PEACE NEGOTIATIONS WATCH
Monday, August 22, 2005
(Volume IV, Number 31)
Contents:
Armenian, Azerbaijani foreign ministers to meet on Nagorno-Karabakh talks
Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents to meet together later this week.
Swearing in of transitional government to be a milestone in peace process.
Hutu ex-rebel chief elected president of war-ravaged Burundi
UN chief in Burundi attributes Arusha Peace Accords for jumpstarting process in 2001.
Russian president meets with controversial son of assassinated Chechen president
Statue built in Grozny to commemorate life of slain leader.
U.N. says Ugandan territory still used to ferry guns into lawless eastern Congo
UN Congo mission has requested an additional brigade of peacekeepers to monitor elections.
Presidents of Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Georgia meet in Crimea
Leaders discuss Belarus and regional political climate.
Indonesian president urges military, Aceh rebels to honor peace agreement
Disarmament of rebels to begin in mid-September.
Aceh human right tribunal won't look at past crimes
Response of human rights tribunal controversial.
UN officials back Mbeki on Ivory Coast, as opposition questions role
Presidential elections set for October.
Pilgrimage ends peacefully in revolt-hit Kashmir, 400,000 join trek
Hindus make pilgrimage to shrine in Indian Kashmir.
Kosovo
NATO remains committed to Kosovo security as possible talks near, commander says
NATO commander makes visit to Kosovo.
U.N. envoy says more work needed before talks on Kosovo's future
Eide calls for improved ethnic relations and rule of law in Kosovo.
U.S. says it wants to help in settling Moldova's separatist dispute
American ambassador in Chisinau offers greater U.S. role in resolving Transnistrian conflict.
Senator Lugar represents U.S. at POW hand over ceremony.
U.N. investigates hundreds of alleged disappearances in conflict-stricken Nepal
People believed to have been detained by government or taken by Maoist rebels.
U.S.-backed offensives disrupted Jemaah Islamiyah training in Philippines
Jemaah Islamiyah blamed for 2002 Bali attacks.
Serbia's ruling coalition facing crisis over economic, political issues
Privatization of state oil company problematic for Serbia.
Somali speaker snubs prime minister at UN-mediated crisis talks in Kenya
Speaker and prime minister state they are willing to hold talks.
Sri Lankan leaders tell Norway to pressure Tamil rebels into renouncing violence
Norwegian foreign affairs minister meets with Sri Lankan president.
Sri Lanka, Tamil rebels agree to first formal talks in more than 2 years
At minimum, parties will review previous agreement.
U.N.: Sudan Rebel Group Committed to Peace
One rebel faction has asked for session scheduled for later this month to be postponed.
UN refugee chief in Sudan to assess humanitarian crisis
UN official questions international resolve toward assisting Africa.
Genocide in Darfur: A Legal Analysis Click here to access the PILPG Report.
Armenian, Azerbaijani foreign ministers to meet on Nagorno-Karabakh talks
Associated Press, 8/22/05
The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan were scheduled to meet Monday for talks on the latest efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, news agencies reported.
Ethnic Armenian forces seized the mountainous enclave during a war in the 1990s that killed thousands and displaced millions. A tense cease-fire has held since 1994 and efforts to finally resolve its status have repeatedly failed.
The two foreign ministers were expected to lay the groundwork for a meeting of the countries' two presidents later this week, Interfax news agency reported.
The return of refugees, withdrawal from some territories and introducing peacekeeping forces are among the issues being discussed.
Presidents Ilham Aliev of Azerbaijan and Robert Kocharian of Armenia were slated to meet on Friday in Kazan on the sidelines of a meeting of leaders from several former Soviet republics.
Burundi inches closer to post-transition government with presidential election
Esdras Ndikumana, Agence France Presse, 8/17/05
Lawmakers in Burundi vote this week to elect a new president, ushering in the end of an extended period of transitional government that has been at the core of efforts to bring 12 years of civil war to a close.
Pierre Nkurunziza, the leader of the tiny central African nation's main ex-Hutu rebel group, is assured of victory in Friday's one-man race since his Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD) swept local and legislative polls in June and July.
But while the result of the vote is not in doubt, his election and August 26 swearing-in as head of Burundi's first post-transition government will be a milestone in a five-year-old regionally-endorsed peace process.
Not only will Nkurunziza take control of a government formed under the rules of a new power-sharing constitution overwhelmingly endorsed by voters in a February referendum, his presidency will mark Burundi's return to elected Hutu leadership.
The current war, which has claimed some 300,000 lives, erupted in 1993 after the country's first democratically elected president, Melchior Ndadaye, a Hutu, was assassinated by members of the Tutsi-dominated military.
Although overshadowed by the intensity and death toll of the 100-day genocide in neighboring Rwanda the next year, the conflict in Burundi has persisted for more than a decade as majority Hutus and minority Tutsis battle for control.
Tutsis make up only 14 percent of Burundi's 7.1 million population but until Ndadaye's ill-fated election in 1993 had wielded virtually absolute dominance over the country since it won independence from Belgium in 1962.
That dominance has been deeply resented by Hutus, who account for 85 percent of the population, widely endorsed the new constitution which provides for a 60-40 split in power, and voted in huge numbers for the FDD at all levels.
Thus Nkurunziza's assured victory on Friday is hoped to herald the end of persistant ethnic conflict in the country with the success of the peace process that began in 2000 and saw the formation of the transitional government in 2001. "The symbolism that the exercise will elicit for the Hutus gives it meaning and prime importance," said one Burundian political analyst, noting that the election would seal a process "aimed at ending the war by restoring strong Hutu leadership."
On the basis of that and similar sentiment, thousands of Burundian refugees, many of them Hutus, have begun pouring back into their homeland from camps in Rwanda and Tanzania, according to the United Nations.
"The refugees tell us that orderly communal elections at the end of June -- nearly the last step in a long transition to peace and democracy -- gave them the confidence to return home after up to nine years in exile," the UN refugee agency said last week.
Despite such optimism, Nkurunziza will face numerous economic and other challenges on taking power, not least of which is the fact that one Hutu rebel group, the National Liberation Forces (FNL), remains outside the peace process. "If the FDD don't realise their gaps in terms of expertise and competence, if they don't bring in the others, the situation is fraught with a good deal of danger," Burundi analyst Willy Nindorera said after the party thrashed its Hutu rivals in the polls.
"The FDD are coming to power at a time when the economy is flat on its back, with social problems brewing which they'll have to deal with at once, a civil war that is not wholly over, a lot of dissatisfied Hutus who have lost out, and a Tutsi community in complete need of reassurance," he said late last month.
A Bujumbura-based diplomat agreed and noted that Nkurunziza, a political novice, and his party will have to learn to govern quickly if the high expectations they have promoted are to be met.
"They are going to have to run a country while they still have everything to learn," the diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity. "The work to be done in this country is immense and the FDD are so young, so inexperienced, many have no qualifications. It won't be easy."
Hutu ex-rebel chief elected president of war-ravaged Burundi
Agence France Presse, 8/19/05
Hutu ex-rebel leader Pierre Nkurunziza was elected president of Burundi on Friday with a mandate to unify the tiny central African nation torn by decades of ethnic strife and 12 years of civil war.
As one of the last steps in a regionally-backed peace process, parliament overwhelming endorsed Nkurunziza, head of the former rebel Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD) and sole candidate for the post, by a vote of 151 to nine.
He and his as-yet unnamed power-sharing government are to be sworn in next week, ending an extended period of transitional administration under a 2001 peace accord that sought to halt the conflict between majority Hutus and minority Tutsis.
The 40-year-old born-again Christian and one-time sports educator will then become one of Africa's youngest heads of state, taking on a host of festering economic problems and a lingering insurgency by Burundi's last active rebel group.
The August 26 inauguration will also see Nkurunziza installed as Burundi's second democratically elected president, following the 1993 assassination of the first, Melchior Ndadaye, also a Hutu, by the Tutsi-dominated military that sparked the current war.
Some 300,000 lives have been lost in the fighting that is now carried on only by the National Liberation Forces (FNL), the lone holdout among what had been seven Hutu rebel groups at the height of the conflict.
In a short address to parliament after his election, Nkurunziza, who has made national reconciliation, security and development his main goals, offered effusive thanks to God, his family and fellow Burundians for the honor of serving. "What has just occurred here shows clearly that if you put God (in) first place, you will never be disappointed," he told lawmakers. "I thank the members of parliament, those who voted for me and those who didn't."
Nkurunziza was unopposed as potential rivals opted not to run when the FDD swept local and legislative elections in June and July after the adoption in February of a new constitution that provides for a 60-40 power split between Hutus and Tutsis.
Friday's election was hailed by politicians and international observers as the near-culmination of a five-year-old peace process that got its first big boost with the signing of the 2001 peace deal in Arusha, Tanzania. "I'm very pleased to see the electoral process working," said Carolyn McAskie, head of the UN Operation in Burundi (ONUB). "I followed the Arusha negotiations personally, the signing of the Arusha agreement and today in the room."
"This is the result of all these efforts made for a long time and this is a sign the process is on track," she told AFP.
Jean-Baptist Manwangari, a lawmaker from the main Tutsi party UPRONA, said Nkurunziza's election was symbolic of a nationwide desire to restore stability to Burundi which has been wracked by ethnic conflict since independence in 1962. "This day is the result of a long process marked by a search for dialogue and consensus," he said. "This vote is an expression of sacred unity of all Burundians who are looking past their differences for Burundi to achieve stability, peace, justice and development."
An official with the FDD's main Hutu rival, FRODEBU, agreed, saying the party had instructed its members to vote for Nkurunziza. "We gave him the benefit of our confidence because a president must have the confidence of all," said Jean Minani, who is at the center of a FRODEBU intra-party leadership row over its poor election showings. "All now rest on the shoulders of Nkurunziza and the FDD," said a Bujumbura-based diplomat who requested to remain unnamed. "Their leadership will determine what Burundi will become: a haven of peace or hell for the people," added the diplomat.
Nkurunziza's brief remarks did not touch on his plans for governing but in a symbolic campaign speech to parliament on Thursday, he pledged to work for unity and an end to the ethnic clashes that have riven Burundi for decades. "The blood that was shed during the civil war and that was shed in other conflicts in this country should serve as a lesson," he said. "We must discard the old methods of exclusion, favoritism, bad governance ... that led us to disaster."
But the diplomat warned that Nkurunziza would be faced with many challenges in rebuilding the country struggling from the ravages of more than a decade of civil strife. "Much still remains to be done in this country and the FDD is very young, quite inexperienced, many of them have no qualifications. It will not be easy," he said.
Russian president meets with controversial son of assassinated Chechen president
Mike Eckel, Associated Press, 8/21/05
President Vladimir Putin praised the son of assassinated Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov Sunday, telling the controversial leader that he had done much to restore war-ravaged Chechnya.
In a meeting clearly designed to bolster the young Chechen official's credibility and authority, Putin met with 28-year-old Ramzan Kadyrov at the presidential retreat on the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
The meeting, which was attended by Kadyrov's mother - Akhmad Kadyrov's widow - came a day after Kadyrov failed to attend a ceremony in the Chechen capital Grozny unveiling a new statue of his father, who was killed in a bomb blast in May 2004.
Putin told Kadyrov that the situation in Chechnya was improving. "Much of what Akhmad Kadyrov envisioned now exists," Putin said in televised comments. "The son of Akhmad, who is present here, we can say to a significant extent, has taken the torch from his father."
"For this, I want to thank you," he said.
Kadyrov responded: "The things that you have started with my father - this is supported by the people - and every day, this proves the memory of my father."
Kadyrov is a deputy prime minister for Chechnya and his security force is commonly referred to as "Kadyrovskii Spetsnaz," or Kadyrov's Commandos - an estimated 2,000 to 4,000 well-armed troops who are largely feared and accused of abuses ranging from kidnappings to robberies. He also holds vast business interests in Chechnya's valuable oil industry.
Many, including the region's current president, Alu Alkhanov, acknowledge Kadyrov is likely to assume power in the republic once he reaches 30 - the minimum age for leadership as required by the Chechen constitution.
In December, Putin awarded Ramzan a top national honor, despite the misgivings of human rights groups, who point out that violence is persistent in the region, along with rampant abductions of civilians.
On Saturday, in heavily guarded ceremonies, Chechen and Russian officials unveiled a new monument to Akhmad Kadyrov on a square in Grozny. A plaque on the statue's base describes him as "Chechnya's first president" - although retired Soviet air force Gen. Dzhokhar Dudayev was elected president in 1991 and rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov claimed the presidency in a 1997 election. Both were later killed by Russian forces.
Ramzan Kadyrov's son did not attend the ceremony, because, according to Alkhanov, "he would not be able to control his emotions."
Akhmad Kadyrov, who was backed by the Kremlin, was killed in a bomb blast in a Grozny stadium on May 9, 2004, during ceremonies marking the end of World War II in Europe. Rebel warlord Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility for the blast.
Russian military and police forces re-entered Chechnya in 1999, three years after withdrawing at the end of a disastrous 20-month war with separatist fighters that left the province de facto independent. Although federal forces and Chechen paramilitary allies control most of the small Caucasus territory, rebels based in mountain hideouts mount regular hit-and-run attacks.
U.N. says Ugandan territory still used to ferry guns into lawless eastern Congo
Nick Wadhams, Associated Press, 8/17/05
Militias in eastern Congo are still getting weapons from Ugandan territory, contributing to the deep instability in the troubled region, U.N. officials said Wednesday.
The officials said that there were suggestions the militias in eastern Congo were weakened and had recently met in the Ugandan capital Kampala to discuss joining forces.
Margaret Carey, principal officer of the Africa Division with the U.N. Peacekeeping Department, said Uganda has since said that armed elements from eastern Congo would not be welcome.
"Not arrested, but at least not welcomed on their territory, and that's a positive step forward," Carey told reporters.
Carey said the U.N. mission had reports clearly indicating that armed groups in the Ituri region of eastern Congo were still being trained and arms were flowing over the border from Uganda. "I think it has to be very clear that we're not saying that it's the government of Uganda, we're saying it's Ugandan territory which is being used for the movement of arms flows," Carey said.
The arms flows and continued violence mean the region is still deeply troubled, even as registration continues for elections set for next year.
Backed by U.N. peacekeepers, a transitional government set up after Congo's ruinous 1998-2002 war is struggling to gain control over the east, formerly held by Congolese rebel groups whose leaders have been given top positions in government.
The transitional government says nationwide elections will be held next year despite the violence, and authorities began registering voters nationwide in June.
A credible election will be key to maintaining the shaky peace that has held since 2002 in much of the vast African nation, where an estimated 4 million people died from starvation and disease during the war.
The U.N.'s Congo mission has requested another brigade of peacekeepers - which could be anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000 troops - for the elections.
Carey said that because deployments take a minimum of about 2 1/2 months, it's unlikely the brigade would get there in time for much of the registration, but would probably be in place by the time the elections occur.
Democratic Republic of Congo Negotiation Simulation
Click here to access the DR Congo Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public International Law & Policy Group.
Presidents of Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Georgia meet in Crimea
Anna Melnichuk, Associated Press, 8/18/05
The presidents of four former Soviet bloc countries held meetings on Ukraine's Crimea peninsula Thursday as part of efforts by President Viktor Yushchenko and other leaders to forge a counterbalance to Russia's regional dominance.
Yushchenko and his Polish counterpart, Aleksander Kwasniewski, were the first two leaders to sit down for one-on-one talks in the Black Sea region Thursday, Yushchenko's press office said in a statement.
The two discussed developments in neighboring Belarus, which is locked in dispute with Poland over the status of ethnic Poles there and which has also crossed swords with Ukraine and Georgia.
The dispute with Belarus "doesn't have a positive impact on bilateral relations," Yushchenko was quoted as saying by his press office.
On Wednesday, Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka said he wants to set up a working group with Ukraine, Lithuania and Latvia to coordinate their policy toward Minsk. He also discussed with Polish political leaders the idea of opening a radio station to broadcast into Belarus in support of pro-democracy groups.
Yushchenko later met with Lithuania's Valdas Adamkus for discussions on boosting trade and cooperation in the Baltic and Black Sea regions, Yushchenko's office said. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili joined the three presidents later.
NTV showed footage of the four presidents visiting a children's seaside summer camp. Dressed in slacks and summer shirts, the four donned neckerchiefs, danced with children, ate in a cafeteria and were serenaded by singers.
Relations with Russia were expected to dominate talks at a joint meeting of the four leaders scheduled for Friday.
Moscow has strong influence over political, economic and military affairs in the former Soviet states - a region it considers part of its sphere of influence.
Since mass uprisings in Ukraine and Georgia brought Western-leaning leadership to power, those two former Soviet states have increasingly looked for ways to move out from under Russia's shadow. Poland and Lithuania, meanwhile, are European Union members.
Last Friday, Western-leaning Yushchenko and Saakashvili called for an alliance that would unite democracies of the Baltic, Black Sea and Caspian regions, in a move likely to anger the Kremlin.
The alliance's name - the Commonwealth of Democratic Choice - is similar to the Russian-led Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose alliance of 12 ex-Soviet nations that includes both Georgia and Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Borys Tarasiuk on Thursday said that the new alliance is not an "alternative for the CIS." He said the new alliance had no administrative staff or official structure and was essentially just a concept for now.
Indonesian president urges military, Aceh rebels to honor peace agreement
Robin McDowell, Associated Press, 8/16/05
Indonesia's president urged the military and separatist rebels on Tuesday to keep an agreement to end three decades of fighting in tsunami-battered Aceh province, saying its war-weary people deserve peace.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also denied that deploying 250 international monitors to oversee the pact's implementation amounts to interference in Indonesia's domestic affairs.
The peace deal, which could smooth the flow of billions of aid dollars to victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami, was signed by the Indonesian government and Free Aceh Movement rebels on Monday in Finland.
The pact is seen as Aceh's best chance in years to end a long-running war that has claimed 15,000 lives, but analysts warn that it faces many obstacles.
The most sensitive point will be the rapid demobilization of more than 27,000 Indonesian troops and the disarmament of 3,500 rebels - a nearly four-month operation that is to begin Sept. 15.
Yudhoyono called on both sides to honor the agreement, and 250 European and Southeast Asian peace monitors are being deployed across Aceh to make sure they do, sparking criticism from some nationalists who accused Yudhoyono - one of the deal's architects - of internationalizing the issue.
"The conflict of Aceh is a domestic issue. We never intended to internationalize it," the president told lawmakers Tuesday in Jakarta. The monitors do not represent "foreign interference in our domestic affairs," he said.
Several previous peace accords have collapsed amid bitterness and distrust, but analysts say the chances are much better this time.
The warring factions returned to the negotiating table after the Dec. 26 tsunami killed 131,000 people in Aceh and left hundreds of thousands homeless. Neither side wanted their fighting to add to people's suffering or slow the aid flow.
"We now have a golden opportunity to change Aceh for good," Yudhoyono said in a commentary in the International Herald Tribune newspaper on Tuesday. "We cannot afford to squander it because a chance for permanent peace does not come often in history."
Monday's agreement became possible after Free Aceh Movement rebels agreed to renounce their demand for full independence, and to disarm.
It provides them with amnesty and gives Aceh limited self-government, as well as control over 70 percent of the revenue from its mineral wealth.
It will also get its own flag and hymn, and rebels will be eligible to take part in local elections next year and in 2009.
Indonesia's government agreed to cut the number of soldiers in the region from 35,000 to 14,700 and police from 15,000 to 9,100 - although at least one rebel leader said hours after the accord was signed that too many were remaining.
"At the end of the process there will be around twice as many troops to be stationed in Aceh as any other (part) of Indonesia," said Malik Mahmud, an exiled rebel leader who took part in the signing.
Words of congratulations, meanwhile, poured in from across the globe.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said "the people of Aceh deserve a peaceful future" and the United States praised the longtime enemies, saying they showed "vision and courage" in settling the conflict through dialogue. The European Union called it a "historic" deal that would generate sustainable peace and help rebuild Aceh communities devastated by the tsunami, and Japan said it would be happy to assist if needed.
Aceh human right tribunal won't look at past crimes
Febry Orida, Associated Press, 8/20/05
Victims of a civil war that claimed 15,000 lives expressed outrage Saturday that a human rights tribunal for Indonesia's Aceh province will not consider atrocities committed during three decades of fighting.
Government negotiators and rebel leaders, saying they did not want to open old wounds, argued that the court should only look at alleged violations that follow the signing of a peace agreement days ago in Finland.
"If we keep looking back to the past, we will continue to blame each other and there will be no end to it," Justice and Human Rights Minister Hamid Awaluddin said Friday. "There would be no peace in Aceh. So we decided to look forward."
Almost all of those killed in the 29-year war were civilians.
The military - and to a lesser extent Free Aceh Movement rebels, better known by their Indonesian acronym GAM - have been accused of extrajudicial killings, torture, kidnappings, rape and disappearances.
Many of the alleged atrocities occurred when Aceh was under tight military control and escaped the international spotlight. Before the Dec. 26 tsunami, the province was closed to foreign journalists and aid workers.
Muhammad Pari bin Rusli from Meunasah Pantoen, 240 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of the provincial capital Banda Aceh, says no one should escape trial. "Perpetrators of violence only become more brazen when they are not held accountable," the 22-year-old student said, adding that troops once interrogated him and his friends for information about the rebels. "When we didn't have any answers, they beat and tortured us until blood was coming from our mouths and we lost consciousness."
Human rights groups also said victims of the brutal conflict deserve justice. "This is their right," said Hendardi, the director of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.
Both the rebels and the military should go before a court of law, he said.
The peace agreement was signed after the rebels gave up their long-held demand for full independence and agreed to disarm.
In return, Jakarta offered rebels amnesty and said it would give the province a greater say in running its affairs through a special autonomy deal that gives them the right to choose their own government.
Indonesia also promised to withdraw more than half of its 50,000 troops from Aceh under the eyes of more than 200 EU and Southeast Asian peace monitors.
Some people, including lawmakers in Jakarta, have expressed concern that the terms of the accord were reached with little outside consultation.
But victims said that's the way it's always been.
Firdaus, a 24-year-old resident of Lhoknga, 45 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of Banda Aceh, said government troops shot his father. "We could not say anything then," Firdaus said. "And we cannot say anything now."
Even though most people see the peace agreement as the best chance to bring a permanent end to fighting, many are still afraid and refused to speak on the record.
One, a civil servant from Banda Aceh, said he was unhappy with the decision to create a tribunal that ignores past crimes.
He said that rebels kidnapped his cousin four years ago, never to be returned, and that Indonesian soldiers killed his uncle. "The military accused my uncle of being a GAM member. They ripped open his stomach with a knife and dragged him on the ground for 20 meters," the 35-year-old said. "I wish I could see my uncle's killer brought to court," he said. "He should be punished for what he did to my family."
Aceh Negotiation Simulation
Click here to access the Aceh Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public International Law & Policy Group.
UN officials back Mbeki on Ivory Coast, as opposition questions role
Agence France Presse, 8/16/05
Two top United Nations officials for war-ravaged Ivory Coast on Tuesday backed South African President Thabo Mbeki's mediation and warned against any attempts to disrupt presidential polls set for October.
The support for Mbeki came after two main opposition parties in Ivory Coast accused the South African peacebroker of being partisan and favouring current President Laurent Gbagbo, whose west African country has been sliced into two regions since a rebel uprising in September 2002.
After talks with Mbeki in the South African capital, Pierre Schori, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's special representative in Ivory Coast, said: "We had a very good meeting and we both said there is a strong need to move ahead... the important thing is that the train must start moving. "We have full faith in President Mbeki," who was sent by the African Union to mediate the conflict, Schori told AFP, speaking on behalf of himself and recently appointed UN elections monitor Antonio Monteiro.
"There should absolutely be no pretext for blocking the elections or the peace process," he said.
Schori also warned that "both the mediation and the United Nations are powerful allies and guarantors who read from the same script."
He said the UN was "assessing things on a daily basis and sending back reports," adding that sanctions could be imposed on "anyone who obstructs the peace process, anyone who flouts human rights, anyone who uses hate language or anyone breaking the arms embargo."
Mbeki's meeting with Schori and Monteiro came after Ivorian opposition groups questioned the South African leader's credentials after he vetted some poll decrees issued by Gbagbo in the middle of last month.
Gbabgo in those decrees entrusted the National Institute of Statistics with the power for determining eligibility to vote, establishing lists and issuing electors' cards, instead of the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) due to be set up for the presidential polls.
The opposition says that the role attributed to the commission -- that of responsibility for the electoral process, with the institute of statistics telling it what it has done, strips the commission of any real effectiveness.
Originally under the agreement between the government and opposition the CEI was given a larger role as the only body responsible for the electoral process with the institute confined to an advisory role.
Schori said the need of the hour was "immediate regroupment as a precursor to disarmament (in the rebel-held north) and the disbanding of militias" in the government-controlled south.
He also blasted the Young Patriots, a pro-Gbagbo band of mostly unemployed youths who have in the past wreaked havoc in the main commercial city of Abidjan and attacked French nationals, institutions and businesses. "They are not young and certainly not patriots," he said, adding that their leader Charles Ble Goude's self-professed claim to be a "minister of the streets" was dangerous.
"There cannot be any such portfolio in a democracy. I have raised this with the president (Gbagbo) and stressed the seriousness of the situation. Any form of obstruction -- the Young Patriots have been attacking our cars and personnel -- will reap very strong consequences."
Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer and a former star French colony, is now a shadow of its former self when it was hailed as a model of peace and stability in restive west Africa.
Schori also underlined that Mbeki's intervention -- which came after failed moves by France and a west African regional bloc -- to end the war was a landmark in that it signalled that Africa could now solve its own problems.
Pilgrimage ends peacefully in revolt-hit Kashmir, 400,000 join trek
Agence France Presse, 8/20/05
Nearly 400,000 Hindus joined a treacherous trek to a Himalayan cave shrine in revolt-hit Indian Kashmir during this year's two-month pilgrimage season, officials said Saturday.
The heavily guarded annual pilgrimage to one of Hinduism's top religious sites ended late Friday in the mainly Muslim region without incident.
Although peace talks between India and Pakistan have helped reduce tension in the region disputed between the two countries, fears for the pilgrims rose after militants last month attacked Ayodhya in India, a flashpoint holy site sacred to both Hindus and Muslims.
But for the third straight year, there was no bloodshed during the pilgrimage that has been targeted by militants in the past. "For the third year the annual pilgrimage to the cave of Amarnath came to an end Friday evening without any incident of violence," said a statement from the office of Kashmir governor S.K. Sinha. "Nearly 400,000 pilgrims paid obeisance during this year's pilgrimage," the statement said, saying the figure about equalled last year's record tally.
Thousands of pilgrims sing hymns as they trek on foot or ride ponies along slippery trails through snow-covered mountain passes to worship an ice stalagmite revered as a symbol of Lord Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction.
Thousands of Indian troops are stationed along the way to the cave that is situated 3,800 meters (12,800 feet) above sea level.
The trek takes about four days along a 50-kilometer (31 mile) route.
In 2001 suspected Islamic militants gunned down 10 pilgrims and the previous year they killed at least 32. But there were no major attacks in 2002 and no attacks or threats in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said last month that events such as the attack on Ayodhya, in which six militants tried to blast their way into the religious site before being killed, could reduce support for the slow-moving peace process that began formally in January 2004.
Tens of thousands of people have died in Kashmir since the eruption of an insurgency against Indian rule 16 years ago.
While New Delhi says bloodshed has declined in Kashmir as a result of the peace dialogue with Pakistan, six to eight people are still killed daily in gunbattles and attacks.
India accuses Pakistan of fomenting the Islamic separatist revolt in Kashmir, trigger of two of three wars between the nuclear powers. Islamabad denies the charge.
Kashmir Negotiation Simulation
Click here to access the Kashmir Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public International Law & Policy Group.
NATO remains committed to Kosovo security as possible talks near, commander says
Fisnik Abrashi, Associated Press, 8/18/05
NATO remains committed to providing security to allow for a peaceful climate in Kosovo as the disputed U.N.-administered province nears possible talks on its future status, the alliance's commander for southeastern Europe said during a visit Thursday.
Adm. Harry Ulrich, commander of NATO's Joint Force Command based in Naples, Italy, made the comments during his second visit to Kosovo as regional commander. There are some 17,500 NATO-led peacekeepers deployed in Kosovo. "NATO is absolutely committed to providing a safe and secure environment here in Kosovo so that the political process can work its way to a successful conclusion," Ulrich said.
Ulrich met with officials from NATO, the United Nations and Kosovo's Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi during his one-day visit. He also visited Kosovo Protection Corps, a civil emergency unit consisting mostly of former ethnic Albanian rebel fighters that battled Serb forces during the 1998-1999 war.
The United Nations and NATO have been running Kosovo since 1999, when NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days to force it to end a crackdown against separatist ethnic Albanians and pull out the Serb troops.
Relations between NATO and Serbia have improved since former President Slobodan Milosevic was ousted from power in 2000.
In Kosovo, ethnic tensions remain high six years after the war. There are fears that security risks could escalate ahead of planned talks on the province's final status later this year.
Kosovo is dominated by ethnic Albanians seeking independence from Serbia, while Belgrade wants to retain at least some control over its southern province.
U.N. envoy says more work needed before talks on Kosovo's future
Associated Press, 8/22/05
A U.N. envoy said Monday that more work is needed to improve tense relations between Kosovo's Serbs and ethnic Albanians before talks can begin on the contested province's future status.
Kai Eide, a Norwegian diplomat, met Monday with officials in Belgrade who also expressed concern over the situation in Kosovo. Eide was appointed by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in June to review Kosovo's progress in meeting U.N.-set targets on democracy and civil rights for the province's minority Serbs.
"More needs to be done in Kosovo, not only on better ethnic relations, but also about the rule of law in Kosovo," Eide said after his talks with Serbia-Montenegro Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic.
But Eide did not rule out delivering a "more positive" report to Annan by next month, which could pave the way for U.N.-mediated negotiations on Kosovo's future status.
The province's majority ethnic Albanians want full independence, but the Serb minority and Belgrade insist that Kosovo remain part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia.
Draskovic said after meeting Eide that Kosovo "is not even close to the start of talks on its future status." He described conditions for Serbs in Kosovo as "dramatically difficult."
Kosovo has been under U.N. and NATO administration since a 78-day NATO-led air war that halted a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists in 1999.
But tensions in Kosovo remain high six years after the end of the conflict. About 100,000 minority Serbs mostly live in isolated enclaves, guarded by NATO troops and fearing attacks from ethnic Albanians extremists.
Belgrade officials insist the position of Serbs in Kosovo must improve before talks on the province's future can start. Belgrade also demands that some 200,000 Serbs who fled the province in the wake of the war be allowed to return to the region.
This is Eide's third visit to the region since his appointment. Before coming to Belgrade, he met ethnic Albanian and Serb officials in Kosovo.
Kosovo Negotiation Simulation
Click here to access the Kosovo Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public International Law & Policy Group.
U.S. says it wants to help in settling Moldova's separatist dispute
Associated Press, 8/16/05
The United States wants to help resolve the dispute between Moldova's government and its separatist region, and believes Moldova's territorial integrity should be protected, the U.S. ambassador said in comments published Tuesday.
U.S. Ambassador Heather Hodges also said in an interview with Sovereign Moldova daily that the former Soviet republic should consolidate its democracy, build a market economy and fight corruption "so that it can become more prosperous."
A transcript of the interview was made available to The Associated Press by the paper.
With regards to its conflict with Trans-Dniester, where Russian-speaking leaders want to break away, Hodges said the United States was "willing to participate more actively in the settlement process and hope it will be possible."
Any U.S. involvement, she said, would have to be "acceptable to the Moldovan population on both sides of the (Dniester) river, address all of the major issues before the parties in a fair and constructive way, and have credibility with the international community."
Trans-Dniester declared independence from Moldova in 1992 after a short war that left more than 1,500 people dead. No country recognizes Trans-Dniester, but the region receives strong support from Russia and there are 1,500 Russian troops based there.
So far, the United States has been involved in the Trans-Dniester conflict through the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which is leading mediation efforts in the conflict.
"We have made significant contributions to the OSCE Voluntary Fund established to help cover the cost of withdrawal of Russia's munitions ... It is the United States' position that any settlement should strengthen Moldova's independence and territorial integrity," she said.
Hodges also said Moldova could join the military alliance NATO in the future, but noted that membership criteria were "very strict."
Moldova currently is a member of the Partnership for Peace program, a stepping stone to full membership in the alliance.
Moroccan POWs released by Polisario rebels return home
Jalil Bounhar and John Leicester, Associated Press, 8/18/05
The last Moroccan prisoners of war - 404 soldiers, some held for up to 20 years in desert camps - have returned home, hours after they were freed by Western Sahara guerrillas in a U.S.-mediated release.
Two U.S.-military chartered planes carrying the freed POWs who had been held in southwest Algeria touched down at the airport in Morocco's southern coastal city of Agadir.
U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, who had overseen the handover ceremony Thursday in Tindouf, a bleak desert outpost where the guerillas are based, greeted the men at the foot of the aircraft. He had arrived in a separate aircraft. Moroccan Foreign Minister Mohamed Benaissa and other political and military officials also were present.
The former prisoners, flown home under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross, were quickly whisked away on buses. Lugar's office said the prisoners had been the longest held in the world at this time.
The men had been captured by the Polisario Front who for years fought Morocco for the independence of the mineral-rich Western Sahara region. The United States expressed hope the release of the POWs would provide momentum for a settlement of the three-decade-long dispute. "Although our mission is purely humanitarian, I am hopeful that Algeria and Morocco can seize on this occasion to create a climate conducive to the settlement of the Western Sahara issue," Lugar said.
Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had traveled to the region at the request of U.S. President George W. Bush. The White House said the prisoner release was "the product of quiet and intense diplomatic efforts among the United States, Morocco and Algeria."
Morocco rejoiced at the release of the prisoners, praising the role of the United States, a solid ally. However, a Foreign Ministry statement suggested the return of the POWs alone would not unblock the bitter stalemate over Western Sahara, which Morocco refers to as its "southern provinces."
The mass release was but a "belated accomplishment of an international obligation" that "in no way" can be viewed as a gesture by the Polisario or an intervention by Algeria, said the statement, quoted by the official MAP news agency.
Morocco praised the prisoners for enduring "suffering, exactions, intimidation and humiliation inflicted by their various torturers and jailers."
Mohamed Belkadi, freed in 2003 after 25 years, two months and 25 days as a Polisario prisoner, said he was "enormously happy" over the mass release.
The Moroccan former fighter pilot was captured when his F-5 jet was shot down. "I spent 17 years without contact with my family. I got to write my first letter to my child in 1995. We were allowed two letters of 11 lines each per year. It was terrible," he told The Associated Press in an interview in Rabat, Morocco's capital.
The Polisario Front hoped that releasing the last of the more than 2,000 prisoners it once held would pressure Morocco to allow a long-delayed referendum on Western Sahara's future and release or account for missing civilians and Polisario POWs - although The United Nations says the ICRC verified that all Polisario POWs had been released by 1996. "They are in the hot seat," a Polisario representative, Mohamed Beissat, said in a telephone interview. "We are challenging them to free our political detainees, our POWs, and to say a word about our disappeared people."
Western Sahara, with a population of 270,000, was a Spanish colony until 1975. Morocco then annexed the vast mineral-rich territory, but faced resistance from Polisario rebels who waged a desert war to gain the territory's independence.
The fighting, which pitted Polisario guerrillas against Morocco's U.S.-equipped army, ended in 1991 with a U.N.-negotiated cease-fire that called for a referendum on the region's future. That has not been held.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed the release as "a positive step."
But retired Moroccan army Col. Mohammed Boughdadi, the author of several books on Saharan history, called it a Polisario "publicity stunt to get on the good side of the international community."
"The liberation will under no circumstances lead to a referendum," he said in an telephone interview. "There is no way we would agree to a referendum about something that is already ours."
Lugar was accompanied by Gen. James L. Jones, commander of U.S. forces in Europe. The senator met with Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Thursday for talks on terrorism and other issues. He was to meet Friday with Morocco's king, Mohammed VI, and the prime minister.
Washington is concerned that the Sahara's vast expanses could be a haven for terrorist organizations.
U.N. investigates hundreds of alleged disappearances in conflict-stricken Nepal
Binaj Gurubacharya, Associated Press, 8/19/05
The United Nations' human rights office in Nepal said Friday it is investigating allegations that hundreds of people have disappeared, most after being detained by government forces or abducted by communist rebels. "The largest number (of cases) are enforced disappearance of those reportedly detained by state authorities or abducted by Maoists," said Ian Martin, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights' representative in Nepal.
The army routinely arrests people it suspects of being or helping Maoist rebels, keeping them in military detention centers without warrants or access to family or lawyers.
The rebels are accused of abducting, torturing and killing people they think oppose them, and of forcefully recruiting villagers to join their fight against government troops.
The U.N. rights office has received 270 reports of disappearances since it was established here in May.
However, local human rights groups claim that more than 1,200 people have vanished, and that many more disappearances have gone unreported.
Martin said the Nepalese army has promised to provide details of those in custody, and that they will be moved to civilian detention facilities soon. He did not specify when.
He said his group has "made representations to the Maoists about the reported killings, abduction and threats."
"We have also made representation to state authorities about reported extra-judicial executions, cases of torture, arbitrary arrests, re-arrests and threats to journalists and human rights defenders," he said.
"It is a particular concern that children are among the victims of reported violations by both the Maoists and state authorities," Martin said.
The army did not comment on Martin's remarks, and the rebels could not be reached for comments.
Rebel violence has escalated since King Gyanendra seized control of the government in February, a measure he said was necessary to quell the insurgency, which has left more than 11,500 dead.
The rebels, who say they are inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, have been fighting since February 1996 to replace Nepal's monarchy with a communist state.
Nepal Negotiation Simulation
Click here to access the Nepal Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public International Law & Policy Group.
U.S.-backed offensives disrupted Jemaah Islamiyah training in Philippines
Jim Gomez, Associated Press, 8/16/05
U.S.-backed offensives have disrupted Jemaah Islamiyah terror training for Southeast Asian militants, prompting them to constantly change camps and delaying the arrival of a batch of Indonesian recruits, a Philippine government report says.
The southern Philippine strongholds of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front have harbored most of the training, which began in mid-1998, the report said, but the MILF last year began to pressure the al-Qaida-linked foreign trainers to move away, apparently to avoid sporadic government anti-terrorist offensives.
The Associated Press saw a copy of the report Tuesday.
Western nations have been concerned about the training in the Mindanao region, which helped buffer the loss of terrorist training grounds in Afghanistan and continue to produce dangerous militants capable of striking anywhere.
The U.S. military has been providing anti-terror training and weapons to Philippine troops. It also has conducted covert surveillance missions across Mindanao, military officials say.
Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for deadly bombings across Southeast Asia, including the deadly 2002 Bali attacks. The MILF, engaged in peace talks with Manila, has repeatedly denied persistent military reports linking them to the Indonesian-based group.
The MILF's late radical founder, Hashim Salamat, forged an agreement in the mid-1990s with Indonesian friends who led Jemaah Islamiyah to set up a training camp in Mindanao, principally for new Indonesian recruits, the report said.
"They were allowed to set up training camps under MILF protection, replicating the Afghan camp system... transferring deadly skills to a new generation of operatives," the report said.
Jemaah Islamiyah militants designed an 18-month "cadetship training program" exclusively for 17 to 18 Indonesian recruits at a time, the report said.
The first batch attended at a camp called Hudeibah in an MILF stronghold, starting in mid-1998 and ending in February 2000, the report said. Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged spiritual head of the Jemaah Islamiyah, attended the graduation ceremony, the report said.
Riduan Isamuddin, also known as Hambali, and fellow militant Ali Ghufron, known as Mukhlas, were among the Indonesian instructors, the report said. Both have been captured and are facing charges for deadly terror attacks.
The next batch of Indonesian recruits arrived in 2000, but their training was disrupted by a major military offensive on the MILF's main Camp Abubakar, forcing them to transfer to the Muaskar Jabal Quba camp on Mt. Kararao. A third batch arrived in August 2002, completing their course in February 2003, the report said.
A fourth batch has not arrived because of military assaults, the report said, citing revelations from arrested Indonesian militants. "The holding of training courses by the JI at this time, even in far-flung or swampy areas, would almost be improbable owing to government offensive threat," it said.
Members of the extremist Abu Sayyaf group and the MILF, as well as occasional recruits from Malaysia and Singapore, have also received short courses but have been disrupted by assaults, too, it said.
An arrested Jemaah Islamiyah trainer, known as Rohmat, disclosed that three Indonesian militants trained about 60 Abu Sayyaf rebels on southern Jolo island in March 2003 "but they were constantly on the run to avoid government forces," the report said. Half of the rebels and the Indonesians shifted the training site to nearby Zamboanga del Norte province.
Last November, the MILF asked Abu Sayyaf trainees and their Indonesian instructors to seek a new training site amid intensifying offensives, the report said.
The MILF has been under pressure to prove it doesn't coddle terrorists although military officials say some of its commanders continue to maintain links with Jemaah Islamiyah and the Abu Sayyaf.
Despite disruptions, the training could resume if military offensives ease, the report said, citing the presence of about 25 Indonesian militants in the south.
Serbia's ruling coalition facing crisis over economic, political issues
Jovana Gec, Associated Press, 8/17/05
Politicians and analysts warned Wednesday that Serbia's governing coalition faced possible crisis over the upcoming privatization of the state oil company and other key reforms.
Serbian media also reported that Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's government was split over last week's acquittal of former President Slobodan Milosevic's son from charges that he had threatened his father's political opponents.
"The government is hanging on a tiny thread," analyst Vladimir Goati said. The government "could fall by the end of the year, and early elections could be held early next year."
Acknowledging that relations within the coalition had been upset, some of its members have demanded a meeting be held to determine future moves, independent B92 radio reported.
Kostunica's Cabinet came to power in March 2004. It is a minority government that includes five political parties and relies on support from Milosevic's Socialist Party in the 250-seat parliament.
So far Kostunica has managed to keep the coalition together by political maneuvering and by offering concessions to government members and to the Socialists.
But analysts said a key test for Kostunica would be the upcoming parliamentary votes on privatizing the Oil Industry of Serbia, or NIS, and reforming the republic's pension system.
Both reform moves are crucial for Serbia's relations with the International Monetary Fund, which has threatened to revoke current credit arrangements unless the changes are started by October.
Kostunica's faces opposition for the reforms, however, from opposition parties and a minor coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party, which could block parliamentary approval.
The party argues that NIS - one of the region's biggest oil companies - is one of Serbia's biggest assets and should not be sold off.
Parliament plans to discuss the privatization issue later this month.
"This government will fall over NIS," said Tomislav Nikolic, deputy leader of the nationalist Serbian Radical Party, the strongest single party in Serbia. The Radicals plan to vote against NIS privatization, he said. "Everything will be much clearer after the parliament session."
Also shaking the governing coalition is a reported dispute over last week's dropping of criminal charges against Marko Milosevic. Critics have alleged the move was the result of a political deal between Kostunica and the Socialists.
Finance Minister Mladjan Dinkic, from G17 Plus party, said in comments published Wednesday that "we must draw a line" when it comes to younger Milosevic's responsibility.
Another coalition partner, the Serbian Renewal Movement, also called for a meeting of the governing parties, and accused Kostunica of betraying the democratic movement that ousted Milosevic in 2000, B92 said.
Kostunica has not commented on the reports, and his Serbian Democratic Party refused to say if and when the requested meeting could be held.
Somali speaker snubs prime minister at UN-mediated crisis talks in Kenya
Agence France Presse, 8/19/05
Somalia's influential parliamentary speaker on Friday snubbed the country's prime minister at UN-organized crisis talks here aimed at resolving a bitter dispute over the location of the lawless nation's transitional government.
The feuding pair are currently both in Nairobi on separate trips and the United Nations and Kenya had sought to arrange a meeting between them but speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden did not turn up for the talks, officials said.
"He failed to show up," prime minister Ali Mohamed Gedi told reporters alongside UN special envoy for Somalia Francois Fall and Kenyan Regional Cooperation Minister John Koech at the Nairobi hotel where the meeting was to have been held.
Fall and Koech insisted his absence was not a blow to their efforts to bring the battling sides together to resolve the increasingly hostile rift over the base of Somalia's transitional government. "The speaker did not show up but said the doors for negotiations are open," said Koech, who was instrumental in the formation of Somalia's transitional government in Kenya last year. "The prime minister also assured that he is ready for negotiations."
"The Somali leaders are ready to resolve their differences," said Fall, who visited Somalia this month in an unsuccessful bid to break the impasse that has hamstrung the government since it left Kenya in June after eight months in exile.
Aden and Gedi are on opposite sides of the dispute over where the transitional government should be based in Somalia, which has been without a functioning central administration for 14 years.
Gedi, transitional president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and their allies have based themselves in Jowhar, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) north of Mogadishu, citing insecurity in the capital.
Aden, meanwhile, leads a faction comprised of Mogadishu-based warlords, some members of parliament and cabinet officials who insist the government make the capital its home.
The deadlock has prompted threats of violence and raised fears the transitional government may collapse amid intensified fighting that would undermine international efforts to restore peace and security to Somalia.
In the past, Gedi has publicly accused Aden -- who met with president Yusuf in Yemen in June in an unsuccessful bid to heal the rift -- of inciting divisions and tensions in the transitional government.
In his remarks on Friday, though, Gedi tried to play down the rift, noting that only six cabinet ministers were in Mogadishu refusing to join him and Yusuf in Jowhar and that the government was running in many parts of the country.
However, he appealed for more international assistance to support his administration.
"The support of the international community has been very slow since the government relocated back home," Gedi said. "We are urging support for the transitional federal government."
Somalia was plunged into anarchy after strongman Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991 and the country disintegrated into a patchwork of fiefdoms run by warlords and clan militia chiefs.
Sri Lankan leaders tell Norway to pressure Tamil rebels into renouncing violence
Shimali Senanyake, Associated Press, 8/16/05
Sri Lankan leaders told a European mediator that the Tamil Tiger rebels must renounce violence if the country's peace process is to be revived following the foreign minister's assassination, officials said Tuesday.
The fragility of the three-year-old cease-fire between the government and rebels was highlighted Tuesday, when a suspected rebel attack on army posts killed a soldier in Sri Lanka's volatile northeast , the police and military said.
The attack in Muttur, about 230 kilometers (140 miles) northeast of the capital, Colombo, was the first such violence since Friday, when Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was fatally shot. The government blamed the Tigers.
The rebels, who deny any role in Kadirgamar's slaying, began fighting in 1983 for an independent homeland in the north and east for Sri Lanka's minority ethnic Tamils, claiming discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.
The war killed nearly 65,000 people before Norway brokered a cease-fire in February 2002.
Subsequent peace talks have stalled over rebel demands for more autonomy.
An architect of the cease-fire - Norway's Foreign Affairs Minister Jan Petersen - met with President Chandrika Kumaratunga this week to assess the assassination's impact on the peace process, a senior presidential aide, Harim Peiris, said.
Kumaratunga and other senior Sri Lankan officials told Petersen that the Tigers "absolutely need to renounce violence completely to be seen as a credible negotiating partner and to take the peace process forward," said Peiris, who attended the meeting.
Petersen left Sri Lanka on Tuesday, and was set to meet chief Tiger peace negotiator Anton Balasingham in London on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse told Petersen that the government has no intention of breaking the cease-fire, the prime minister's secretary, Lalith Weerathunga, said.
However, European peace monitors warned that the situation in Sri Lanka was quickly deteriorating. "Relations between the parties are at (their) worst since the cease-fire was signed," chief truce monitor Hagrup Haukland said.
Incidents like Tuesday's killing of a soldier "add more pressure to the already bad climate," Haukland said.
He was scheduled to meet on Thursday with the Tigers' political chief, S.P. Thamilselvan, to discuss the country's worsening security situation.
In the rebel northern heartland of Kilinochchi, 60 people had torn down U.N. flags flying at half-mast in respect for Kadirgamar on Monday, the United Nations said. "These regrettable incidents took place after U.N. staff refused to comply with the group's demand that the flag not be flown at half-mast," Miguel Bermeo, U.N. resident coordinator, said in a statement.
Snipers shot Kadirgamar Friday night as he stepped from the swimming pool at his Colombo home. An ethnic Tamil, he was a vocal critic of the Tigers' rebellion who later backed the peace process. He was cremated Monday.
A state of emergency was imposed after the killing, and soldiers have scoured the capital for the assassins.
Military spokesman Brig. Daya Ratnayake said Tuesday that 51 suspects had been detained. Thirty-five were subsequently released on bail and 16 remain in police custody, he said. Ratnayake also said the navy seized explosives and detonators from a fishing boat near rebel-held territory in the north on Monday, and arrested the vessel's three crew members.
Sri Lanka, Tamil rebels agree to first formal talks in more than 2 years
Krishan Francis, Associated Press, 8/20/05
Sri Lanka's government and Tamil Tiger rebels have agreed to hold talks reviewing their fragile cease-fire - the first formal meetings between the sides in more than two years - in a development hailed Saturday by state-run media but treated with skepticism by the rebels' rivals.
"In an encouraging development, the LTT (Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam) has now cooperated with this move to have talks with the government," said an editorial in The Daily News. "It emerges as an acid test of the LTT's sincerity of purpose, and we call on the Tigers to respond positively to this opportunity of forging ahead with the peace process," it said.
However, actual peace negotiations remain stalled - and prospects for reviving them remain uncertain following last week's assassination of the country's foreign minister, the latest in a series of political killings that have plagued Sri Lanka in recent months.
Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen said Friday that the government and Tigers had agreed to hold the talks in the coming weeks, and that the timing and venue were being worked out. "We have gone from very dire prospects to promising prospects in a very short time," he told The Associated Press in Oslo. Norway brokered the February 2002 cease-fire between the government and rebels, halting two decades of civil war.
A Tiger spokesman confirmed that the group had agreed to the talks. A pro-Tiger Web site said they would be held in Oslo. "We view it as an extremely positive sign in the circumstances," said Jehan Perera of National Peace Council, an independent think tank.
He said that international pressure on Tamil Tigers in the aftermath of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar's assassination may have forced the them to agree to review the cease-fire.
"The best possible result out of the tragedy is the agreement to review the cease-fire agreement," Perera said.
Thirunavukarasu Sritharan of Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front, a former Tamil militant group now in mainstream politics was, however, skeptical of the rebels' intentions. "The Tigers will only use these talks to fulfill their agenda of driving out political opponents," Sritharan said.
Tamil Tigers accuse former militants who later joined the political mainstream of acting as paramilitaries and launching attacks against them.
But Sritharan's EPRLF and other former militants deny the rebel allegations.
The Tamil Tigers began fighting in 1983 for a separate homeland for minority ethnic Tamils in the country's north and east, claiming discrimination by the majority Sinhalese. The conflict killed nearly 65,000 people before the cease-fire.
Post-truce peace talks have been stalled since 2003 over rebel demands for wide autonomy.
After a suspected rebel sniper killed Kadirgamar on July 12, President Chandrika Kumaratunga imposed a state of emergency and sent the army to hunt for suspects. However, she has pledged to respect the cease-fire and offered to hold direct talks with rebels in an effort to end the spate of political killings.
Sri Lanka Negotiation Simulation
Click here to access the Sri Lanka Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public International Law & Policy Group.
U.N.: Sudan Rebel Group Committed to Peace
Tanalee Smith, Associated Press, 8/17/05
The head of the United Nations in Sudan said Wednesday that one of the main Darfur rebel factions was dedicated to resuming peace talks even though it had asked to postpone a session slated later this month.
Jan Pronk, special representative to the U.N. secretary-general, also said he remained optimistic the conflict in western Sudan could settled by the end of the year.
He spoke to reporters after his return from Darfur, where he spent two days in talks with military and political leaders of the Sudan Liberation Army.
"The commanders are united in their desire to continue the talks in order to reach a peace agreement at the end of this year, he said.
Fighting began in February 2003 when rebels from black African tribes took up arms, complaining of discrimination and oppression by Sudan's Arab-dominated government.
The government is accused of unleashing Arab tribal militia known as the Janjaweed against civilians in a campaign of murder, rape and arson. At least 180,000 people have died - many from hunger and disease.
In Abuja, Nigeria, in early July, the SLA and the other main Darfur rebel group signed a "declaration of principles" with the Sudanese government, agreeing to broad commitments, including respecting Sudan's unity and upholding democracy.
The talks were to resume on Aug. 24 but the SLA has asked for a postponement. Pronk said the group wanted to convene a conference of all SLA leaders to unify their agenda.
The talks are mediated by the African Union which sets the schedule and maintains some 5,000 peacekeepers in Darfur.
AU officials said Wednesday, however, that the organization will only be able to pay its peacekeepers for three more months without help from the international community.
While donors provided air transport, accommodation and military hardware for the force to deploy, only a fraction of the cash needed has been received to finance operations of 5,086 peacekeepers, military observers and civilian police attempting to stabilize Darfur, African Union officials said.
A senior AU official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the financial crisis facing the peacekeeping operation, said the international community would need to act quickly. While U.N. reports have said the situation in Darfur is stabilizing and the large-scale attacks have decreased, there are frequent incidents of looting, rapes and targeted attacks.
UN refugee chief in Sudan to assess humanitarian crisis
Mohammed Ali Saeed, Agence France Presse, 8/22/05
The United Nations refugee chief was due to visit Sudan on Monday to assess the fate of millions of displaced civilians in war-torn Darfur and the recently pacified south of the country.
Antonio Gutteres, starting a 10-day tour that will also take him to Chad and Kenya, voiced his concern ahead of his arrival that the world community was ignoring conflicts in Africa such as those in Sudan.
"It is obvious that there should have been a much stronger effort on the part of the international community to create the conditions for peace but Africa is a continent which is largely forgotten," the former Portuguese prime minister told Lisbon radio.
"We see that the international community mobilises easily in other parts of the world but when it comes to Africa there has been a systematic negligence which has prolonged conflicts like this one (Sudan) and gave rise to a serious food crisis in Niger," he added. "There is a question of the world's responsibility towards Africa which needs to be taken seriously."
In Sudan on Tuesday, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees is scheduled to meet President Omar al-Beshir, Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail and other officials.
He is expected to tour camps in Darfur, a western region home to hundreds of thousands of internally-displaced people and still plagued by smouldering violence two and a half years after a deadly rebellion broke out.
The uprising by the black African minority was fiercely repressed by Beshir's Arab Muslim regime and its proxy militias, aggravating a dire huminatarian crisis.
According to varying estimates, between 180,000 and 300,000 have been killed in Darfur since February 2003 and more than two million displaced.
Gutteres will also visit two of the 12 camps in neighbouring Chad that house 200,000 refugees from Darfur who fled the conflict and famine.
Despite a drop in the intensity of the fighting since last year, the people of Darfur have continued to flock to refugee camps where they often find better living conditions that in their home villages. The three Darfur provinces make up a territory the size of France where a small African Union contingent has been struggling to maintain peace.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's special representative in Sudan, Jan Pronk, nonetheless said last week that Darfur was "much more stable than before" and that ceasefire violations were decreasing.
There are close to 10,000 aid workers in Darfur and thousands of others operating in south Sudan, which is also facing a major humanitarian crisis.
Gutteres is also planning to visit southern Sudan next week to assess plans to repatriate about 500,000 refugees and about 4.6 million displaced people after the end of the 21-year civil war in the area.
The mainly Christian south's historic rebel leader and recently appointed first vice president John Garang was killed on July 30 in a helicopter crash near the border with Uganda.
Suspicion among angry southerners that the crash was not an accident triggered deadly riots in Khartoum and threatened to wreck a January north-south peace deal.
The refugee commissioner is then scheduled to fly to Kenya, which runs the humanitarian operation for south Sudan and also hosts around 65,000 Sudanese refugees.
Tens of thousands of refugees are also spread across other neighbouring countries such as Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Genocide in Darfur: A Legal Analysis
Click here to access the Report prepared by the Public International Law & Policy Group.