi’s forces still control. And of course there is Free Libya TV (also known as al-Ahar TV) broadcasting from Doha but possibly moving soon to Benghazi.”
High Commissioner to Kenya, Rob Macaire talked about ‘Kenya, the death of Osama Bin Laden, and the ongoing threat of terrorism’
Ambassador to Iraq, John Jenkins who is leaving Iraq after one and half years noted in his final blog post that “I leave Iraq today after one and a half years. I am deeply sad to go. I have made some good friends here. I admire the thirst of Iraqis for their freedoms and their rights and their determination to make their voice count. I think they deserve a better future and I hope they will sustain their desire to hold those in authority to account. That is what democracy means.”