PEACE NEGOTIATIONS WATCH

Burundi

Security Council extends UN force in Burundi to mid-January
The UN Security Council on Wednesday extended the mandate of the 6,481-strong UN peacekeeping force in Burundi until next January 15
Seven killed in Burundi rebel attack as government criticized
FNL launched the deadly attack late Sunday on a military position in Bujumbura Rural province killing 7

Chechnya

Chechen president to hold Brussels talks next month
President Alu Alkhanov will visit Brussels on December 15 for meetings that could include exiled separatists
Relatives of men killed in attack in southern Russian region protest crackdown
Relatives of men killed in an assault on police that the violence had been rooted in official repression of Muslims

Indonesia

Indonesia's Aceh calm as rebels drop plan to mark anniversary
Indonesian officials praised separatist rebels for refraining from celebrating the 29th anniversary of their uprising, in a bid to safeguard a peace deal

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

Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast opposition says no to Gbagbo over talks
Opposition parties in Ivory Coast announced they would take no part in talks President Laurent Gbagbo had called to discuss naming a transitional prime minister
Ivory Coast president welcomes peacemaker PM
African mediators appointed Charles Konan Banny, the 63-year-old governor of the Central Bank of West African States, to the post of transitional prime minister

Kashmir
Top separatist leader asks India, Pakistan to pull backs troops from Kashmir
Kashmir's top Islamic cleric and separatist leader has said that longtime rivals India and Pakistan should demilitarize the disputed Himalayan region under NATO supervision

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

Kosovo
Yugoslav war crimes tribunal acquits chief Kosovo Albanian suspect
The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal acquitted a senior officer of the Kosovo Albanian rebels Wednesday of torturing and murdering ethnic Serbian and Albanian civilians at a prison camp during the 1998-1999 war
EU foreign policy chief calls for balanced solution for Kosovo
EU foreign policy chief expressed hope Monday that a balanced solution would be found for the contested Kosovo province at upcoming U.N.-mediated negotiations

Liberia
Liberia's president-elect, Nigerian counterpart discuss Charles Taylor
Liberia's Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf discussed with Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo the fate of CharlesTaylor who is wanted on war crimes charges but protected by political asylum in Nigeria

Macedonia

Macedonian premier visits Croatia amid war crimes row
The prime ministers of Macedonia and Croatia vowed that a Croatian war crimes inquiry against a top Macedonia general would not disrupt political ties between the two Balkan nations

Moldova

Moldova asks OSCE to inspect Russian arms depots in Trans-Dniester
Moldova 's foreign minister called on the OSCE on Monday to inspect Russia 's arms depots in its breakaway region

Nepal

Maoist rebels extend Nepal ceasefire by one month
Maoist insurgents said Friday they had extended a unilateral ceasefire by one month after joining political efforts to restore democracy in Nepal

Serbia

Montenegro

Greek foreign minister warns peace still precarious in Balkans
Greek Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis warned on Wednesday that peace and stability remain precarious in the Balkans, as he prepared to visit Serbia and Kosovo next week

Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan cease-fire monitors warn of escalating violence in Sri Lanka following attacks
The Sri Lankan military on Sunday directly blamed the Tamil Tiger rebels for attacks that killed seven soldiers; international monitoring mission warns the hostilities could cause an "irreparable deterioration" of security in the country
Tamil group threatens to expel Sri Lankan military from northeast
Trincomalee Tamil Peoples Consortium threatened to force the military and "traitors" from the country's Tamil-dominated northeast if violence continues against the ethnic group there

Sudan
Sudanese government, Darfur rebels to open peace talks in Nigeria
Sudanese government officials and rebels from the country's war-wracked Darfur region opened a new round of peace talks Tuesday, with African Union mediators calling for an end to the slaying of civilians
Darfur talks restart in bid to solve power-sharing dispute
AU due to bring all the delegates to peace talks on the crisis in the Sudanese region of Darfur back together Monday after a 72-hour break to allow the parties to resolve a dispute over a power-sharing deal to end the conflict

Security Council extends UN force in Burundi to mid-January
Agence France Presse, 11/30/05

The UN Security Council on Wednesday extended the mandate of the 6,481-strong UN peacekeeping force in Burundi until next January 15.

"This is a technical extension to allow time for discussion of the future of ONUB (United Nations Operation in Burundi)," Russia's UN envoy Andrei Denisov, the president of the 15-member council for November, said after the unanimous adoption of the extension. The council expressed support for Bujumbura's efforts to consolidate peace after years of civil strife.

Burundian Foreign Minister Antoinette Batumubwira said that roughly 40 percent of ONUB troops would be withdrawn from next January."As of January, 40 percent of the peacekeeping troops will be withdrawn and in March we are going to renegotiate ... to see what proportion of the remaining forces would be withdrawn from Burundi," she told reporters here.

ONUB has been operating in Burundi since June 2004 in line with a UN Security Council resolution designed to help Burundians steer their country toward lasting peace and reconciliation after years of a bloody ethnic war. In his latest monthly report on the country, UN chief Kofi Annan also said that Burundian authorities had indicated that they planned to take over all security responsibilities from ONUB in "14 provinces where it considered that security had generally been restored and to which most of the refugees are expected to return."

The report said the drawdown could begin with the withdrawal of one ONUB military contingent. It also suggested that the number of ONUB military observers deployed throughout the central African country be cut from the current 200 to 120 by the end of next April.

Burundi, a former Belgian colony, is still recovering from the 1990s war between the Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority which claimed some 300,000 lives. One of the country's seven Hutu rebel groups continues to fight, launching mortar attacks on Bujumbura last week. Burundi's new president, ex-Hutu rebel leader Pierre Nkurunziza, came to power in August after a series of elections under the auspices of a regionally backed peace process to end the war.

Seven killed in Burundi rebel attack as government criticized
Agence France Presse, 12/5/05

At least seven civilians were killed and 11 people, including six soldiers, were wounded in a weekend attack outside Burundi's capital by the country's last active rebel group, a local official said Monday.

The attack by the National Liberation Forces (FNL) was reported as Burundi's former ruling party said a three-month-old power-sharing government was failing in its mandate to restore normalcy to the war-torn central African nation. The FNL launched the deadly attack late Sunday on a military position in Bujumbura Rural province, which surrounds the capital and has been the main hub of rebel activity, the provincial governor said.

"They killed seven civilians and injured five others as well as six soldiers," Governor Zenon Ndaruvukanye said of the strike on the Mugendo army outpost about 20 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of Bujumbura. He said the civilians at the base were among a group of Bujumbura Rural residents who had been seeking refuge from persistent attacks by the rebels who have ignored overtures to enter peace talks with the government."The civilians have been spending nights at the military camp for security reasons," Ndaruvukanye told AFP.

The spokesman for the FNL could not immediately be reached to comment. The FNL is the only one of Burundi's seven Hutu rebel groups to remain outside a 2000 peace process that brought in a new power-sharing government in August and is aimed at bringing an end to a bloody 12-year civil war. It has refused to recognize the legitimacy of President Pierre Nkurunziza, himself a former Hutu rebel leader, and has carried on fighting despite peace overtures and an apparent split in its leadership.

Nkurunziza has vowed to end the insurgency by the end of the year and the military has stepped up operations against the FNL and taken measures to curb lingering public support for the group.

On Monday, the head of FRODEBU, the ex-ruling party that lost to Nkurunziza's Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD) in a series of elections earlier this year, said the new president was "off to a bad start." "More than 100 days after President Nkurunziza took office, the record is grim and everyone recognizes this," Leonce Ngendakumana said, apparently referring to critical reports from local and international human rights groups. The government "often violates the constitution, it conducts arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings by police have risen to a worrying degree," he told reporters.

Early last month, New York-based Human Rights Watch accused Nkurunziza's fledgling administration of summary executions and torture of civilians suspected of being FNL collaborators. At the same time, the local rights group, APRODEH, said some 400 people had been illegally arrested since September for allegedly associating with the FNL and that 18 of those detainees had been tortured.

In reports similar to one released by the United Nations mission in Burundi in August, the groups also condemned abuses committed by the FNL. Burundi is struggling to recover from the ethnically-driven conflict that erupted in 1993 with the assassination of its first democratically-elected president, a Hutu, by members of the minority Tutsi-dominated military.

Relatives of men killed in attack in southern Russian region protest crackdown
Associated Press, 12/05/05

Relatives of men killed in an assault on police in the Caucasus city of Nalchik said in a letter Monday that the violence had been rooted in official repression of Muslims, and accused authorities of beating and torturing the suspects.

At least 139 people died in the brazen daytime assault Oct. 13 on law enforcement offices in Nalchik, the provincial capital of the republic of Kabardino-Balkariya, including the 94 accused attackers, according to official tallies. Relatives of the men killed during the fighting said the attack had been provoked by relentless official repression of innocent Muslim believers in the region, which is near Chechnya.

"Our sons didn't turn their weapons against the people, they only responded to police violence against them," said the letter, signed by 62 people and released by the Moscow-based For Human Rights group.

Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basayev, the purported author of modern Russia's deadliest terror attacks, has claimed he was behind the Oct. 13 assault. Basayev said the attacks were carried out by local militants affiliated with the Chechen rebels.

The letter accused local authorities of allowing Basayev and other rebels to freely move across the region. "Aren't there traffic police checkpoints on every step?" it said. The relatives warned that it would be impossible to restore stability in the region without protecting Muslims' rights, ending repression and conducting a fair investigation into the Oct. 13 attack. Their letter said several people were found dead after they were questioned by police after the assault, and that many other suspects were beaten and tortured. "It's a genocide of our people, the destruction of Muslims," the letter said.

Officials said they had checked 2,000 people for being involved in the attack and arrested 50. One of those arrested was Rasul Kudayev, a former prisoner of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay. Kudayev's relatives complained he was severely beaten to extract confessions, and his lawyer told Human Rights Watch that he could not walk without assistance when she saw him in late October. "All confessions made by my client and other defendants have been extracted under torture," said Kudayev's lawyer, Inna Komissarova, who was later barred by authorities from defending Kudayev.

Another defense lawyer, Larisa Dorogova, also banned from defending suspects in the assault, said that officials had launched a rampant campaign to intimidate people in the region. "The horror has been building up," Dorogova told The Associated Press. "People live in fear that their sons could be detained at any moment. They don't care whether people are guilty or not; it's what they call mass repression."

Kabardino-Balkariya has long been rattled by spillover violence from Chechnya, as well as local criminal elements. Rights groups have accused law enforcement authorities of persecuting innocent believers who worship outside the officially sanctioned mosques, falsely branding them militants and planting compromising evidence, such as drugs or weapons, to ensure their prosecution. "Muslims' rights haven't been restored, and they bar us from speaking out," the letter said. It urged the United Nations and the European Union to open an investigation into the attack.

Indonesia's Aceh calm as rebels drop plan to mark anniversary
Agence France Presse, 12/4/05

Indonesian officials on Sunday praised separatist rebels in Aceh province for refraining from celebrating the 29th anniversary of their uprising, in a bid to safeguard a peace deal.

"I have to extend my highest appreciation, because they remain committed to their obligations and committed to the peace process itself," said Major General Bambang Darmono.

Celebrations marking the conflict would have run counter to an August peace deal with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Darmono, Jakarta's chief representative with the Aceh Monitoring Mission, told ElShinta private radio.The tsunami-hit province in northwestern Sumatra remained calm Sunday, said police and army officials. Aceh police chief Bahrumsyah Kasman told AFP he was touring Aceh by helicopter Sunday and that so far there had been no reports of any anniversary celebration by the GAM."Everything is as usual, and so far, from our monitoring, there are no commemorations of the anniversary," said Aceh military spokesman Eri Sutiko.

The only gatherings by former rebels on Sunday was reported in Langsa, East Aceh, and in Bireuen district, where local GAM authorities held traditional thanksgiving feasts at local mosques.

On August 15, the GAM signed a peace pact with the Indonesian government in which they dropped their demand for independence in return for a form of local government in Aceh, a province of about four million people. Observers see the August agreement reached in Helsinki 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. The peace pact was spurred by the December 2004 tsunami disaster, which left 131,000 people dead in Aceh.

Ivory Coast opposition says no to Gbagbo over talks
Agence France Presse, 12/2/05

Opposition parties in Ivory Coast announced Friday they would take no part in talks President Laurent Gbagbo had called to discuss naming a transitional prime minister in the troubled west African country."We don't feel concerned in this meeting," said Alphonse Ddedje Mady, the committee chairman of an opposition grouping called the Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (PHDP), named for the country's founding president.

Gbagbo had asked his political rivals to meet him in the afternoon for talks on a new interim government leader, making the invitation ahead of high tension in Abidjan triggered by a Thursday evening attack on a major police base by unidentified gunmen in civilian clothes. The economic capital was calm Friday after clashes at the Agban gendarmerie barracks in the working-class Adjame neighbourhood, where residents heard heavy automatic weapons fire for more than half an hour.

Lieutenant Colonel Rene Sacko, head of the inter-forces tactical command centre, told AFP that an unknown number of men had launched an assault that was fought off by the police, but military officials have since given no details or casualty figures, amid contradictory speculations in the press.

The PHDP groups the former ruling Ivory Coast Democratic Party with the Rally of Republicans, led by Muslim northerner Alassane Ouattara, and two small political parties, the Union for Democracy and Peace in Ivory Coast (UDPCI) and the Movement of Forces for the Future (MFA).

Ddjedje Mady said the opposition, part of which is aligned with rebels who have held the north of the divided nation for more than three years, had been asked to meet Gbagbo merely by a communique issued from the president's office and that was wrong.
"We didn't get any invitation with an agenda inviting us to a working session," he said. "You don't summon political parties by way of a press release."

Despite a November 22 visit by presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, Mamadou Tandja of Niger and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa in a concerted bid to kickstart a stalled peace process, Ivorian political and rebel parties are unable to agree on who should head an interim government. The foreign leaders wanted to see Ivory Coast implement UN Security Council resolution 1633 of October 21, which accorded Gbagbo a maximum extra 12 months in office after his mandate expired on October 30, but also required the appointment of a mutually acceptable prime minister by October 31.

French soldiers and a UN peacekeeping mission patrol ceasefire lines across the country, formerly the economic hub of the region, where elections had been scheduled for October 30 under peace deals dating back to January 2003, until it became clear no poll was feasible. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and some leaders in the African Union, a continental body currently chaired by Obasanjo, have voiced exasperation at the intransigence of rival Ivorian political parties over details in the peace process. In July, attacks by unidentified assailants on police bases in the north of Abidjan claimed the lives of seven members of the security forces and 17 of the attackers, according to army figures.

In the absence of official statements, newspapers close to the opposition on Friday suggested in editorials that the clashes in Abidjan could be a further stalling tactic. For Le Patriote, the assault was conceivably "wittingly staged by the 'eminences grises' at the presidential palace". The idea, according to such editorialists, was to give Gbagbo reason to hold on his power, which he stands to see reduced if shared with a prime minister.

Ivory Coast president welcomes peacemaker PM
Agence France Presse, 12/5/05

Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo expressed satisfaction Monday over the nomination of a transitional prime minister charged with reunifying the war-torn west African country.

African mediators appointed Charles Konan Banny, the 63-year-old governor of the Central Bank of West African States, to the post on Sunday after more than a month of tortured negotiations to find a candidate acceptable to Gbagbo, the political opposition and to rebels who hold most of the north of the country. "We are satisfied. He is an Ivorian official with life experience, who is competent and who has assumed high office," the president's spokesman Desire Tagro said."He has no known political past and is capable of leading our country to reunification."

The country's media embraced the nomination, while stressing Konan Banny would face daunting obstacles."Charles Konan Banny, central banker, political novice, has the advantage of belonging to no camp," said Notre Voie, a newspaper close to the president's Ivorian Popular Front. For the opposition Le Patriote, the mission would be "high risk", while Nord-Sud Quotidien pointed out it had taken 45 days just to find a temporary prime minister."We hope it won't take as long to form the next government," the opposition newspaper said.

An official at the central bank, which has its headquarters in the Senegalese capital of Dakar, told AFP Konan Banny was still in that city Monday. The executive declined to give any details about the governor's schedule or when he was expected to travel to Ivory Coast.

The choice of Konan Banny, governor of the central bank since 1994, was announced during a visit to Ivory Coast on Sunday by South African President Thabo Mbeki and African Union chairman, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. Konan Banny will succeed Seydou Diarra, prime minister since the January 2003 signing of a French-brokered peace agreement that was never properly put into effect.

According to United Nations Security Council resolution 1633, the transitional prime minister will have authority over all security, electoral and financial matters, and will be able to seize portfolios of uncooperative ministers. He is also in charge of the programme for disarming and integrating militias and preparations for presidential elections next October, but is expressly prevented from standing as a candidate. Konan Banny, a native of the southern Ivorian town of Divo, studied in Paris where he gained an economics degree from the Ecole Superieure des Sciences Economiques and Commerciales in 1968. He served as an official with a farm prices stabilisation fund before becoming secretary-general of the Inter-African Coffee Organisation in 1970.

"We hope he will carry out the mediators' road map, to disarm, reunify the country and prepare and organise elections," the Ivorian president's spokesman said. Konan Banny's appointment was immediately welcomed by Alphone Djedje, the leader of the rebel New Forces, who wished him "a lot of courage". The world's leading cocoa producer, once one of Africa's most prosperous states, has been split since fighting broke out in 2002 between Gbagbo's government and rebels who control the mostly Muslim north of the country. The Security Council agreed to extend Gbagbo's term by 12 months after the October 30 presidential poll was aborted because of the lack of progress over disarmament.

Top separatist leader asks India, Pakistan to pull backs troops from Kashmir
Associated Press, 11/29/05

Kashmir's top Islamic cleric and separatist leader has said that longtime rivals India and Pakistan should demilitarize the disputed Himalayan region under NATO supervision.

After pulling out troops, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a conglomerate of separatist political and religious groups, could ask Islamic rebels to stop fighting and strengthen the peace process, said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in an article published in Tuesday's edition of Greater Kashmir, a local English daily. India already has rejected a similar demand for demilitarization put forward by Pakistan during a meeting of the prime ministers of the two countries earlier this month in the Bangladesh capital on the sidelines of a regional summit. India said attacks by suspected insurgent groups were continuing on government forces and the civilian population in the Indian portion of Kashmir.

However, Farooq said NATO could help bitter rivals India and Pakistan."We appeal to NATO, which is already present in one part of Kashmir, that it should oversee the demilitarization on both sides of the Line of Control," Farooq wrote.

At present, NATO has been helping in relief efforts in the Pakistani portion of Kashmir devastated by the Oct. 8 earthquake. India and Pakistan have fought two wars over its control since they won independence from Britain in 1947. More than a dozen Islamic separatist groups have been fighting for Kashmir's independence from India or its merger with Pakistan since 1989. More than 66,000 people have been killed in the conflict. The quake has killed more than 87,000 people in Pakistan and left some 3.5 million homeless.

Farooq claimed in his article that nearly 1 million Indian soldiers were deployed in the Indian portion of Kashmir. However, Indian army officers say on condition of anonymity that there are fewer than 500,000 soldiers there. Pakistan says it has 50,000 troops on its side of Kashmir. Relations between India and Pakistan have warmed up since the resumption of talks in 2004. Their forces have been respecting a cease-fire along the Line of Control dividing Kashmir between them since November 2003.

Yugoslav war crimes tribunal acquits chief Kosovo Albanian suspect
Agence France Presse, 11/30/05

The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal acquitted a senior officer of the Kosovo Albanian rebels Wednesday of torturing and murdering ethnic Serbian and Albanian civilians at a prison camp during the 1998-1999 war.

Several dozen friends, family and supporters applauded and roared in approval as Fatmir Limaj's acquittal was announced. A second defendant, Isak Musliu, was also acquitted, while the third, Haradin Bala, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for executing nine prisoners in the woods in July 1998. All three pleaded innocent on all charges. In Kosovo, where Limaj is considered a hero, celebratory gunfire echoed through the Serbian province's capital, Pristina, and drivers honked their horns.

Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova hailed the court's decision, saying it proves "the righteousness of the war for liberation and independence by ethnic Albanians" in Kosovo.

"We are delighted," said Hashim Thaci, the former leader of the ethnic Albanian rebel force who now heads the opposition Democratic Party, of which Limaj is a member. "It is a victory for Limaj, for citizens of Kosovo," Thaci said.

Serb leaders in Kosovo criticized the ruling, saying it will further undermine Serb trust in the international community. It was the first trial of members of the NATO-backed Kosovo Liberation Army, which fought for independence from the Serbian state led by President Slobodan Milosevic. The chief suspect, Limaj, 34, a former KLA commander, was accused of running the Lapusnik prison camp, about 15 miles west of Pristina.

"It has not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused Fatmir Limaj had any role in the prison camp or in the execution in the Berishe mountains or that he has criminal responsibility for any offenses for which he is charged," presiding judge Kevin Parker said.

The court found that crimes were committed at the camp, which held ethnic Serbs and ethnic Albanians suspected of collaboration. But it said the prosecution failed to link Limaj to beatings, inhumane treatment, torture and murder. Most prisoners were "detained in either a very small basement storage room or another very small room used as a cow shed," Parker said. "In the cow shed, most detainees were chained to the wall and unable to move."

The camp was abandoned in late July 1998 during an assault by Serbian forces, and about 20 detainees were taken to the nearby mountains under a KLA escort.

Bala was convicted for his role in the execution of nine prisoners, but the court said his sentence of 13 years in prison reflected his low rank."You were acting as a soldier under orders in releasing some prisoners and executing nine of them. You did not do this on your own initiative or decision. While that does not excuse your conduct it affects the degree of the seriousness of your conduct," Parker said.

The war in Kosovo ended after a 78-day NATO bombing campaign against Serbia that forced Milosevic to pull Serbian troops out of Kosovo in 1999. Milosevic, who was indicted for crimes against humanity in Kosovo, has built his defense on the argument that he was defending Serbs from a terrorist campaign conducted by the KLA. Kosovo technically remains an autonomous part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that has replaced Yugoslavia, and since the war has been administered a U.N. mission and patrolled by NATO-led peacekeepers. The U.N. war crimes court so far has brought charges against six ethnic Albanian rebels, including Kosovo's former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj.

EU foreign policy chief calls for balanced solution for Kosovo
Associated Press, 12/5/05

The European Union's foreign policy chief expressed hope Monday that a balanced solution would be found for the contested Kosovo province at upcoming U.N.-mediated negotiations.

Javier Solana spoke after meeting Serbia-Montenegro President Svetozar Marovic as part of his two-day visit to the Balkan republic. On Tuesday, he planned to travel to Kosovo to meet the province's ethnic Albanian leaders. The negotiations on Kosovo's future status are expected to begin in January. Although still officially a province of Serbia, Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since a 1999 NATO bombing campaign halted the Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. Belgrade and Kosovo's Serb minority want the province to remain within Serbia's borders, while its ethnic Albanians majority seeks full independence. Solution to the dispute is considered key for stability of the Balkan region.

Solana said he "hoped very much that a solution will be found that will enable everybody to feel comfortable. We have to put (in) our best will in order to find a balanced solution," Solana said.

Serbia-Montenegro president Marovic warned that, "if we end up having one winner and many losers, the real loser will be regional stability."

EU officials have said a status settlement should respect rights of all Kosovo communities, saying the province cannot return to being directly ruled from Serbia nor be partitioned between Serbs and ethnic Albanians. The EU is expected to play a key role in reaching a solution, and has appointed Austrian Balkan expert Stefan Lehne to assist U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari, a former Finnish president, in leading the status talks.

The bloc is also concerned about Montenegro, where the population is divided over the issue of independence from Serbia. Solana planned to meet Montenegrin leaders later Monday. Montenegro has maintained a loose union with Serbia, after four other Yugoslav states split from the former federation in early 1990s. But ties between the two have deteriorated, and Montenegro's leaders scheduled an independence referendum for the first half of 2006. The EU has tried to talk Montenegro out of opting for secession, fearing it could trigger new Balkan tensions, and has warned that internationally accepted democratic standards must apply in the vote.

In Belgrade, Solana also urged Serb leaders to hand over to the U.N. war crimes tribunal the remaining fugitives so that the country could move forward toward establishing closer ties with the EU. "The European perspective for your country is a must, it is an open door, but to close that door certain elements have to take place," Solana said. "Let's hope that with good will by everybody we will finish this journey."

Liberia's president-elect, Nigerian counterpart discuss Charles Taylor
Associated Press, 11/30/05

Liberia's president-elect on Wednesday discussed with Nigeria's leader the fate of one of her predecessors who is wanted on war crimes charges but protected by political asylum in Nigeria.

Liberia's Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf didn't call for Charles Taylor, to be sent to a U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal, but said after meeting Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo that she was holding consultations on the issue."We believe that some consensus will be reached in due course," Johnson-Sirleaf told reporters in Nigeria's capital, Abuja. Without elaborating, she said "certain national and regional sensitivities ... will be taken into account."

Obasanjo granted Taylor political asylum in 2003 as rebels attacked the Liberian capital, saying that offering Taylor an option other than fighting to the end helped lure him from office, saving lives. Many in strife-torn West Africa hailed Obasanjo's decision, backed by the United States and other Western powers, saying it had ended a decade and a half of Taylor's warmaking. But Obasanjo, leader of Africa's most-populous nation and regional diplomatic heavyweight, is under increasing pressure to hand Taylor to a U.N.-backed war crimes court in Sierra Leone, where he backed a brutal rebel group during that country's 1991-2002 civil war. Nigeria says it offered Taylor exile with the great powers' backing and now must keep its word, although it has publicly chided Taylor for breaking parts of his asylum agreement.

Nigeria says it would consider sending Taylor to Liberia for trial if that's what a democratically elected leader wished. Johnson-Sirleaf, elected this month and slated to take over from a postwar national-unity government in January, will be able to make that call. She is the first woman ever elected president of an African country.

Also Wednesday, Sierra Leone's vice president called on Liberia's incoming leadership to press for the Taylor's prosecution."We just hope the new (Liberian) leadership will take a position on Charles Taylor and will ensure that Charles Taylor is brought to justice," said Sierra Leonean Vice President Solomon Berewa, in London meeting with his country's financial donors.

Liberia's civil war, launched by Taylor in a power grab, killed 200,000 people and left a once prosperous country in ruins. A 2003 peace accord largely brokered by Obasanjo officially ended 14 years of fighting, and a transitional government arranged the vote won by Johnson-Sirleaf.

Sierra Leone's civil war pitted government troops against rebels that drew international condemnation for their brutal tactics, including the chopping off of arms, lips and ears of their civilian victims.

Taylor, who helped pioneer the use of child soldiers in West Africa, armed the rebels and helped them sell overseas the so-called blood diamonds they forced their captives to dig from the ground. Sierra Leone is also ruined by war, 176th out of 177 on the U.N. ranking of countries by their level of development, ahead of only Niger.

Officials at a two-day donors' conference for Sierra Leone that ended Wednesday said they expected Britain, the World Bank and others to provide an estimated US$800 million to Sierra Leone over the next year. That was about US$150 million short of what Sierra Leone had requested for the priority areas of ensuring food security, creating jobs and improving governance, Berewa said.

Macedonian premier visits Croatia amid war crimes row
Associated Press, 11/29/05

The prime ministers of Macedonia and Croatia vowed Tuesday that a Croatian war crimes inquiry against a top Macedonia general would not disrupt political ties between the two Balkan nations.

During a visit to Zagreb, Macedonian premier Vlado Buckovski said his country expects the Croatian probe against his country's army chief-of-staff, Gen. Maj. Miroslav Stojanovski, to be completed "as soon as possible." "Naturally, we believe in his innocence," Buckovski told reporters, speaking in Macedonian. "But if the truth shows to be different, we won't allow it to damage our relations."

Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said the "sole goal" of the investigation is "to find the truth."

District prosecutors in Croatia's eastern city of Vukovar, the scene of some of the worst fighting during Croatia's war of independence in 1991, suspect that Stojanovski may have been involved in atrocities while while commanding a Yugoslav army unit that took part in the campaign. Stojanovski was a captain in the federal Yugoslav Army at the time. After Macedonia declared its independence the following year, he joined its newly created armed forces.

The Yugoslav army and its Serb militia proxies bombarded Vukovar into submission during a three-month siege. The once elegant 14th century town was virtually flattened in the onslaught that killed about 1,700 Croats. For many Croats, it remains a symbol of Serb wartime cruelty even after it was returned to Zagreb's rule in 1995.

Stojanovski, who was on an official visit to Croatia last week, has denied the claims. The Macedonian government has also defended its military chief. After the investigation is complete, a prosecutor will decide whether to formally charge Stojanovski.

Macedonia and Croatia have had no disputes so far a rarity among successor states of the former Yugoslav federation. Buckovski came to Zagreb to discuss free trade in central and eastern Europe with members of the Central European Free Trade Agreement, or CEFTA, now grouping Macedonia, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria. He also met Croatian President Stipe Mesic, who said later the organization represents a "sort of regional training for the integrated European market." CEFTA was created in 1993 to liberalize trade among central and eastern European countries and to prepare them for EU membership. Croatia opened membership talks with the European Union on Oct. 3 and Macedonia is slated to follow suit soon. Bulgaria and Romania are set to join the bloc in 2007.

Moldova asks OSCE to inspect Russian arms depots in Trans-Dniester
Associated Press, 12/5/05

Moldova's foreign minister called on the top trans-Atlantic security agency on Monday to inspect Russia's arms depots in its breakaway region and also demanded that the Russian troops withdraw.

In a speech to the 55 members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, Andrei Stratan said, "We urge the OSCE to conduct an international inspection of the Russian Federation's armaments depots and those of the unconstitutional paramilitary units" from the Trans-Dniester region. He did not offer details.

Trans-Dniester broke away from Moldova in 1992 after a brief conflict that left about 1,500 people dead. It is not recognized internationally, but receives strong support from Russia, which has 1,500 troops stationed in the province.
The mainly Russian-speaking Trans-Dniester also has large stockpiles of weapons left over from the former Soviet Army.

The OSCE is one of the mediators in talks in Moldova aimed at resolving the dispute between the government and pro-Moscow separatists. Russia and Ukraine are also mediators. Russia failed to meet a 2003 deadline to pull its troops out, claiming that the troops are needed to act as peacekeepers between Moldova and the separatists.

Stratan reiterated that Moldova "deeply regrets the lack of progress in withdrawal of Russian troops." It "calls on the Russian Federation to resume, without delay, and complete in a transparent manner the withdrawal process of its troops and ammunition from our territory," he said. Russia's military presence "infringes the norms and principles of international law" and Moldova's constitution, he said. It also puts "pressure" on the negotiations, he said, adding: "This presence should not be used to impose externally a certain way" of resolution for Trans-Dniester.

Maoist rebels extend Nepal ceasefire by one month
Agence France Press, 12/2/05

Maoist insurgents said Friday they had extended a unilateral ceasefire by one month after joining political efforts to restore democracy in Nepal following a power grab by King Gyanendra.

"Despite the provocative attitude of the government forces, our party has decided to extend the ceasefire by one month, taking into account the demands of the national and international communities for democracy," said rebel leader Prachanda in a statement sent to AFP. A three-month unilateral ceasefire called by the Maoists, who have been fighting for a communist republic since 1996, was due to end on Friday. Security forces were bracing for a major democracy protest planned by leftists in Kathmandu later Friday.

"We believe this decision will pave the way to strengthen the movement of democracy and peace against the autocratic rule and give new direction to find a political way out," Prachanda said. There have been isolated clashes between the Maoists and the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) during the ceasefire which the Maoist leader blamed on the army."The security forces tried hard to break the ceasefire," Prachanda said.

Human rights activists welcomed the Maoists' decision to prolong their ceasefire."By extending the ceasefire, the rebels have shown that they are committed to the 12-point agreement they reached with the political parties of Nepal last month," said Subodh Pyakurel, a human rights activist."The present regime is very alarmed with the understanding between the rebels and the political parties, so it could take drastic steps," he said.

On Thursday, UN human rights chief Louise Arbour warned that Nepal faced the threat of a full-scale armed conflict, and called on authorities to join a ceasefire with Maoist rebels and allow free assembly."A mutual ceasefire between the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and the government of King Gyanendra, and steps towards lasting peace, are crucial to bring to an end a period of grave violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by both the Maoists and the State," Arbour said."I am seriously concerned about the very real possibility that full-scale armed conflict could resume," she said.

The king was to return to Kathmandu Friday following visits to Bangladesh and several African nations, where he visited Nepalese UN peacekeepers. A month of protests are planned to begin with the king's return. Authorities barred meetings in certain areas of the capital, but opposition leaders vowed to go ahead despite the ban.

The Maoists and seven mainstream opposition parties agreed last month to form an anti-royal alliance to restore democracy in the troubled Himalayan kingdom. They set out a 12-point plan and called for an end to fighting and for elections to be held under UN auspices. Under the agreement, the Maoists would lay down their arms under UN or other international supervision while a new constitution was drafted.

Analysts warn that the alliance between the opposition parties and the Maoists will isolate the increasingly unpopular king. Nepal has been shaken by repeated strikes and protests since the king assumed total control, a move he justified by saying the government had failed to quell the Maoist revolt. The violence and the royal takeover has brought international condemnation for both sides as well as reviews of military and humanitarian aid from several countries, including the United States, Britain and India. The Maoist conflict has killed more than 12,000 people.

Greek foreign minister warns peace still precarious in Balkans
Associated Press, 11/30/05

Greek Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis warned on Wednesday that peace and stability remain precarious in the Balkans, as he prepared to visit Serbia and Kosovo next week.

Speaking in an interview with The Associated Press, Molyviatis also said Greece's traditional rival Turkey needed to take "drastic steps" to accelerate reforms and boost relations with its neighbors as part of its bid to join the European Union."A lot of progress has been made" in the Balkans, said Molyviatis, who is to visit Pristina and Belgrade on Dec. 6-7. "However peace and stability in the Balkans is still precarious, it's not an irreversible situation. So a lot needs to be done to eliminate the potential sources of instability."

Molyviatis said the region faced a potentially explosive situation, with negotiations being held over Kosovo's future status, an April referendum in Montenegro that could lead it to secede from its union with Serbia, and a new constitution aimed at unifying ethnically divided Bosnia to come into force in March."I think the international community should be very cautious in how we handle all these developments. We should not disregard the potential threats involved in these problems, especially with regard to extreme nationalistic tendencies and feelings in the area," the foreign minister said.

The EU has tried to talk Montenegro out of opting for secession, fearing renewed tension in the former Yugoslavia. But the government is committed to holding a referendum. Bosnia's Muslim, Serb and Croat leaders agreed last week to strengthen the central government by amending the constitution a decade after a bloody civil war. Talks on Kosovo could start as early as next month. The province is formally part of Serbia-Montenegro, but it has been run by the United Nations and NATO since a 1999 NATO air war forced Belgrade to end a crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists. The province's ethnic Albanian majority insists on independence from Serbia, while Belgrade wants Kosovo to remain at least formally within its boundaries.

Molyviatis would not say if he had any new proposals to break the deadlock in the province of two million people."The purpose of the whole exercise is to reconcile these two contradictory views in a manner which will not destabilize the area," he said. Molyviatis will be accompanied on his trip by his Croatian and Romanian counterparts.

The minister also voiced hopes that Greece's long-standing regional foe, Turkey, would respond "positively and constructively" to requirements for its entry into the EU."I think Turkey knows that the road to the final outcome is going to be long and difficult," Molyviatis said, adding that the conditions Ankara must meet "means Turkey would have to take some drastic steps on the way to reforming internally."

Greece and Turkey nearly went to war in 1996 over two uninhabited Aegean Sea islets, although bilateral tension has dropped considerably in recent years. Molyviatis said the EU process would also force Ankara to improve relations with Cyprus, which Turkey invaded in 1974 following a failed coup by supporters of union with Greece. The island is still divided between the Greek Cypriot south - the island's internationally recognized government - and a Turkish Cypriot-controlled north.

Sri Lankan cease-fire monitors warn of escalating violence in Sri Lanka following attacks
Associated Press, 12/4/05

The Sri Lankan military on Sunday directly blamed the Tamil Tiger rebels for attacks that killed seven soldiers in recent days, as international monitoring mission overseeing an uneasy truce warned the hostilities could cause an "irreparable deterioration" of security in the country.

The incidents were the most serious since the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam signed a cease-fire in 2002. The military called the attacks "cowardly acts" and said it would step up security in Jaffna Peninsula, home of most of Sri Lanka's 3.2 million ethnic minority Tamils. "It is obvious that through these violent acts the LTTE is trying all possible means to provoke troops and create a volatile situation," the military said in a statement.

Earlier, the rebels killed a government soldier near the northern city of Jaffna, as troops in full combat gear patrolled the key port city of Trincomalee after at least two residents died in clashes between Muslims and Tamils a day earlier. Police also found the bodies of three Muslims allegedly abducted by the rebels on Sunday.

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission said it "has observed and witnessed a dangerous trend of violence in the north and the east in the last few days," mission chief Hagrup Haukland said in a statement. He noted "countless attacks" in Tamil-majority areas and warned that "there is a real danger that these disturbances and hostilities can spread and result in irreparable deterioration of security and prevent any real restoration of normalcy in the affected communities." The mission appealed to the government, the rebels and all community leaders to calm the situation before it escalated further.

Tension has been mounting in the country since Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran warned a week ago that the rebels would step up their struggle for an independent Tamil homeland next year if grievances with the government are not resolved. Newly elected President Mahinda Rajapakse has said he is committed to ending the violence and resuming the stalled peace process, but has rejected the rebels' core demand for an autonomous homeland.

The rebels started their separatist campaign in 1983 for a homeland for the Tamils, saying they can only prosper away from the domination of the 14 million majority Sinhalese. The uneasy truce is holding, but peace talks have stalled since 2003.

Tamil group threatens to expel Sri Lankan military from northeast, top general to meet rebel leader
Associated Press, 12/5/05

A group allied with Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels threatened Monday to force the military and "traitors" from the country's Tamil-dominated northeast if violence continues against the ethnic group there.

The statement from the Trincomalee Tamil Peoples Consortium followed a weekend of violence during which a Muslim mob beat two Tamil men to death in the northeastern city of Trincomalee.

"The day when paramilitaries and traitors must run away from our land is not very far," the group said in its statement, carried on the rebels' official Web site. "When the anger of the Tamil people at these lowly acts bursts out, we warn that the traitors will be forced to run with the Sri Lankan military from our land." Violence flared Saturday in Trincomalee, about 230 kilometers (140 miles) northeast of Colombo, when two Tamil men assaulted a Muslim resident, seriously injuring him. Rumors circulated that he had died, prompting a mob of Muslims to attack and kill two Tamil men. Most of Sri Lanka's Tamil people are Hindu.

Trincomalee falls mainly under government control, although the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam control pockets of territory in the largely Tamil area. In its statement the pro-rebel group said Saturday's violence reflected a "continuing shadow war carried out by the Sri Lankan military and paramilitaries that work with them," but that rebel supporters would not be cowed."They must be assuming that we can be frightened by making us think that if we work with the LTTE we will be punished with death," it said.

Military spokesman Brig. Nalin Witharanagee's office said he couldn't immediately comment on the statement because he is attending a military parade.

Meanwhile, rebel political leader C. Ilamparuthi planned to meet Monday with Maj. Gen. Sunil Tennakoon, the military's top general in northern Jaffna Peninsula, to discuss "the deteriorating situation" there, according to the pro-rebel Web site, TamilNet. The meeting, which will also be attended by monitors overseeing the cease-fire, comes after the military blamed the Tamil Tigers for attacks that killed seven soldiers Sunday - the most serious violence since the two sides signed the truce three years ago.

Late last month, rebel leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran warned that the rebels will step up their struggle for an independent Tamil homeland next year if grievances with the government are not resolved. The Tigers began fighting in 1983, claiming discrimination by Sri Lanka's majority Sinhalese. About 65,000 people died in the conflict before a cease-fire was signed in 2002. Subsequent peace talks collapsed a year later. President Mahinda Rajapakse has pledged his commitment to resuming the stalled peace process, but rejects the rebels' core demand for an autonomy.

Sudanese government, Darfur rebels to open peace talks in Nigeria
Associated Press, 11/29/05

Sudanese government officials and rebels from the country's war-wracked Darfur region opened a new round of peace talks Tuesday, with African Union mediators calling for an end to the slaying of civilians.

Despite more than a year of negotiations, the government and rebel groups have continued fighting in Sudan's western Darfur region. So far, the violence has led to over 180,000 deaths and forced another 2 million to flee their homes. An April 2004 cease-fire has been repeatedly violated.

"The continued senseless killings of innocent civilians ... the attacks on humanitarian workers must stop," AU chief mediator Salim Ahmed Salim said in opening the seventh round of talks. He called on the warring parties to work with "dogged determination to arrive at an agreement."

"The situation in Darfur is deteriorating. All efforts are being made to have a permanent cease-fire," AU mediator Sam Ibok said on the sidelines of the talks. No time limit has been set for the negotiations, which could continue beyond December, Ibok said.
The seventh round will attempt to forge a consensus on how to run Darfur over the long-term, focusing on power-sharing and wealth-sharing between Darfur's inhabitants and the federal government in Khartoum, Ibok said. Ibok said there would also be discussions over security arrangements, including thorny issues such as the disarmament of rebels and militia groups.

"We are hoping that this ... will be a decisive session for the resolution of the conflict in Darfur," said Ahmed Tugod, leader of a delegation of the smaller of the two rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement.

Majzoub Khalifa, head of the Sudanese government team, said he "has come to this round for a lasting peace in Sudan" and that he was "sure and confident" it would be successful.

A split in the larger rebel group, the Sudanese Liberation Movement, has been blamed for an upsurge in violence in Darfur and had proved an obstacle during the last round of AU-mediated talks, which ended in October. Both factions resolved at a meeting in Chad over the weekend to attend the talks with one common negotiating platform. But both factions' leaders Minni Minnawi and Abdel Wahid Nur were in Abuja for the talks.

Earlier this month, Minnawi organized a congress at which he was elected president, removing Nur as chairman. Since then, both have claimed leadership. U.S., U.N., European and AU officials have pressed the factions to resolve their differences, saying they are undermining the peace process and risk losing international credibility and support.

After decades of low-level tribal clashes over land and water in Darfur, rebels from ethnic African tribes launched a large-scale conflict in early 2003, accusing the Arab-dominated central government of neglect. The central government is accused of responding by unleashing Arab tribal militias known as Janjaweed to murder and rape civilians and lay waste to villages. The central government denies links to the Janjaweed.

Darfur talks restart in bid to solve power-sharing dispute
Agence France Press, 12/5/05

The African Union was due to bring all the delegates to peace talks on the crisis in the Sudanese region of Darfur back together Monday after a 72-hour break to allow the parties to resolve a dispute over a power-sharing deal to end the conlfict.

Mediators said they hoped the plenary session would find a solution to the row, which has pushed the seventh session of the talks close to collapse, but rebel representatives warned that they were still not ready to compromise on certain key issues."The government of Sudan does not want to concede the vice presidency to the south nor to Darfur. It also does not want Darfur to be considered a single region," said Ahmed Hussein Adam, spokesman for the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). "This is the crux of the matter as these are the issues that are of paramount importance to our people," he added.

Government spokesman Omar Amin conceded that these issues were "difficult ones" but expressed confidence that the plenary talks session would resolve the issue.The row over the power-sharing agreement comes just a week after the long-running talks restarted and is the first sign that this round could fall into the same stalemate as all previous attempts to resolve a 33-month-old crisis which has left 300,000 civilians dead.

Previous negotiations were undermined by regular ceasefire violations, and the United Nations has warned the Darfur region is falling into chaos, with murder, robbery and rape on the increase.War broke out in February 2003 when the rebels began fighting what they say is the political and economic marginalisation of the region's black African tribes by the Arab-led regime in Khartoum.The African Union has deployed a small peacekeeping force to monitor a shaky ceasefire, but a series of peace conferences over the past year has made little progress towards a settlement.