PEACE NEGOTIATIONS WATCH

Armenia/Azerbaijan

Nagorno-Karabakh holds first census since Soviet era
Disputed Caucasus territory of Nagorno-Karabakh for the first time since the Soviet era.

Burundi

Fleeing Rwandans allowed to stay in Burundi

3,000 Rwandans allowed refuge in Burundi
Fresh wave of human rights abuses hit Burundi
Renewed incidents of gross human rights violations have hit Burundi

Burundi's last rebels must negotiate with government: official
Deputy Foreign Minister Sharif says that the FNL rebels have no option but to enter into peace talks with the country's newly installed government

Chechnya

Five Russians dead, 10 wounded in rebel attacks in Chechnya

16 separatist attacks within a 24-hour period cause Russian casulaties in Chechnya

A Spreading War

A bloody gun battle spotlights the bitter mix of resentment and Islamic extremism

Congo

DR Congo vote risks 'mass violence' in current conditions: CG
Elections set for March in the volatile Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could spark violence
Kinshasa rejects Ugandan bid to hunt rebels in DRC
Kinshasa strongly opposes Ugandan bid to send troops into eastern DRC to hunt for LRA rebels

Democratic Republic of Congo Negotiation Simulation Click here to access the DR Congo Negotiation Simulation.

Georgia
Georgian foreign minister fired
Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili fired due to increasing criticism from Parliment
Security chief named new Georgian foreign minister
President Mikhail Saakashvili named his top security chief, Gela Bezhuashvili, as foreign minister
Russian officer arrested in Georgia released
Officer of the Russian peacekeeping force in South Ossetia released

Indonesia

Monitors criticise "unproportional" killing of Aceh rebel
AMM strongly regrets unproportional use of force by Indonesian police in the killing of Aceh rebel
Indonesia prepares to pull another 2,500 troops out of Aceh province
2,500 rifle-weilding soldiers withdraw Aceh province as part of peace agreement

Aceh Negotiation Simulation Click here to access the Aceh Negotiation Simulation.

Ivory Coast
Head of U.N. sanctions committee on Ivory Coast in Abidjan
Head of U.N. sanctions committee on Ivory Coast to assess troubled peace process
Row breaks over head of Ivory Coast's electoral commission
31-member independent electoral commission has chosen an opposition politician as its chief, promptly triggering a political row and dissent
UN approves AU power transfer for Ivory Coast
UN Security Council endorsed the African Union's plan for political transition in the Ivory Coast

Kashmir
Security tight in Indian Kashmir following minister's slaying
Security and police forces increase security in Kashmir a day after killing of education minister
India not to allow unchecked flow of people across Kashmir border
Despite earthquake, India will not allow unregulated flow of people across borders
Kashmir separatist slams India's relief camps on ceasefire border
Separatist criticised India's plans to operate three relief camps for Pakistani earthquake survivors along the ceasefire border

Kashmir Negotiation Simulation Click here to access the Kashmir Negotiation Simulation.

Kosovo
Serbian PM says he will never accept the independence of Kosovo
Kostunica says Serbia will not accept the independence of Kosovo
Kosovo premier visits Albania
Prime Minister of Kosovo visited Albania for talks on bilateral relations and status of the province
U.N. Security Council Launches Kosovo Talks
U.N. Security Council on Monday authorized the start of negotiations to determine the political future of Kosovo

Kosovo Negotiation Simulation Click here to access the Kosovo Negotiation Simulation.

Liberia
Liberia's 'Iron Lady' steel-eyed in hunt for presidency
Harvard-educated economist hopes to be Africa's first elected female president

Macedonia

Macedonian, Albanian premiers discuss Kosovo solution
Macedonia and Albania ruled out any redrawing of borders in any deal on Kosovo

Greek lawmaker urges government to drop Macedonia name dispute
A lawmaker from Greece's ruling New Democracy party has urged the government to end its 14-year opposition to letting its northern neighbor use the name Macedonia

Moldova

OSCE to intensify efforts to resolve crisis in Moldova's separatist region

Europeean security body says it will intensify its efforts to resolve the crisis in Moldova's separatist region of Trans-Dniester

Nepal

Media bodies condemn new anti-press rules in Nepal
International media mission criticizes new anti-press laws

Communist rebels threaten journalist in western Nepal, order him to quit field
Rebels threaten journalist after he criticized communist-led insurgency

Philippines

Jemaah Islamiyah still training in southern Philippines
Members of the extremist network Jemaah Islamiyah still training in southern Philipines

Serbia

Montenegro

Montenegro's planned independence vote causing division, tensions
Referendum on independence causing divisions six months before vote is to be held

Somalia

Somalia Faces Threat of New Civil War

Somalia's anarchy overwhelming its new government before it can establish itself

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka rebel supporters demand lifting of EU travel ban on Tamil Tigers
Supporters at a rally held in eastern Sri Lanka urged the EU to be "realistic" and lift a travel ban on Tamil Tiger rebels
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels to be neutral in coming presidential election
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels will remain neutral in the country's upcoming presidential election by not backing any candidate

Sri Lanka Negotiation Simulation Click here to access the Sri Lanka Negotiation Simulation.

Sudan
Sudan government, Darfur rebels end latest round of peace talks
Sudan's government and rebels ended a sixth round of talks on the crisis in the Darfur region
US envoy hopes for Darfur peace deal this year
US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs underlined that US sanctions against Khartoum would not be lifted as long as calm did not return to Darfur
President of new southern Sudan government forms first cabinet
President of the new government of southern Sudan has formed his first cabinet since a peace agreement

Genocide in Darfur: A Legal Analysis Click here to access the PILPG Report.

Burundi's last rebels must negotiate with government: official
Agence France Presse, 10/22/05

Burundi's last active rebels must enter talks with the government, a peacebroker said Saturday as an end of month ultimatum set by President Pierre Nkurunziza neared.

Visiting Tanzanian Deputy Foreign Minister Abdul Kader Sharif said that the National Liberation Forces (FNL) rebels had no option but to enter into peace talks with the country's new government installed in August. "The FNL have no time to beat about the bush because we are in the the last minute (and) they have to return to the negotiating table," Sharif said, adding that if the rebels failed to do so "we will tell the region that this group does not want peace."

Sharif, who has been in Burundi since Thursday, is on an official visit to brief Nkurunziza about the progress of contacts with the rebels aimed at resuming peace talks which have been hosted by Tanzania in the past. Nonetheless, not only have the rebels vowed not to acknowledge the legitimacy of Nkurunziza's government, they have also stepped up attacks across the country amid the emergence of a split within their ranks.

Earlier this month, Nkurunziza issued an ultimatum to the FNL to enter negotiations with the government by month's end either forcefully or voluntarily but he did not outline consequences against the insurgents for failure to do so.

"Burundi has a legitimate government installed after long negotiations," said Sharif. "We understand when he (Nkurunziza) says that he would use force if the FNL continue to shun negotiations."The region, the government and the people of Burundi are tired of always hearing that the FNL want to negotiate because everything has a limit and now is the time to make the right choice for the FNL," added Sharif.

Amid reports of divisions within the FNL leadership, religious and military sources have said that the group is still headed by Agathon Rwasa who was supposedly replaced by his former deputy Sylvestre Niyungeko. Earlier this week, the country's human rights watchdog reported an escalation of incidents of abuses attributed to the FNL and the army following a surge of attacks by the rebels.

Five Russians dead, 10 wounded in rebel attacks in Chechnya
Agence France Presse, 10/20/05

Five Russian soldiers were killed and 10 were wounded during 16 separatist attacks within a 24-hour period in the breakaway southern Russian republic of Chechnya, local officials said Thursday.

Three members of the Russian federal security forces were also wounded when separatist militants opened fire on them as they drove on a highway south of the Chechen capital Grozny. One soldier was killed and nine were wounded when rebels opened fire on government army checkpoints and encampments. In two separate incidents, four soldiers died when landmines blew up the vehicles they were riding in.

A Chechen police officer working for the pro-Moscow authorities in Grozny was wounded in an attack in which a rebel was wounded and taken prisoner. Russian troops and their Chechen allies continue to suffer almost daily losses in ongoing fighting in Chechnya six years after Moscow-directed military forces were sent in to quell a separatist rebellion.

A Spreading War; A bloody gun battle spotlights the bitter mix of resentment and Islamic extremism bubbling in the Caucasus
Newsweek-Atlantic Edition, 10/24/05

They came early in the morning. More than a hundred, and perhaps as many as 500 armed men attacking the quiet Russian town of Nalchik in the shadow of Europe's highest mountain. A bloody battle over the next 36 hours saw dozens dead and left Kremlin policy in the turbulent region in tatters. Yet another of the poor, volatile republics spread across the North Caucasus had been hit by an event of extreme violence and shocking brutality, and yet again the culprits were Islamic militants. Their numbers are growing, says Alexei Malashenko at the Carnegie Moscow Center. "They can appear and attack anywhere."

The war in Chechnya is spreading. Until recently, neighboring Kabardino-Balkaria seemed exempt from the region's turmoil. Its capital, Nalchik, is a stopping point for tourists on their way to climb 5,642-meter Mount Elbrus; residents went about their lives, largely unperturbed by terrorism. But last week, like an army, the militants attacked. Their targets were government offices--headquarters of the security services, police stations, the Interior Ministry and the airport. Fighting closed down the city as President Vladimir Putin gave orders to kill anyone resisting arrest or trying to escape while Russian forces moved in.

For much of Thursday, Nalchik was a war zone. Commuters blundered into gunfire in the town center. Militants commandeered a tractor to break into a gun shop, fittingly named Arsenal. Smoke plumed from office buildings as police hunkered on the ground from flying bullets. By Friday afternoon, according to official figures, 92 of the attackers were dead, along with 12 civilians and 24 law-enforcement officials.

Putin praised his forces for fighting off the insurgents--and was quick to show himself in command. But there was criticism, even so. "The fact that more than 100 rebels converged and attacked the city in broad daylight is clearly an intelligence failure," says Simon Saradzhyan, director of research at the Eurasian Security Studies Center in Moscow. The security forces' quick response was encouraging, he added, but suggested that in itself is not enough. "We must also have a system of prevention and interdiction," lest there be more such incidents.

That seems almost inevitable. One by one, the republics of the North Caucasus have been hit by a whirlwind of violence from Islamic extremists. Last week's events came just over a year after Chechen militants seized a school in Beslan, in neighboring northern Ossetia, ending in the deaths of 331 hostages. Nearby Dagestan, a jigsaw republic with dozens of nationalities and increasing clan tension, has seen almost daily shootings. The attack on Nalchik most resembled the assault on the Ingushetian capital of Nazran in June last year, when more than a hundred militants led by Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev, the man who organized the Beslan attack, entered the town and killed 70 law-enforcement officials.

This time, particularly in contrast to Beslan, the militants appeared to avoid killing civilians. According to some accounts, terrorists instructed passersby to get out of the way and said they were interested only in killing police. It remains unclear who organized the assault. Witnesses say there were Chechens and Arabs among the attackers; many reportedly wore long beards, the hallmark of Islamic jihadists. But most appear to have been Kabardins. A Chechen rebel Web site claimed the attack was the work of Yarmuk, the local branch of a regional network of militants called the Caucasus Front. In any event, the operation appears to be the first major maneuver of the new Chechen rebel leader and cleric Abdul-Khalim Saydullayev, who has vowed to spread the war throughout the region and create an Islamic caliphate.

Clearly, Moscow has been mishandling an explosive situation. Beset by poverty and ethnic strife, the North Caucasus has long been fertile ground for religious extremism. But government oppression--and corruption--has exacerbated problems. Kabardino-Balkaria is a perfect example. The republic is poverty-stricken and divided ethnically, with minority Balkars filling the ranks of militant groups. Muslim Balkars were deported in 1943 because of Soviet suspicions that they would rebel and aid the Nazis during the war. When they returned, they found themselves a minority among native Kabardins, also mainly Muslim, and immigrant Russians. Tensions have been kept in check under the rule of an autocratic strongman appointed by the Kremlin and determined to crush all political and religious opposition. In 2004, most of the mosques in the republic were closed, save for those run by clerics favored by the state--and even there, prayers are in Russian. Hundreds of Islamic activists have been arrested, often accused of terrorism. Meanwhile, ordinary Muslims in Nalchik and other cities complain of harassment by Russian authorities, whether it's young women wearing the traditional higab or students studying Arabic or the Qur'an.

It's unclear to what extent, if any, angry local activists participated in last week's attack. Authorities have accused a Muslim cleric named Mussa Mukozhoyev, the self-proclaimed emir of the Muslims of Kabardino-Balkaria and founder of an underground Islamic group called Jamaat, who is currently in hiding. Yet Mukozhoyev is widely known to be a moderate. "We are not fools. We don't want to bring the Chechen war into our homes," he told NEWSWEEK last year. But even then, he explained, it was becoming harder and harder to hold back extremists intent on jihad against the Russians they considered to be their oppressors. Those radicals went on to form Yarmuk, according to Akhmed Yarlykapov at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, which launched a series of smaller attacks on police and other symbols of government in Nalchik in 2004.

Despite last week's explosion, experts say that the radicalization of Kabardino-Balkaria and other republics could still be reversed if some autonomy were allowed. "Putin needs to address the root causes of extremism," says Saradzhyan. "These are not just poverty and unemployment among the youth. It is, foremost, resentment over the oppression of political and religious freedoms." If he doesn't, the attack on Nalchik will not be the last.

DR Congo vote risks 'mass violence' in current conditions: CG
Agence France Presse, 10/19/05

Elections set for March in the volatile Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could spark "mass violence" if current conditions in vast central African state persist, a influential policy group warned Wednesday.

A lack of laws guaranteeing free and fair polls and good governance as well as a failure to integrate the army and disarm a plethora of rebel groups make a risky cocktail for successful polls, the DRC's first in 40 years, it said. Failure to address the issues could plunge the nation into another cycle of bloody violence, the Brussels-based Crisis Group (CG) said, urging the international community to pressure Kinshasa to end the status quo. "There are reasonable grounds for fearing electoral manipulation and even relapse into mass violence that would put at severe risk both the unity of the Congo and the stability of much of the continent," it said.

"The greatest risk ... is that the status quo is maintained, the Congo will have elections, not much will change and five years later fighting will break out because the root causes of the war were not addressed," CG analyst Jason Stearns said.

At least 60 percent of the targeted 28 million voters have so far been registered for next year's presidential, legislative and local elections in the DRC that are hoped to return stability to the country after a devastating five-year war. But corruption and mismanagement among government officials, lack of a competent justice system, violence -- mainly in the volatile eastern region -- and a failure by the UN Mission in DRC (MONUC) to enforce an arms embargo are major drawbacks to the process, the CG said. "Extensive embezzlement has resulted in inadequate and irregular payment of civil servants and soldiers, making the state itself perhaps the largest security threat to the Congolese people," said the report.

In the document released here entitled "A Congo Action Plan," the group noted that despite small successes, voter registration has been hampered by lack of funds and logistical problems, prompting an indefinite extension of the process that could force postponement of a November 20 constitutional referendum."Such a delay could cause a crisis for a government whose people already see it as inefficient and corrupt," said the Crisis Group.

The draft constitution faces possible rejection with some critics opposing provisions that call for decentralised, federal state because of abuses by previous governments in Kinshasa, notably the regime of late Zairean dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. It also envisions splitting the country's 10 provinces into 26, a move that has also drawn opposition. "If the constitution is rejected, the parliament will have to search for a new consensus and the entire transition will be held up," warned the CG, known until a recent name change as the International Crisis Group.

Meanwhile, continuing unrest in the eastern DRC and the status of ethnic Tutsis and Hutus from neighboring Rwanda remain unresolved and exacerbated by wrangling within President Joseph Kabila's cabinet, the report said."Competition for power within Kabila's inner circle has accentuated these tensions with Kinshahsa politicians using military allies in the provinces to advance their claims," according to the CG.

The international thinktank called for the passage of new laws to allow effective poll monitoring and ensure a free and fair vote, the full integration of the national army and a strengthening of MONUC to facilitate its mandate. It also urged the disarmament of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) comprising Rwandan Hutu rebels active in the east, whose presence for more than a decade has been a cause of tension between Kigali and Kinshasa.

Kinshasa rejects Ugandan bid to hunt rebels in DRC
Agence France Press, 10/20/05

Kinshasa strongly opposes a Ugandan bid to send troops into eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to hunt down members of a notorious Ugandan rebel group, a senior DRC government official said on Thursday.

"It is out of the question for Uganda to send troops into the DRC," Antoine Ghonda, ambassador at large for President Joseph Kabila, told AFP by telephone, insisting that the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels were no longer on DRC soil. "Firstly, the LRA is no longer in Congo, secondly we reached an agreement yesterday (Wednesday) to set up a joint verification team to locate these rebels," he said.

"Uganda's request amounts to saying that the LRA is still in Congo, despite the fact we have observed it to have left, as certified by MONUC," the UN mission in the DRC, he added.

At the end of September about 300 LRA rebels fled Ugandan patrols in southern Sudan into the eastern DRC. According to Kinshasa and local residents, the group returned to bases in southern Sudan on October 6, but Kampala insists they are still in the DRC. Earlier Thursday, Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kuteesa sought formal approval at a security meeting with leaders from Burundi, the DRC and Rwanda to send troops into the DRC.

Kuteesa called for the formation of a joint command under which Ugandan and DRC troops in cooperation with MONUC would seek out and engage the rebels.

"The LRA is a terrorist organization which has been operating out of Sudan for the last 10 years, now they are moving into the DRC which brings a new dynamic," he told the meeting of senior officials from Uganda, Rwanda, the DRC and Burundi.

MONUC announced Wednesday that Uganda and the DRC had agreed to put together a joint military surveillance team to confirm the location of LRA fighters, but Kuteesa's proposal includes potential combat missions, officials said.

Uganda last sent troops into the DRC during the country's devastating 1998-2003 civil war ostensibly to battle Ugandan rebel groups there but was criticised for allegedly using the opportunity to plunder its vast neighbor's natural resources. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has threatened unilaterally to invade the DRC to crush the rebels there unless concerted action is taken by the Congolese military and MONUC to forcibly disarm and deport them.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 1.6 million displaced in northern Uganda since the LRA took leadership of a regional rebellion against Kampala in 1988. The group is accused of massive atrocities in the region, including the abductions of at least 20,000 children who are used as porters, fighters and sex slaves for LRA commanders. Earlier this month, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for elusive LRA supremo Joseph Kony, Otti and three other top commanders on war crimes charges.

Georgian foreign minister fired
Associated Press, 10/19/05

Georgia's prime minister on Wednesday fired the ex-Soviet nation's foreign minister, who had become entangled in a conflict with lawmakers.

Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli said at a briefing that he signed an order ousting Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili after consulting with President Mikhail Saakashvili. Zurabishvili has come under increasing criticism from parliament, where many lawmakers criticized her work as inefficient. Some of her subordinates, including Georgia's ambassadors to the United Nations, Russia and Ukraine have also have said she was difficult to work with.

Zurabishvili, an ethnic Georgian who left her native land amid the chaos of the Soviet collapse, had made a successful diplomatic career in France and served as the French ambassador to Georgia before being named foreign minister in March 2004. Zurabishvili rejected her critics' accusations as unfair in a statement broadcast Wednesday by Rustavi 2 television. She also said that her efforts to combat corruption had irritated many members of the officialdom.

Saakashvili was elected president following the 2003 mass protests known as the Rose Revolution that ousted his predecessor, Eduard Shevardnadze, to resign. Saakashvili has made fighting corruption his top priority, and also sought to bring Georgia closer to the West and out of Russia's orbit.

Zurabishvili described her foes in the parliament and the government as holdovers from the Soviet past who resist reforms and urged Saakashvili to disband the parliament. "If we fail to bring our revolution to the end, we will see ... the victory of forces of the past, a neo-Communism," Zurabishvili said. "The old system will win, Russia will win."

Security chief named new Georgian foreign minister
Agence France Presse, 10/20/05

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili named his top security chief, Gela Bezhuashvili, as foreign minister on Thursday, a day after sacking the French-born Salome Zurabishvili for her failure to get along with colleagues.

Bezhuashvili, 38, moved to the top diplomatic job from his influential post as Saakashvili's national security advisor, the president's office said. Bezhuashvili, who speaks English and Russian, studied law in Texas and also studied at Harvard's JFK School of Government.

Zurabishvili, 55, the daughter of Georgian emigres to France, had been French ambassador to Georgia until taking the foreign minister job -- along with Georgian citizenship -- in the wake of the 2003 Rose Revolution, in which Saakashvili's pro-Western team came to power. Her firing came after repeated complaints about her management style from within the foreign ministry and parliament, which is dominated by Saakashvili's allies. Her lack of Russian language skills and imperfect Georgian were also seen as weaknesses.

However, there was no expected change in the Caucasus country's pro-Western orientation and its ambitions for closer relations with the European Union, a strategy that the choice of Zurabishvili had been designed to further.

The former ambassador to Ukraine, Grigol Katamadze, was named as Saakashvili's new national security adviser. Zurabishvili said she would stay involved in Georgian politics.

Russian officer arrested in Georgia released
Agence France Presse, 10/23/05

An officer of the Russian peacekeeping force in the breakaway Georgian republic of South Ossetia, who was arrested Friday by Georgian authorities, has been set free, the Russian government said Sunday.

"Following measures taken by Russia," the Georgian authorities decided to release Lieutenant Colonel Roman Boiko, according to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement. Boiko is now in the Russian embassy in Tbilisi and will be returned to his post in South Ossetia, it said. No reason was given for the Russian soldier's arrest.

In a statement on Saturday calling for Boiko's immediate release, the Russian ministry had indicated that once the soldier was freed, "questions raised by the Georgian side can be looked at and the Russian side will be ready to do so on the basis of precise facts."

Although few details have emerged from the Georgian side, Russian sources, quoted by Russian agencies, said that Boiko was detained in former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's home town of Gori. They said he was there on "service requirements" and was being held in the headquarters of the Georgian counter-espionage service in Tbilisi.

Moscow has had troops stationed in Georgia for several years, sent there under a mandate from the Commonwealth of Independent States (the former USSR minus the Baltic states) after conficts between Georgia and the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. South Ossetia unilaterally proclaimed its independence the day after the fall of the Soviet Union and entered an armed conflict with Georgia which lasted until the end of January 1992. Fresh confrontations broke out in August 2004.

Last month Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili charged Russia with drawing out Georgia's conflict with South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which Tbilisi believes to benefit from Russian backing. Russian troops are accused of large-scale smuggling.

Moscow has offered ethnic-Ossetian residents Russian citizenship. Relations between Georgia and Russia have become more tense since the 2003 "rose revolution" saw Saakashvili win the presidency.

Monitors criticise "unproportional" killing of Aceh rebel
Agence France Presse, 10/19/05

Foreign monitors overseeing a peace pact in the Indonesian province of Aceh said Wednesday the killing by police of a rebel last week was "unproportional".

Police shot dead a rebel from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) at Meulaboh in western Aceh after he refused to stop at a checkpoint while driving a stolen car last Wednesday. Pieter Feith, the head of the Aceh Monitoring Mission, told journalists, "AMM strongly regrets this unproportional use of force." He said his team had carried out an investigation and had decided the incident was "criminal in nature". He would not elaborate on its findings.

Feith said soldiers had also violated the historic peace pact signed in Helsinki in August when they shot and wounded a rebel Friday after an incident at a checkpoint in Peudada, eastern Aceh. AMM would take disciplinary action against the soldier responsible for the shooting, Feith said. Feith confirmed that the second round of rebel disarmament which started on Friday had been completed and that GAM had now surrendered more than 50 percent of its declared weaponry.

Under the peace pact, rebels must hand over 840 firearms in four stages before the end of the year. In return for each stage of disarmament the government has agreed to withdraw from Aceh almost 6,000 troops and 2,000 police, or a quarter of its reinforcement troops there.

Observers see the Helsinki agreement as the best chance yet of ending the conflict which has claimed about 15,000 lives, most of them civilians, since GAM began its struggle for an independent state in 1976. Under the accord, GAM dropped its long-held demand for independence in exchange for a form of local government in Aceh, a province of about four million people. The peace pact was spurred by the December 2004 tsunami disaster, which left 131,000 people dead in Aceh.

Indonesia prepares to pull another 2,500 troops out of Aceh province
Associated Press, 10/24/05

Thousands of Indonesian troops pulled out of tsunami-ravaged Aceh province Monday as part of an agreement to end one of Asia's longest-running wars.

With the withdrawal of the 2,500 rifle-wielding soldiers, who left the port town of Lhokseumawe on three Navy ships, the delicate phase of demobilization and disarmament reached the halfway point. The military has now pulled out 12,000 of the 24,000 troops slated to leave the province under the terms of the agreement signed with rebels in August, said military spokesman Lt. Col. Ari Soetiko.

The separatists already have handed over half of their self-declared 840 weapons, the remainder of which are to be surrendered by the year's end, according to international peace monitors.

"The withdrawal of the troops went very smoothly today," said Soetiko, adding that many villagers in the former rebel stronghold showed up at the port to wave the soldiers off. The troops were heading to the port town of Surabaya in East Java province, he said.

Several earlier agreements to end the 29-year war that has claimed 15,000 lives collapsed amid bitterness and distrust. But efforts to end the fighting picked up after the Dec. 26 tsunami that killed 131,000 people in Aceh and left a half million others homeless. The warring factions said they did not want to add to people's suffering and when they met in Helsinki, Finland, to hammer out a deal, both made major concessions. The rebels agreed for the first time to renounce their long-standing demand for independence, and the government offered the Free Aceh Movement political representation and an amnesty.

Head of U.N. sanctions committee on Ivory Coast in Abidjan
Associated Press, 10/18/05

The head of the United Nations' sanctions committee on Ivory Coast arrived here Tuesday to assess Ivory Coast's troubled peace process, a U.N. official said.

A communique issued late Monday by the U.N. mission said Greek diplomat Adamantios Vassilakis was expected to hold talks with Ivorian President Laurent Gbabgo, former president Henri Konan Bedie, foreign diplomats in Abidjan and also rebels in their northern stronghold of Bouake. Meetings with other key figures in Ivory Coast's conflict were also scheduled.

Ivory Coast plunged into civil war after a failed coup in September 2002. The U.N. Security Council has imposed an embargo on arms exports to Ivory Coast and can also activate at any time a system of sanctions against Ivorians deemed an obstacle to peace. Last month, Gbagbo called off elections set for Oct. 30 because of a continued standoff between the government and rebels who control the country's north. The rebels say conditions are not right for elections, but reject Gbagbo's claim that the constitution allows him to remain in power after Oct. 30. Last week, the U.N. Security Council lent its support to the African Union efforts to keep Ivory Coast from sliding into a new constitutional crisis, backing plans to delay presidential elections for up to a year.

The council endorsed a decision by the African Union's Peace and Security Council on Oct. 6 that would appoint a prime minister to shepherd Ivory Coast toward elections no later than Oct. 30, 2006. President Laurent Gbagbo could stay in office until that time as well. There are currently about 6,000 U.N. peacekeepers and 4,000 French troops separating the rebels and Ivory Coast loyalist forces.

Row breaks over head of Ivory Coast's electoral commission
Agence France Presse, 10/20/05

A new 31-member independent electoral commission (CEI) in the war-divided Ivory Coast has chosen an opposition politician as its chief, promptly triggering a political row and dissent.

Politicians backing or opposed to President Laurent Gbagbo said Robert Mambe Buegre of the once all-powerful Ivory Coast Democratic Party (PDCI) was elected Wednesday by 15 colleagues, while 16 others walked out and slammed the door.

The objectors protested at a decision by Territorial Adminstration Minister Issa Diakate, who is a transitional government member from the New Forces (FN) rebels in control of half the country since 2002, that only the 22 commission members with "full voting rights" could help choose the chairman.

The president of Gbagbo's ruling Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), Pascal Affi N'Guessan, said Thursday "the FPI does not recognise the bureau that has emerged from an electoral sham and will never accept an electoral commission that has been illegally set up."

Twenty members of the commission, which has the job of preparing for and monitoring elections aimed at capping a political transition and reuniting the west African country, come from the government and political or rebel parties who signed a peace accord in 2003. But the majority of those come from the opposition, which Affi N'Gguessan accused of "an attitude and a recurrent propensity in rebel ranks to trample underfoot the laws and rules of the republic." The problem is that no quorum was specified for the election of the head of the commission under a deal that declared the incumbent would be "elected from among the members of the central commission for a term of six years".

Such legalistic arguments have for more than two years stymied bids by the international community to reunite Ivory Coast, split after a September 2002 rebellion across a truce line patrolled by thousands of French and UN troops. A presidential poll was due under the supervision of the United Nations on October 31, after Gbagbo's mandate ended, but then postponed indefinitely, since it was impossible to keep to the deadline.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and key African leaders seeking to end the crisis in the onetime regional economic powerhouse have voiced frustration at the slow pace of implementation of a disarmament and political settlement first signed in January 2003.

Gbagobo's representative on the CEI said that the other 11 members, who are technical staff from government ministries responsible for administration, defence and security issues, should be allowed to vote for a chairman. "It's only during (commission) work that the 22 members make the decisions" Siene Oulai protested late Wednesday. "You shouldn't muddle up two completely different situations," Oulai said, adding that all 16 protestors would take their claim for representation to the Constitutional Council.

Annan himself was among the first to announce that elections by the end of October were most unlikely, citing lack of organisation, disputes and foot-dragging by concerned parties.

Before changes made by Gbagbo, the political opposition and rebels who control the mainly Muslim north of the country objected to planned laws giving more responsibility to the National Statistics Institute, saying this body was dominated by his supporters. Gbagbo's foes contend that the institute cannot be trusted to draw up electoral rolls without bias. Amid repeated setbacks in the political process, first the African Union and then the United Nations prolonged Gbagbo's mandate for up to a year beyond October 31 to avoid chaos.

UN approves AU power transfer for Ivory Coast
Agence France Presse, 10/22/05

The UN Security Council endorsed the African Union's plan for political transition in the Ivory Coast, calling for the selection of a new prime minister while Laurent Gbagbo remains as president.

The council's 15 members adopted unanimously Resolution 1633, which endorsed the findings of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union that although Gbagbo's term ends this month, it would be impossible to organize elections by then. The council "reaffirms its endorsement of the observation of ECOWAS and of the Peace and Security Council (of the African Union) on the end of the mandate of President Laurent Gbagbo on 30 October 2005 and the impossibility of organizing presidential elections on the scheduled date...", the resolution said.

The council agreed that Gbagbo would continue to serve as president for no more than 12 months while a new prime minister was selected based on national consensus.

The council urged "the chairperson of the African Union, the chairperson of ECOWAS and the African Union mediator to consult immediately with all the Ivorian parties in order to ensure that a new prime minister acceptable to all the Ivorian parties signatories to the Linas-Marcoussis agreement shall be appointed by 31 October 2005," it said. The Linas-Marcoussis agreement, signed in January 2003 in Paris by rebel groups and political parties, was designed to end violence between the government and rebels.

The Security Council said cabinet ministers must be accountable to the new prime minister and that he should have full authority. The new prime minister must have access to "all the governmental financial, material and human resources, particularly with regard to security, defense and electoral matters, to ensure the effective functioning of the government."

Security tight in Indian Kashmir following minister's slaying
Associated Press, 10/19/05

Soldiers and police manned checkpoints and searched vehicles Wednesday as authorities stepped up security in Indian-controlled Kashmir a day after Islamic insurgents assassinated the territory's education minister.

Indian officials insisted that the slaying Tuesday would not hamper operations to aid tens of thousands of victims of the South Asian quake and pledged to thwart any attempts to disrupt relief efforts. The education minister of India's Jammu-Kashmir state, Ghulam Nabi Lone, 62, was the third senior Indian official killed by insurgents since 2000. Each of the previous slayings led to major military clampdowns in Kashmir and ratcheted up tension between India and rival Pakistan, both of which claim all the Himalayan territory.

Lone was killed in a brazen daylight raid by Islamic militants who scaled the wall of his residence in a highly guarded enclave of central Srinagar, hurling a hand grenade and firing indiscriminately. Along with Lone, an attacker, two police officers and a civilian were also killed and seven others were injured in the ensuing gunbattle. The other attacker escaped after a nearly three-hour standoff.

On Wednesday, police and soldiers erected roadblocks and checkpoints and were searching vehicles, frisking passengers and passers-by in Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu-Kashmir state.

India's home secretary, V. K. Duggal, met with top police and government officials in Srinagar Wednesday and reviewed security and relief efforts. "The entire government machinery is geared up for dealing with the situation in Jammu-Kashmir state," Duggal told reporters.

Indian Kashmir's deputy chief minister, Mangat Ram Sharma, said an inquiry was underway to find out how the attackers breached security at Lone's residential enclave, where many politicians and senior government officials live.

Hours later Wednesday, a suspected rebel attacked a police patrol in the village of Kadlabal, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Srinagar, killing two civilians and wounding 12 others, including an officer, said police superintendent G.M. Dar. Dar said that the attacker was clad in a woman's Islamic dress and fired indiscriminately before fleeing. It was not clear whether the assailant was male or female.

Last week, a female suicide bomber blew herself up near an army convoy, the first such attack by a woman since Kashmir's insurgency began in 1989. Two militant groups - the Al-Mansoorain and the Islamic Front - claimed responsibility for Tuesday's killing. The attack came despite an order from the United Jihad Council, an umbrella organization of militant groups, to suspend attacks in the region following the quake which killed thousands.

The 7.6-magnitude earthquake on Oct. 8 killed more than 54,000 people in Pakistani-held Kashmir and 1,360 people on the Indian side of the territory. At least 140,000 people in Indian Kashmir remain homeless.

India not to allow unchecked flow of people across Kashmir border
Agence France Presse, 10/21/05

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said India will not allow the unchecked flow of people through the de facto border dividing disputed Kashmir between India and Pakistan in the wake of an earthquake that killed more than 52,000 in the region.

Mukherjee said some places could be identified along the Line of Control (LoC) where relief material for quake victims could be sent across freely, the Press Trust of India reported Friday. The minister was responding to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's suggestion Tuesday of opening up the heavily militarised border to allow Indian Kashmiris to cross over to aid stricken relatives in the Pakistani zone.

"If it (Islamabad's proposal) covers those carrying relief material, they can go without obstacles ... Places could be identified for them. But it (LoC) cannot be opened for anybody and everybody," Mukherjee said. The "earthquake cannot alter the history of last 50 years and I am putting it very candidly," he said referring to the rivalry between India and Pakistan over competing claims over Kashmir.

The scenic Himalayan region, which was devastated by the October 8 quake, has been the trigger for two of three wars between the South Asian nuclear rivals since 1947. The 7.6-magnitude quake killed 51,300 people in Pakistan and some 1,300 in India.

"But it (Musharraf's proposals) can provide an opportunity by creating an atmosphere where we can provide assistance to the victims and surely, in that condition, better understanding (between India and Pakistan) is possible," Mukherjee said.

India remains wary of Musharraf's proposal for a "soft border" in Kashmir, where a 16-year-old insurgency has killed 44,000 people by the official count, and twice as many according to separatists. Indian foreign ministry officials Friday said they were still waiting for Islamabad to give suggestions for practical implementation of the offer. "So far we have not heard anything," an official said.

Peace talks between India and Pakistan led to the opening in April of a bus service linking the two sides of Kashmir, although the quake has destroyed part of the road and damaged a bridge linking the territories. Delhi is also considering establishing another five crossing points along the de facto border. These would be at Poonch, Rajouri, Suchetgarh, Uri and Tangdhar, the Indian Express newspaper said Thursday, adding that a sixth crossing was possible at Kargil.

Kashmir separatist slams India's relief camps on ceasefire border
Agence France Presse, 10/24/05

A top Indian Kashmir separatist criticised India's plans to operate three relief camps for Pakistani earthquake survivors along the ceasefire border.

India says survivors in Pakistan-ruled Kashmir can cross the Line of Control (LoC) - the de factor border dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan - to the camps for treatment and supplies then cross back again. But Shabir Shah, one of the region's leading separatists, said the camps would fail to help survivors rebuild their homes and villages. Instead, he said Kashmiris should be allowed to cross over to Pakistan-ruled Kashmir to assist survivors, as long as they registered with the army at border checkpoints.

"It will not serve any purpose. It is a mere eyewash," Shah said of the camps."People in Azad Kashmir need us there. They want our help in rebuilding their homes and lives," Shah told AFP referring to Pakistan-ruled Kashmir, which is described by separatists as Azad or free Kashmir."They have lost their families. They need consolation. You are making them walk up to your relief camps and not taking relief to them," he said.He said he doubted many Pakistanis would head to the camps at Kaman Post and Teetwal in the north and Chakan Dabagh in the south.

India said on Saturday the camps would open as soon as Pakistan gave the go-ahead, and they would be ready to operate by Tuesday. Tens of thousands of people have died in Pakistan and its region of Kashmir and more than two million made homeless after the devastating October 8 earthquake. In Indian Kashmir some 1,300 people were killed and nearly 150,000 rendered homeless.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf last week suggested both countries open up the heavily-militarised border to aid relief efforts.

Another separatist, Nayeem Khan, said he would leave with supporters for the Pakistani-zone of Kashmir on Tuesday to help survivors and cross the LoC on his own."I have not sought permission from (the) India army to cross over. I don't need permission. It is my state," he said.

India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir. The LoC had remained closed from when it was established as a ceasefire line in 1949 until April this year when a trans-Kashmir bus service was relaunched after almost six decades.

Kosovo premier visits Albania
Associated Press, 10/24/05

The prime minister of the U.N.-administered Kosovo was visiting Albania on Monday for talks on bilateral relations and upcoming talks on the province's status, the Albanian premier's office said.

Kosovo's Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi planned to meet his Albanian counterpart Sali Berisha, while the United Nation's Security Council discussed details on starting the talks on Kosovo's future. Kosovo's top U.N. official, Soren Jessen-Petersen, also visited for talks with Albania's top leaders, many of whom have voiced support for Kosovo gaining full independence.

Kosovo, formally part of Serbia-Montenegro, became an international protectorate in 1999, after NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days to stop a crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatist rebels. Its ethnic Albanian leadership and majority favor full independence from Serbia-Montenegro, while Belgrade and the province's Serb minority want it to remain part of the country that replaced the former Yugoslavia. The United Nations is hoping to start negotiations on Kosovo's future by the end of the year.

U.N. Security Council Launches Kosovo Talks
Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 10/24/05

The U.N. Security Council on Monday authorized the start of negotiations to determine the political future of Kosovo, while Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica warned of dangerous consequences if the province is granted independence.

"The time has come to move to the next phase of the political process," the 15-nation council said in a statement after hearing Kostunica and U.N. officials in charge of programmes in the Serb province. The council reaffirmed its support for a multi-ethnic and democratic Kosovo "which must reinforce regional stability." U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he will appoint former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari to lead the talks on Kosovo's future status.

Kosovo has been under U.N. administration since July 1999, after NATO warplanes defeated Serb security forces and ended Belgrade's repression of majority ethnic Albanians in the province.

Kostunica, in a rare appearance before the council in New York, warned the council not to dismember Serbia. He said giving independence to Kosovo would be a "dangerous precedent with grave long-term consequences for the international order in general."

The council back in 1999 gave strong support to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia-Montenegro when it established the U.N. administration in Kosovo.

"Any solution must respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia and Montenegro as an internationally recognized state, a member of the U.N. and other international organizations," said Kostunica.

"Serbia-Montenegro is prepared to assume responsibility in resolving the issue," Kostunica said, adding that Belgrade would agree to a compromise for autonomy for Kosovo "as part of Serbia."

Kosovo Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi did not attend the meeting. But he sent a letter to the council reaffirming his support for the status talks and calling for international help for democracy, security and development in the territory.

"It is the view of Kosovo's government and the large majority of Kosovo's people that the final status should be that of an independent state with borders of Kosovo as they currently stand, with neither partition nor cantonisation," Kosumi said in the letter.

The talks to settle disputed Kosovo was urged by Annan and his envoy Kai Eide, who has spent months this year studying the complex situation.

"The basic position of the parties remain diametrically opposed with no - or at least very little - common ground," the Norwegian diplomat said Monday, adding that the chance for success was "modest". Ethnic Albanians, who support independence from Serbia, form 90 per cent of Kosovo population. The rest are Serbs and Roma.

To prepare for the status talks, the U.N. has started what it called a programme of democratic standards to be achieved in parallel with efforts to settle the sovereignty issue. The standards included establishing government institutions, both in Pristina as well as at local levels, human rights, economic development, allow the return of refugees and preservation of cultures. Annan said in a report to the council last week that determining Kosovo's future status will be a "demanding challenge" for the U.N.

"The international community must do the utmost to ensure that, whatever the eventual status, it (Kosovo) does not become a failed status," Annan said.

Liberia's 'Iron Lady' steel-eyed in hunt for presidency
Agence France Presse, 10/21/05

Of the myriad campaign posters to paper Liberia, none was more striking than one featuring presidential hopeful Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the same pose, two decades apart -- with arm outstretched and a look of steely determination on her face.

It is that determination, which backs up her reputation as the west African state's "Iron Lady", that Sirleaf hopes will cement her place in history as Africa's first elected female president and the one Liberian voters choose on November 8 to lead them away from their legacy of civil war.

"I have always tried to be me, to live a life filled with activism and fighting for what I believe is right," the former World Bank economist told AFP in a pre-election interview. "I have the breadth and depth of experience in politics and a solid record outside of Liberia. I know that I can be a force for good in this country and am counting on having the chance to try."

A Harvard-educated economist, Sirleaf has held positions with both the United Nations and the World Bank, along with a stint at Citibank. She served in, then opposed, consecutive Liberian governments under presidents William Tubman then William Tolbert, and went to jail twice on charges of treason for speeches opposing Samuel Doe, whose military reign was cut short by a coup led by Charles Taylor, whom Sirleaf once enthusiastically supported.

Much of the opposition to Sirleaf -- and there is plenty, even among the political elite -- stems from that relation to Taylor and the influence the exiled former leader could have on her administration. Some mistrust her motivation and suggest she will turn her presidency into an opportunity for revenge against her historical foes, while others worry she is too much of an isolationist, apt to dismiss assistance and advice from regional and international partners.

"She is a very tough lady and has made a lot of enemies," said one west African official. "She is definitely like Liberia's Hillary Clinton -- her supporters are as fierce in their admiration of her as her detractors are in their dislike."

Sirleaf earned 20 percent of the votes cast in the October 11 first round, winning a majority in four counties and placing second in three others including Montserrado, home to the capital Monrovia and one-third of Liberia's 1.3 million registered voters. Her second-round rival, football hero George Weah, by contrast, won six counties and took second in seven more. She drew much of her support in the first round from the women who make up just over half of the electorate, and the tiny educated class of Liberian elite who consider her best capable of attracting foreign investment, maintaining stability and clamping down on government corruption.

And with 20 defeated presidential candidates horsetrading for their support, she is cobbling together alliances with people she once spoke against, such as Nathaniel Barnes of the Destiny Party, who was finance minister under Taylor. But what could handicap Sirleaf's second run for the presidency is her age -- a reported 66 in a country where half of the population is under 30 -- and the continued characterization of her as a member of the elite who have ruled Liberia for most of the 158 years since it was settled in 1847 by freed American slaves.

In a country riven by ethnic tensions, pitting elite against native and native on native for more than a century, she has taken pains to emphasize her own indigenous roots. At a press conference on Thursday, she twice mentioned her market-women grandmothers, and issued an appeal she hoped would transcend the ethnic and age divides that contrast so sharply in the two Liberias.

"We need a government that reflects the diversity of our nation, and must find in every party, every tribe, every region the good people we want to bring into our government," she said."We must put aside the wrongs of the past and come together as Liberians for the good of our future."

Greek lawmaker urges government to drop Macedonia name dispute
Agence France Presse, 10/23/05

A lawmaker from Greece's ruling New Democracy party has urged the government to end its 14-year opposition to letting its northern neighbor use the name Macedonia "as used by the whole world." "One has to understand that we've lost the battle, and the longer we hold out, the more we risk losing," lawmaker Nikos Georgiadis said in an article in Saturday's Kathimerini newspaper.

Greece, which has a region of the same name, blocked its northern neighbor from gaining international recognition as "Macedonia" after the province broke away from Belgrade in 1991. The country has been known officially as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) since it joined the United Nations in 1993.

The United Nations has made little progress in its efforts to mediate to find a mutually acceptable solution, and last year the United States recognized the country as "Macedonia", sparking a diplomatic spat with Greece.

"The diplomatic battle which Greece has waged has led to its isolation," Georgiadis said, urging Greek leaders to concede the issue and "prove their realism and courage".

Despite developing business and trade ties, Athens has continued to take a hard line on its neighbor's name, even threatening to block its future membership of the European Union and NATO if a compromise is not found. The Greek government has rejected a UN envoy's latest proposals for a compromise that authorities in Skopje had welcomed as a "good basis for a solution." The proposals have not been made public.

Media bodies condemn new anti-press rules in Nepal
Agence France Presse, 10/18/05

An international media mission to Nepal on Tuesday accused King Gyanendra of further undermining the kingdom's free media with a strict new press law.

"We express our serious concern that King Gyanendra, together with the government and security forces, is seeking to further undermine Nepal's vibrant independent media, said a statement issued by the International Press Freedom Mission to Nepal.

Eleven organisations joined the mission in the aftermath of the king's February 1 power grab and curbs on freedom of expressions. On October 9, Gyanendra promulgated a new ordinance tightening his grip on the press.It imposed strict control over media ownership and publications, banned the broadcast of news on FM radios, outlined fines for defamation and limited the import of foreign publications. Any news that "causes hatred or disrespect" to any member of the royal family was also prohibited. The cabinet approved the regulations five months ago but they were put on hold after strong protests from media rights groups.

The Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) has vowed nationwide protests and is pushing the Supreme Court to nullify the ordinance."We wish to reaffirm our solidarity with the media community and freedom of expression advocates in Nepal who continue to be the victims of intimidation, harassment, repression and violence," said the freedom mission group. It urged the government to reconsider the ordinance and to end direct and indirect censorship, intimidation and attacks against the media community.

The mission members include Article 19, Committee to Protect Journalists, International Federation of Journalists, International Media Support, International Press Institute, Press Institute of India, Reporters Sans FrontiÃ¨res, South Asian Free Media Association, UNESCO, World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters and World Association of Newspapers.

Communist rebels threaten journalist in western Nepal, order him to quit field
Associated Press, 10/19/05

Communist rebels have threatened a journalist working in western Nepal and ordered him to quit the profession, a media rights group said Wednesday.

Kamal Neupane, a reporter with the Samacharpatra Daily newspaper, received a handwritten letter from guerrilla leader Laxmi Ram giving him a three-week deadline to quit journalism or "face severe action" from the rebels, said Mahendra Bista, general secretary of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists.

Neupane, who lives in the western Dailekh district, was accused of criticizing the communist-led insurgency in Nepal and supporting King Gyanendra, the monarch of the Himalayan kingdom, who sacked the government and took absolute power in February.

Ironically, Neupane is one of 15 journalists who fled his workplace six weeks ago following threats from the government army commander, said Bista."They resumed work in the district last month," he added.

There was no immediate comment from the army or the rebels on the allegations that they threatened Neupane. The rebels could not be contacted from their jungle hideouts but they have been known to kidnap or threaten journalists who write news that is critical of them. Working in Dailekh, a town about 500 kilometers (310 miles) northwest of Nepal's capital Katmandu, has become risky for journalists due to intense pressure from the rebels and the army to write in their favor, Bista said.

Both the Maoist rebels and government troops are known to harass and threaten journalists based in conflict areas. The army is known to detain journalists, and hundreds of journalists have been detained or arrested. About six remain in jail. The rebels have been fighting since 1996 to abolish Nepal's constitutional monarchy and set up a communist state.

Jemaah Islamiyah still training in southern Philippines
Agence France Presse, 10/21/05

Members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) extremist network are still training in the southern Philippines despite commitments by Muslim separatists to help the government hunt them down, a military official said Friday.

"The JI is still making use of some Mindanao bases for training activities," said military deputy chief Lieutenant General Samuel Bagasin. He said JI was operating in the mountainous areas of Lanao del Sur and Maguindanaoon on the main southern island of Mindanao and the nearby small island chains of Basilan and Jolo.

JI members were recruiting locals and had also forged links with Abu Sayyaf, a local Muslim outlaw group with ties to the Al-Qaeda network, Bagasin said after a meeting of senior military officials. However he stressed that he was not saying JI members were training in the camps of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country's main Muslim separatist group that has signed a ceasefire with Manila. The MILF, which is negotiating a peace deal with the government, has committed to help the government crack down on JI but intelligence officials have said some MILF commanders are sheltering the foreign militants in their camps. Bagasin said he could not confirm how many JI members might still be in the south or what kind of training they were conducting.

Intelligence officials have warned that JI members from Indonesia or Malaysia may be taking advantage of the porous maritime borders to seek refuge in the strife-torn southern Philippines where local Muslim armed groups are active.The defense department previously said about 33 JI members were in the country last year and the United States has said that Dulmatin, an al-Qaeda trained electronics expert thought to be one of the masterminds of the 2002 Bali bombings, is hiding in the south.

Montenegro's planned independence vote causing division, tensions
Agence France Presse, 10/23/05

Montenegro's planned referendum on independence dominates life in the tiny Balkan state, but analysts say the issue is already causing division and tensions among locals six months before the vote is due to be held.

An abundance of billboards about the proposed vote, which Montenegro's leaders have vowed to stage by May next year, adorn the capital Podgorica, calling on people to support the bid for the republic to separate from its union with Serbia. Of former Yugoslavia's six states, Serbia and Montenegro are the only two that remain bound together in any form after the collapse of the communist federation following the wars of the 1990s.

But their relationship has been increasingly strained in recent months, particularly as a result of the insistence by Montenegro's leaders on holding the vote despite appeals by the European Union to refrain from doing so until the status of the Serbian province of Kosovo is resolved. The issue of Montenegro's future status dominates discussions in the media, streets and cafes in the small mountainous republic, with campaigning seemingly under way despite the fact no official date has yet been set for the vote. Advertisements related to everyday life even allude to the referendum.

"Be independent, save money in our bank," a billboard in the centre of Podgorica reads. "Buy independently," says another for a supermarket. Independence-related messages can also be seen on sachets of sugar served with coffee in restaurants, or even on boxes of matches.Observers say they are concerned the public relations blitz will lead to a low turnout at any referendum on Montenegro's independence due to voter fatigue and apathy.

"I don't think we should separate from Serbia," said Momir Perovic, a taxi driver. "We are not ready to become an independent state. Besides, we share many historic, cultural and all other kinds of values with Serbia. Why should we change it?" he asked.

"I don't care if we become independent. I just want this referendum to take place so we can take the issue off the agenda and focus on more important things like the economy and improving democratic standards," said a hotel worker.

Montenegro's pro-independence Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic told AFP in an interview this week that his government was "insisting on independence" in order for the republic to "take over full responsibility for our European future".

"As it's 15 times bigger, it is logical that Serbia wants to dominate the union, but it's also logical that we should resist that domination," said Djukanovic.

But Montenegro's pro-Serbian opposition said the referendum was unnecessary and only would risk creating divisions in the republic."We believe that the union of Serbia and Montenegro is the best framework for closer ties with the EU," said Srdja Bozovic of the main opposition Socialist People's Party.

The Djukanovic-led ruling coalition wanted "independence in order to remain in power and control everything," Bozovic said, adding authorities had imposed an "incredible" amount of pressure for the vote to happen.

Analyst and public opinion pollster Veselin Pavicevic said the referendum should be held as soon as possible because of growing fatigue among the republic's 475,000 registered voters. "People have become tired of the issue and I have the impression they want to ... resolve it once and for all," said Pavicevic, of the independent Center for Democracy and Human Rights agency.

According to the agency's latest survey, 41 percent of Montenegro's 650,000 population are in favor of independence against 34 percent who oppose it, while the remaining 25 percent are still undecided.

Pavicevic said he believes the final result will depend on voter turnout with most of those still undecided in favour of remaining in the union with Serbia. "The higher the turnout is, the more uncertain the outcome will be," he said, adding the estimate was based on the requirement by law that participation must be by 50 percent of eligible voters plus one.

Somalia Faces Threat of New Civil War
Associated Press, 10/22/05

With too many weapons, too little food and three factions vying for control, Somalia's anarchy is overwhelming its new government even before it can establish itself.

The competition for power, which threatens to trigger another civil war, could combine with a potential food crisis and repeat the disaster that followed the collapse of Somalia's last regime in 1991. U.S. forces under U.N. command went into the Horn of Africa nation to help the starving, and other nations joined them, but the U.N. failed to set up a viable government.

Already, at least one al-Qaida cell is believed to have set itself up, and experts agree that another civil war could create an opportunity for Islamic extremists to take power. Homegrown fundamentalists have set up an Islamic court system, and militias move freely in some parts of Mogadishu, the capital, enforcing the court's rulings by shutting bars and destroying shops that sell pirated DVDs and music cassettes.

The United States has long feared that Islamic militants may take advantage of the clan-fueled anarchy to replicate the Taliban's Afghanistan. Heightened tensions in the capital come as poor rainfall, mass displacement of farmers due to fighting and extensive environmental destruction set the stage for widespread hunger.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization is calling for contingency planning for southern Somalia. "Civil insecurity and unrest continues to be one of the main factors contributing to food and livelihood insecurity throughout the region," the FAO's Food Security Analysis Unit said in its October report.

Most Somalis already depend on handouts. Many live in wretched camps, their homes destroyed in clan fighting. The feared crop failure could increase their dependency on foreign food aid, already made tenuous by the instability.

A year-old transitional government is meant to bring peace and the first central government in 14 years, but has split in two. The secular president and prime minister are based in the small town of Jowhar, while the warlords of Mogadishu, some of them also Cabinet ministers, have stopped cooperating until they get some concessions from the president.

Forming a third force are fundamentalists who will settle for no less than an Islamic government, one of its leaders, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, told The Associated Press in an interview this month.

All three sides have received large shipments of arms - often from neighboring countries hoping to gain influence with Somalia's competing clans - setting the stage for renewed war, according to the U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia. It has reported to the Security Council that there is a "severely elevated threat of widespread violence in central and southern Somalia." Since none of the three factions is believed to have sufficient firepower to defeat the other, no one knows how long the stalemate might last.

Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi's government, the product of the 14th peace process in 15 years, originally included all of the key warlords and received a great deal of international backing."We are trying to calm the militias, but it is not an easy task to restore security and stability in the country," Gedi said in an interview in neighboring Kenya. He dismissed the schism within his Cabinet, pointing out that out of 42 members, only five were in Mogadishu and refusing to cooperate with him. "It is not as bad as people are saying," he said.

But it is bad enough to split the international community. Diplomats can't agree on whether to throw their full weight behind Gedi and President Abdulahi Yusuf, or wait and hope the Mogadishu warlords can be coaxed back into the peace process, officials familiar with ongoing discussions said.

While the four key militia leaders in Mogadishu control the only city in the country and most of Somalia's economy, the only thing they seem to share is a hatred for Yusuf, and what they say are his dictatorial inclinations. While reconciliation efforts are under way, few hold out any hope of success.

Waiting in the wings are Somalia's fundamentalist Muslims, some of whom are listed by the U.S. State Department as al-Qaida collaborators. The most prominent is Aweys. While he won't address allegations he's had contacts with al-Qaida, he doesn't hide his opposition to Yusuf, his readiness to declare a jihad should foreign peacekeepers enter Somalia, or his plans to establish an Islamic government.

Sri Lanka rebel supporters demand lifting of EU travel ban on Tamil Tigers
Associated Press, 10/22/05

Supporters at a rally held in eastern Sri Lanka Saturday urged the European Union to be "realistic" and lift a travel ban clamped on Tamil Tiger rebels, a pro-rebel Web site reported.The EU announced earlier this month that representatives of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam will be refused entry into member states until the bloc considers whether to add the guerrillas to its list of terrorist organizations.

"We therefore urge the European Union to be realistic ... and consider lifting their stand that LTTE delegations will not be welcomed to their member countries," pro-rebel TamilNet Web site reported, quoting a declaration made at a rally in Trincomalee, about 230 kilometers (140 miles) northeast of Colombo. "Tamil-speaking people desire to show their opposition to the action arbitrarily taken against the LTTE by the European Union without indictment, trial or judgment - the essential elements of the rule of law ... ," the declaration said.

Tamil rebels have been accused of killing scores of political opponents - including Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in August - and recruiting child soldiers despite a Norwegian-brokered cease-fire signed in 2002. The rebels deny killing Kadirgamar on Aug.12 and claim that the EU has sided with the government.

The Tamil Tigers began fighting in 1983 for a separate nation for the minority Tamils in the north and east of the island nation off the southern tip of India. About 65,000 people were killed in the conflict before the cease-fire. Subsequent peace talks stalled over rebel demands for more autonomy.

On the Net: Pro-rebel Web site: www.tamilnet.com

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels to be neutral in coming presidential election
Associated Press, 10/23/05

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels will remain neutral in the country's upcoming presidential election by not backing any candidate, a spokesman for the rebel group said Sunday.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which started fighting in 1983 for a separate homeland for Sri Lanka's 3.2 million ethnic minority Tamils, does not contest elections, but has supported candidates in the past. The rebels wield tremendous power over Tamils living in areas under their control.

"The LTTE has decided to be neutral in the presidential election," rebel spokesman Daya Master told The Associated Press by phone."Our decision is that we will not support any party," he said.

In the 2004 parliamentary elections, the guerrilla group backed the Tamil National Alliance, or TNA - a coalition of minor Tamil political parties that later won 22 seats, becoming a pro-rebel presence in Sri Lanka's 225-member Parliament. Master declined to elaborate on why the group would remain neutral this time.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse will face former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in the Nov. 17 presidential vote. The hardline policies of Rajapakse - who denounces ethnic divisions in this small island country of 19 million - are directly at odds with the rebels, who have demanded self-rule in the Tamil-majority northeast. However, peace efforts led by Wickremesinghe led to a Norway-brokered February 2002 cease-fire, ending two decades of government-rebel fighting that killed 65,000 people.

Subsequent peace talks broke down in April 2003, and have been stalled due to disagreements over the Tigers' demands for wide autonomy in the Tamil-majority northeast. Rajapakse has said he is open to direct talks with the rebels' top leadership, aimed at permanently ending the war, if he wins. Since the cease-fire, resentment has been growing among some Tamils living in rebel-controlled territory due to the Tigers' collecting taxes and conscripting child soldiers, and to political assassinations and poor living conditions in those areas.

Tamil voters living in such areas will be bussed to government-controlled areas to vote. Election Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake has said he could not provide security at polling stations in Tiger-held areas because the cease-fire terms bar government forces from rebel territory.

After Sri Lanka's previous general election in 2004, local and international observers said polling in some guerrilla-controlled parts of the northeast was beset by violence and fraud.

Sri Lanka's president meets with opposition presidential candidate amid rift in party
Associated Press, 10/24/05

Sri Lanka's president met privately Monday with the presidential candidate from the main opposition party to discuss cooperating to end a conflict with separatist Tamil Tiger rebels - revealing a rift between her and her party's hawkish presidential candidate over the peace process.

Both President Chandrika Kumaratunga - who is barred from seeking a third term - and her decades-long rival Ranil Wickremesinghe "agreed on the importance of all major political parties working together in order to resolve the country's most troubled issue, that of war and peace," a statement from Kumaratunga's office said after the meeting.

The presidential candidate from Kumaratunga's party, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, has been campaigning on a promise to revise a peace agreement with the Tamil Tigers and reject their demand for self-rule if he is elected president at the Nov. 17 election. His plans are directly at odds with those of Kumaratunga, who, like Wickremesinghe, has pushed for power-sharing with the rebels under a proposed federal government. Wickremesinghe's proposals for permanent peace were discussed "at length," the statement said.

Kumaratunga, who will remain leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party after she ends her two terms in office, has accused Rajapakse of violating party discipline by agreeing to the demands of smaller hardline political parties that say the government has already ceded too much power to the rebels.

Monday's meeting was another indication that Rajapakse's policies did not have the complete backing of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, officials close to Kumaratunga said on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive subject matter. Kumaratunga is constitutionally barred from contesting a third term. Wickremesinghe is running for the main opposition United National Party.

In February 2002, when he was prime minister, Wickremesinghe signed a cease-fire agreement with the Tamil separatist rebels, halting a 19-year conflict that killed nearly 65,000 people. Subsequent peace talks broke down in 2003 amid rebel demands for wide autonomy in the north and east. Kumaratunga ousted Wickremesinghe in 2004, accusing him of being too soft on the guerrillas and of jeopardizing national security. But in recent weeks she has praised the truce.

Kumar Rupasinghe, head of the Foundation for Coexistence, an independent think tank, said of the meeting, "Most of the population will be pleased (that) the president and leader of opposition are committed to a bipartisan approach to resolve the Tamil national question." "The meeting also suggests there are really two positions within the SLFP on the peace process which are diametrically opposed to each other," he said.

Sudan government, Darfur rebels end latest round of peace talks
Associated Press, 10/20/05

Sudan's government and rebels ended a sixth round of talks on the crisis in the country's western Darfur region Thursday, announcing no agreements but pledging to reconvene in a month to push forward the slow-moving peace process.

Fighting between two rebel factions, which splintered earlier this year from the main Sudan Liberation Army, complicated more than a month of talks in Nigeria's capital, Abuja. The sides agreed to meet again Nov. 21 in Abuja."I don't name it failure and I don't call it a success," said government negotiator Yusuf Abdallah adding that he was encouraged by a sense of optimism among participants but found progress slow.

The parties signed a statement saying "some progress was made" in discussions over human rights and power-sharing at the national and local levels."We are conscious of the urgent need to give our people respite from their long suffering," the parties said.

"Reasonable and acceptable" progress was made, particularly over power-sharing and human rights issues, said Ahmed Tugod, leader of a delegation of the smaller of the two rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement. He gave no further details.

Violence in Darfur spiked while negotiators met, including rebel attacks on army outposts and African Union peacekeepers and government and militia raids on villages and refugee camps. Expressing "deep concern at the deteriorating security situation in Darfur," the African Union Thursday extended the mandate of its 6,700 troops in Sudan. A statement did not say for how long the troops would remain. Their initial one-year mandate of the AU mission expired Thursday.

After decades of low-level clashes over land and water in Darfur, rebels launched a large-scale conflict in early 2003, accusing the Arab-dominated central government of neglecting ethnic African tribes. The central government is accused of responding by sending Arab tribal militias, known as the Janjaweed, to murder and rape civilians and lay waste to villages. The government denies backing the Janjaweed. The chaos has left at least 180,000 people dead from hunger and disease and forced 2 million to flee their homes. There are no firm estimates of the number of people killed in fighting and Janjaweed attacks.

On Wednesday, the United Nations said violence was hindering food and relief aid to tens of thousands of people and forcing more Sudanese into already crammed refugee camps.

US envoy hopes for Darfur peace deal this year
Associated Press, 10/22/05

A visiting senior US official aired hope Saturday that Khartoum and rebels in Sudan's embattled western Darfur region would clinch a peace deal before the end of the year.

US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer underlined that US sanctions against Khartoum would not be lifted as long as calm did not return to Darfur.

"We are hoping that at the latest by the end of the year you will have a political solution to the crisis in Darfur," Frazer told reporters after talks with President Omar al-Beshir. "As long as the situation continues in Darfur, it would be very difficult for the US and for President (George W.) Bush to make the case that the human rights sanctions should be lifted," she added.

Sanctions against Sudan have been in place since 1993 when it was put on the State Department list of states that sponsor terrorism. Separately, an asset freeze and travel ban on senior officials were imposed in 2004 over the government's failure to stop atrocities in Darfur.

"The US still holds its position that genocide has occurred in Darfur," Frazer said in reference to Khartoum's repression of an armed uprising by ethnic minority rebels.

Between 180,000 and 300,000 civilians have since died -- many of them in brutal raids by the government-sponsored Janjaweed militia -- and more than two million villagers have been driven from their homes and into camps. Frazer said her visit aimed to "put pressure on the government of Sudan and on the rebels in Darfur to stick to the ceasefire and to work to achieve peace through the negotiations in Abuja."

The latest round of African Union-mediated talks in the Nigerian capital was suspended for a month on Thursday after making little progress towards a settlement of the 30-month-old conflict. "The US has an ambassador in Abuja who is trying to push the parties to negotiate and considering to hold a conference with the SLA (Sudanese Liberation Army) to end factionalism and be united as one team," in the negotiations, she said.

AU mediators said that the talks had been postponed to allow the SLA's political arm -- the Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM) -- to resolve internal differences which have undermined the negotiations and to enable delegates to celebrate the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. The delegations are due to return to the Nigerian capital on November 20, with the talks formally beginning the following day. During her three-day visit Frazer also traveled to south Sudan, where a January peace deal is being implemented with Khartoum.

"The US will put pressure on the national unity government and the south Sudan government to end the slowness in implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement," she said. Nine months after the agreement was signed, the vast war-ravaged south remains unstable. Several days of deadly rioting following the July death in a helicopter crash of veteran southern leader John Garang underlined the risks of renewed unrest. Frazer was due to leave Khartoum later on Saturday.

President of new southern Sudan government forms first cabinet
Associated Press, 10/23/05

The president of the new government of southern Sudan has formed his first cabinet since a peace deal between former southern rebels and the northern government, and it includes the widow of former rebel leader John Garang.

President Salva Kiir Mayardit announced the formation of the Cabinet on Sunday, said Radio Juba, monitored in Khartoum. Garang, leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Army, negotiated the January peace agreement with the Sudanese government that ended more than 20 years of civil war, Africa's longest war. He was killed in a helicopter crash in July. His widow, Rebecca de Mabior, has been one of the leaders of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, the political wing of SPLA. She will take the post of minister of roads and transportation.

The January peace accord provided for an autonomous south with its own army, national power and wealth-sharing, religious freedom and a new constitution during a six-year interim period. After those six years, the 10 southern states will hold a referendum on independence. Sudan also has a unity government, in which Kiir now serves as first vice president, in addition to his post as the south's president.

The new Cabinet is expected to be sworn in Monday in Juba, the main city in southern Sudan, the radio said. The radio said the names of two other ministers for Army affairs and for rural cooperation and development will be added later to the 20-member Cabinet. The Cabinet also includes the vice president of the southern government, Rick Machar, who will become the minister of housing and lands. Samson Kwaje, SPLA's spokesman, becomes the minister of information while SPLM official Nhial Deng was named minister of regional cooperation.

According to the January peace agreement, the southern government Cabinet includes 70 percent from the SPLM, 15 percent from the northern ruling National Democratic Party of President Omar el-Bashir and 15 percent from other southern parties. As part of the peace deal, Garang was sworn in, in July to the post of First Vice President in the country's unity government, second only to el-Bashir. Only weeks afterward, Garang was killed on July 30 in a helicopter crash in the south, sparking angry riots by southerners and shaking hopes for peace. Garang's party deputy, Kiir, was quickly put in place as first vice president and as president of the new southern autonomous zone.