War-Weary Chechens Eye Ballot Box
Los Angeles Times, 11/5/05

For die-hard separatist rebels, the Moscow-backed government in Chechnya has what might be called a carrot-and-stick approach.

Those who lay down their arms are offered welcome and amnesty. Witness Magomed Khanbiyev, who was once a powerful rebel general. Today, a little more than a year after surrendering, he is back home and running as a candidate for Chechnya's first postwar parliament. And then there's Shamil-Hadzhi Muskiyev, a close ally of the rebel president. A few weeks ago, residents of this small town in central Chechnya awoke to find his severed head impaled on a small bridge at the edge of town. The body of another fighter, also killed in a clash with Chechen security forces, was hanging nearby.

"They didn't let people bury them, and people began to grumble that you can't leave dead bodies there like that -- dogs could get them, bring something up to the house," said Razet Dukayeva, who lives down the road from the river. "The elders said it was a sin."I guess they wanted to show that they are acting, that they're freeing us from bandits," she said. "Who can feel reassured? No one can feel reassured from something like that."

The elections scheduled for Nov. 29 are the final stage of the Kremlin's peace plan for Chechnya, a process that began with a 2003 referendum affirming the separatist republic's permanent place in Russia and that was sealed with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin's announcement that more than a decade of war was at an end. But the continued fighting leaves some unconvinced.

"They say everything is normal. But the skirmishes continue. The bombings continue in the forests," said Laila Khalakova, 49, another Tsa-Tsa Yurt resident, whose son-in-law disappeared when Russian troops entered the town in 2000. "I have this opinion: Never between the Chechens and the Russians, whatever they say, whatever beautiful words they say, will there be anything but constant enmity and fury toward each other," she said. "My 3-year-old granddaughter says, 'I wish I had a gun; I would shoot down all those Russians who have entered our houses.' "

Despite the turmoil that continues to envelop this devastated republic in southern Russia, more than 400 candidates from eight parties have registered to run for a parliament that could become Chechnya's first forum for broad civic debate since the second war with Russia began in 1999. Since then, there have been no official means to vent popular anger over brutal and arbitrary arrests, continuing corruption in the government and the fact that 474,000 Chechens remain unemployed, far outnumbering the 154,000 who hold jobs.

"The economic situation is catastrophic. And unfortunately, many of these questions -- the poverty of the population, the violations of human rights and people's security, the healthcare situation -- remain insufficiently analyzed by the executive authorities," said Vahit Akayev, a sociology professor at Chechen State University and an independent candidate for parliament.

Already, the parliamentary election campaign is shaping up as a contest between clans and between alliances over the future leadership of the republic. Officially, President Alu Alkhanov is scheduled to serve until 2008. But Ramzan Kadyrov, the son of his assassinated predecessor, has been waiting in the wings as deputy prime minister and chief of a powerful presidential security force reported to number 4,000 men. Many analysts expect Kadyrov, who already is the most powerful man in Chechnya, to take over the presidency next year when he turns 30, the minimum age required under the constitution. Kadyrov has been lining up friendly candidates not only in the pro-Putin United Russia party but on the lists of several minor parties as well.

"There's a billion dollars a year [in Russian aid] coming to Chechnya every year, and Ramzan wants control of 70% of it. The others don't want to give him that. And that's what the contest is about," said Abdulla Istamulov, who heads SK-Strategiya, a group promoting civil society in Russia that is organizing monitors for the balloting.

SK-Strategiya is conducting polls for a coalition of opposition parties and nongovernmental organizations, the Coalition of Democratic Forces. The bloc had been calling for disarming the militiamen who surround Kadyrov, returning Russian troops to their barracks and providing enough security to entice Chechens abroad into returning, rebuilding their homes and starting new businesses. But the coalition's Republican Party was disqualified late last month when authorities challenged its signatures, even though it had collected nearly five times the number required.

Khanbiyev, the former rebel defense minister, hopes to entice those disillusioned with the ruling United Russia party into joining the system. Although he agreed to the government's amnesty deal, under which about 7,000 former fighters have returned to civilian life, he insists he remains an independent. All over the Chechen capital, Grozny, cement trucks and piles of bricks accompany the reconstruction of scores of homes demolished during the two wars. Yet even more remarkable is what has not been done: Two years after the referendum that was supposed to end the war, the entire industrial district and much of the city center still lie in piles of broken, rusting rubble. A dozen or more young men are arrested without explanation every month, often by Kadyrov's security forces.

Last month, several women in the town of Noviye Atagi blocked the main highway in protest after eight young men were seized, apparently in an attempt to learn the identities of those responsible for killing a policeman in the village a month earlier. In interviews with investigators from the human rights organization Memorial, the mothers said other boys as young as 12 and 13 had been detained in recent months. One woman, who declined to be identified for fear of reprisals, said authorities took away her son March 12.

There was no word for 10 days, then he was released, apparently after the family paid a ransom. Her son told her that he had been stripped to his underwear, set afire over an open gas flame, then doused with snow. Next, they fastened a rope around his head and began tightening it with a stick. "They said they would rotate it until his eyes were squeezed out," the woman told Memorial.

At the entrance to Tsa-Tsa Yurt, arrayed prominently are more than 100 tall spires topped with crescents -- one for every rebel fighter who has died in war. Some suggest that this is the population's response to the government's peace plan. Still, not all the voices are defiant. "Of course I will go to vote," said Tamara Akhmadkhanova, 47, a seller at the local market. "I'm a refugee from Grozny. My apartment was destroyed during the second war, and I haven't received my compensation yet. ... More than anything, we need peace."

Ivory Coast loyalist militants rally to celebrate extension of president's mandate
Associated Press, 11/1/05

Thousands of firebrand militants who helped sweep President Laurent Gbagbo to power five years ago rallied at a soccer stadium in Ivory Coast's largest city to celebrate a U.N.-backed 12-month extension of his mandate.

Chaotic hordes of opposition youth demanding Gbagbo step down held a similar rally at another Abidjan stadium Sunday that saw riot police lob tear gas at mobs who set burning tires ablaze in the streets. There were no indications Tuesday's rally would turn violent, as many have in the past. The influential leader of the pro-Gbagbo Young Patriots, Ble Goude, said he would tell militants to support a U.N.- and African Union-backed solution to Ivory Coast's latest crisis that calls for a one-year extension of Gbagbo's mandate, the appointment of a new prime minister, and the holding of a postponed presidential ballot within a year.

"My message is to call on the Young Patriots to stay within the peace process so that elections take place before 12 months," Ble Goude said before the rally. "Three years of war has brought us nothing except desolation and sadness. It's time to make peace."
Goude, considered a close ally of Gbagbo, has led unwieldy mobs tens of thousands strong into the highways where they burned tires and besieged foreign embassies to protest past peace deals seen as unfavorable to the loyalist cause. On Sunday, Gbagbo said he would name a new prime minister within days to ensure a presidential ballot is held within 12 months.

The rebels reacted by proclaiming their leader, Guillaume Soro, the new premier. The move was largely symbolic, however, and was sure to increase tensions and add to confusion over who will replace the incumbent premier, Seydou Diarra.

Gbagbo has ruled the world's top cocoa producer since winning elections in 2000 that the late Gen. Robert Guei tried to rig. Two years later, he lost control of the northern half of the country to rebels who took up arms against him after a failed coup. A long-awaited presidential vote was initially set to have been held Sunday, but Gbagbo canceled it, blaming rebels for failing to disarm. Government militia have also failed to lay down arms under a U.N.-backed nationwide disarmament plan.

Gbagbo says the constitution gives him the right to postpone the vote and stay in power because of the conflict. Rebels and opposition leaders in Abidjan dispute his interpretation of the document and say he has no legal right to stay in power.

Known as a peaceful, economic powerhouse for decades, Ivory Coast has been in decline since Guei led the West African country's first coup d'etat in 1999. Since taking office, Gbagbo has faced years of turbulence including failed uprisings, street violence, rising crime and the loss of the northern half of the country to rebels in 2002. About 6,000 U.N. peacekeepers and 4,000 French troops are deployed here, most along a buffer zone that divides the two sides. Most fighting ended with a 2003 peace deal brokered in France, and a government of national unity was formed that allotted top rebel officials ministerial posts.

AU chairman arrives for Ivory Coast crisis talks
Agence France Presse, 11/4/05

African Union (AU) Chairman Olusegun Obasanjo arrived in Abidjan on Friday for talks on the crucial and overdue nomination of a transitional prime minister in the tense west African state.

Under plans drawn up by the United Nations and the AU, a new, more powerful prime minister, one of whose key jobs will to be to organise elections within a year, should have been named by consensus before October 31. Obasanjo, who is also Nigeria's president, was met on arrival by President Laurent Gbagbo and later held meetings with mediating officials from the United Nations, the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States, South Africa and with outgoing Prime Minister Seydou Diarra. He also met representative of the so-called G7, which is made up of Ivory Coast's unarmed opposition and New Forces rebels who took up arms in 2002 in an attempt to oust Gbagbo. Later he had an hour-long one-to-one meeting with the president.

Presidential elections due on October 30 at the end of Gbagbo's mandate were cancelled in the absence of significant progress towards disarmament. Instead the UN agreed he could stay in office for a further year but must appoint an acceptable prime minister. Late Thursday, the G7 described Gbagbo as "the main obstacle to the peace process" and called on the international community to reconsider its support for him during the transition process.

Gbagbo "cannot be the head of state during the transition" period, G7 Chairman Alphonse Djedje Mady told a news conference. He reiterated that it should be up to the G7 to name the prime minister. The UN Security Council and the African Union have stipulated that the next prime minister should be "acceptable to all parties" and given powers necessary to hold elections.

The FN have already put forward their leader, Guillaume Soro, to the post. Soro and Obasanjo are due to meet this weekend in Bonn, on the fringes of an international conference on Africa.

Mid-October, Gbagbo made it clear he would only accept a candidate suitable for "the salvation of Ivory Coast."

Obasanjo had been due to visit Ivory Coast in late October but postponed his trip after the sudden death of his wife. He made no comment on arrival in Abidjan. He made the journey without President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, a country that has played a key mediating role in the Ivorian crisis.

On Wednesday, South Africa warned that a "much stronger" prime minister was needed to prevent the country descending deeper into crisis."If the new prime minister is not found soon the situation there could deteriorate," said Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister Aziz Pahad at a media briefing at parliament in Cape Town."The situation in Ivory Coast demands a new prime minister who is much stronger and has a better relationship with (President Laurent Gbagbo)," said Pahad.

Pakistani police shoot in air, fire tear gas at angry Kashmiris
Agence France Presse, 11/7/05

Pakistani police shot in the air and fired tear gas Monday to disperse hundreds of angry Kashmiris who surged towards the Indian side of the Line of Control.

A large crowd of villagers had gathered to watch a ceremony in which Indian and Pakistani troops formally opened the de facto frontier that divides Kashmir to allow earthquake relief goods to cross between the two sides. The crowd grew restless as it became clear only relief goods and not people would be allowed to cross the frontier, and many started chanting slogans demanding freedom for Kashmiris.

As volleys of gunfire rang out, the crowd retreated some 200 metres (yards). Earlier, two men and two children who tried to run across the LoC were tackled by police and bundled into a van.

Nazar Kat, a member of the crowd not involved in the protest, said they had come from mountain villages around the crossing at Titrinote and were angry that they could not see relatives on the other side."They are shouting because they want a free Kashmir. They want all parts of the region to be independent, including Azad (Pakistani) Kashmir and Indian-occupied Kashmir," Kat told AFP. He said some of the crowd were members of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, which wants an independent state, although that could not be independently confirmed.

Police carrying Kalashnikov rifles and batons maintained a heavy presence around the group even after the situation had apparently calmed down.

 

Armed group threatens reprisals unless Kosovo independence declared
Agence France Presse, 11/2/05

An armed group has threatened reprisals unless Kosovo's government declares independence from Serbia ahead of upcoming talks on the province's status, reports said Wednesday.

The Army for Kosovo Independence (UPK), a group that emerged in mid-October, issued the warning through local media to the five politicians that will represent the province's independence-seeking ethnic Albanian majority in the UN-sponsored talks.

"The UPK is monitoring closely the irresponsible work of the negotiating team. In order to move things forward we have engaged five units," said the statement which was signed by 'Commander Luigi'."If the deputies (of Kosovo's parliament) don't act according to the mandate given to them by voters, they will have a very tough time in the coming days," the statement said."The UPK will be forced to execute the decision taken by its headquarters," it added, without specifying what action would be taken in the event that a declaration of independence is not adopted by Kosovo's parliament.

The United Nations hopes to start the delicate negotiations on the future status of Kosovo within weeks. Ethnic Albanians, who make up more than 90 percent of the province's population, are demanding independence, while Belgrade wants to maintain sovereignty over the territory Serbs see as the cradle of their civilisation.

The NATO force in Kosovo (KFOR) said in mid-October it was investigating the activities of armed groups that appear at night to set up illegal roadblocks in the province's west, a stronghold of hardcore nationalist Albanians. Members of an armed group wearing camouflage fatigues and masks had even stopped a KFOR vehicle at a checkpoint in the region on one night, the Koha Ditore newspaper said at the time. Kosovo has been run by the United Nations and NATO since a bombing campaign by the alliance ended a crackdown by Serbian forces against Albanian separatists in June 1999.

Nigerian court agrees to hear suit against Charles Taylor's asylum
Agence France Presse, 11/1/05

A Nigerian court on Tuesday ruled that it had jurisdiction to hear a lawsuit seeking to force a review of the asylum granted Liberia's former president Charles Taylor with the aim of handing him over to the UN-backed war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone.

Federal High Court Judge Stephen Adah set another hearing for December 6 on the suit filed by two Nigerian businessmen who suffered mutilations by rebels in Sierra Leone."These applicants have their hands mutilated and amputated and these are their grievances. We do not have to shut them out; they suffered personal injuries and it is of greater interest to them that justice is done," said Adah."Since the asylum of Taylor is still on, there is no limitation to the applicants' interest," he added.

The two Nigerian amputees -- Emmanuel Egbuna and David Anyaele -- who were mutilated in 1999, alleged in their suit that Taylor had a role in their ordeal and have asked for a judicial review of Nigeria's decision to grant him political asylum. Joined as co-defendants in the suit are Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, his justice minister, and three government agencies.

The two former businessmen in Freetown were captured by the rebel Revolutionary United Front, allegedly sponsored by Taylor, himself a former rebel leader in Liberia's long civil war. Taylor arrived in Nigeria in August 2003 after stepping down as president as part of a peace deal to end the second of two civil wars to ravage Liberia since 1989.

The Nigeria Union of Journalists and several human rights organisations have criticised the Nigerian government for granting Taylor asylum.Two Nigerian newspaper journalists, Krees Imodibie and Tayo Awotunsin, were killed in Liberia 1991 by rebel soldiers of the Taylor-led National Patriotic Front of Liberia. Taylor has formally apologised for the murder of the two journalists.

Obasanjo has so far rejected local and international calls to release Taylor to face the war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone, where he is wanted on charges of sponsoring crimes carried out by rebels during Sierra Leone's civil war. Obasanjo has said that Taylor was granted asylum on "humanitarian grounds" and as part of efforts to resolve the Liberian crisis.

U.N. deploys police personnel ahead of Liberia's presidential runoff
Associated Press, 11/4/05

The U.N. mission in Liberia has begun deploying police troops at polling stations across Liberia ahead of the presidential election runoff, a U.N. official said Friday.

International soccer star and political neophyte George Weah faces off against a longtime fixture of Liberia's political scene, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, in a second-round presidential vote on Nov 8. More than 860 U.N.-trained police personnel already were in position, U.N. Police Chief Mohammed Alhassan told reporters in the capital, Monrovia. A total of 3,070 troops will be deployed across the country, he said."This is to assure the public that we are ready and in control of the situation," Alhassan said.

Alan Doss, head of the U.N. Mission in Liberia, warned at the joint news conference of "robust actions" in the event of any attempt to stall the electoral process. The mission's 15,000 troops are overseeing Liberia's transition to an elected government after a 1989-2003 civil war and a two-year transitional government.

Liberia once was among Africa's richest countries, with vast fields of gems and valuable groves of hardwood trees and rubber plants. However, it has known little but strife since a 1980 coup. Years of war ended in 2003 after warlord-turned-President Charles Taylor stepped down in a rebel invasion of the capital. A transitional government led by Gyude Bryant has ruled the country since.

Moldovan president says separatists in his country get support from abroad
Associated Press, 11/3/05

Moldova's president urged Russia and other countries to stop dealing with separatists who control provinces in the former Soviet Union.

Vladimir Voronin, who spoke at a meeting of security chiefs from Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova, said separatist maintained themselves due to support from the outside and income from criminal activities."We are surprised and revolted by attempts to use chambers of commerce to establish economic ties with separatist regions," he said, referring to Russia which recently opened a chamber of commerce in Trans-Dniester.

Moldova has struggled for more than a decade to resolve a conflict with the pro-Russian separatist region of Trans-Dniester, which controls a sliver of land in the east. Some 1,500 Russian troops and thousands of tons of weapons and ammunition left over from the Soviet Union remain in Trans-Dniester, despite Russian pledges to pull them out.

Voronin urged other countries to halt deals with Trans-Dniester-based banks, saying that such transactions "are a threat to financial and economic security and can serve as an ideal mechanism to launder money."

Trans-Dniester broke away in 1992 and largely runs it own affairs. It is not recognized internationally, but receives strong support from Russia, which considers it to be strategically important for its interests. Moldova has accused Trans-Dniester of being a haven for smuggling in weapons, tobacco and other products. The Trans-Dniester administration, led by separatist leader Igor Smirnov has denied the charges, saying Moldova was trying to tarnish the region's reputation internationally to put pressure on the region to rejoin the country.

Ukraine's Foreign Security Service Chief Nikolai Malomuj said all countries in the region were interested in resolving the Trans-Dniester crisis."It's part of the problems we are discussing today: the fight against international terrorism, the trafficking in weapons." Georgia and Azerbaijan also have problems with separatist movements.

Supporters, party of Serbian prime minister celebrate on eve of talks on pre-membership agreement with EU
Associated Press, 11/6/05

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and his conservative party on Sunday marked the start of talks on building closer ties with the European Union.

But amid waving banners, officials acknowledged the talks - which Kostunica perceives as the success of his minority government - will be "long and tough." "Today is a glorious day, we deserve to celebrate," a smiling Kostunica said as he hugged children and shook hands with supporters. "Tomorrow the tough talks begin."

Serbian ethnic music blasted from loudspeakers at a main Belgrade square where hundreds had gathered. Kostunica's party activists distributed fake EU passports to passer-by. Posters depicted a father and daughter looking up at the EU circle of stars, with the words in Serbian: "We are getting closer - It's doable."

"Serbia deserves to become a normal, European country, but its the people who will bear the toughest burden of the changes," said Dejan Mihajlov, an official of Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia.

After the rally, Kostunica told a session of the party's main board that EU membership remains his leading goal, along with the "vital question" of preserving the contentious ethnic Albanian majority province of Kosovo as part of Serbia. Talks on the so-called Stabilization and Association Agreement - considered a stepping stone to eventual EU membership - formally opened last month but will practically begin Monday with talks between an EU delegation, headed by EU's Western Balkans director, Reinhart Pribe, and top Serbia-Montenegro officials, led by Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic.

The teams are to discuss Belgrade's chances at meeting key EU standards on democratic and economic reforms. But the long-coveted EU membership for Serbia hinges primarily on a key demand - the extradition of top war crimes fugitives believed hiding here, Bosnian Serb wartime commander Ratko Mladic and political leader Radovan Karadzic. Also, the talks on the stabilization and association agreement could be suspended at any time should Belgrade fail to hand over the fugitives, still at large 10 years after Bosnia's war ended, to the U.N. war crimes tribunal at The Hague, Netherlands.

For Belgrade, which hopes to sign the agreement in 2006 and has set its sights for EU entry for 2012, immediate benefits of this pre-membership agreement include expansion of trade and economic ties with the EU, attractive investments for the bloc, removal of obstacles in the flow of goods and enhanced cooperation in key areas such as battling organized crime and human trafficking.

Monitors fear Sri Lanka violence may keep voters away
Agence France Presse, 11/2/05

Sri Lanka's main private election monitoring outfit expressed fears Wednesday that violence will scare off minority Tamil voters in troubled regions during this month's presidential election.

The People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) said it feared for the ballot in the eastern province where there are near-daily clashes between rival rebel groups and security forces."We fear there won't be a free poll in the eastern province," PAFFREL chief Kingsley Rodrigo told reporters. "Intimidation on the election day is a clear possibility." He feared violence would scare away voters.

Tamils are concentrated in the northern and eastern regions and represent a significant block vote at the November 17 election in which opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse are the main challengers. Wickremesinghe is campaigning to push peace talks with Tamil Tigers and revive the peace process while Rajapakse's main plank is a promise to overhaul the peace initiative. Political analysts say any unrest which deters voters in the troubled regions could favour the ruling party candidate.

The supreme court last week blocked efforts by pro-government activists to prevent people in rebel-held territory from casting their ballots. Election chief Dayananda Dissanayake said he will set up polling booths near rebel-held territory to allow people living in areas controlled by the guerrillas to vote. The election chief said he will provide transport to and from polling booths.

However, PAFFREL said the planned 80 buses would be insufficient considering that about 300,000 voters lived in rebel-held territory. Last month the government promised "free and fair" elections in the embattled north and east amid fears that violence could scare off voters.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam holds large swathes of the two provinces which cover one third of the island nation of 19.5 million people.

A total of 13.3 million Sri Lankans are eligible to vote.The military reports daily skirmishes in the northeast despite a truce in force since February 2002. Scandinavian truce monitors reported that over 190 people have been killed this year in violence related to the island's ethnic conflict, which has claimed over 60,000 lives since 1972.

Opposition leader campaigns in Sri Lanka's Tamil heartland ahead of presidential election
Associated Press, 11/3/05

Leading opposition presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe visited the heartland of Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamil minority Thursday, promising a peace deal with Tamil Tiger rebels in two or three years and seeking support from government troops.

Wickremesinghe signed a cease-fire with the rebels in 2002, when he was prime minister, halting two decades of fighting. Some among Sri Lanka's security forces and the country's majority ethnic Sinhalese saw the truce as a sellout that gave the Tigers too many concessions. Peace talks have stalled, and the cease-fire has become shaky amid rising violence."In two to three years, there can be a big difference and permanent peace," Wickremesinghe said Thursday.

He met with government soldiers, sailors, air force personnel and police stationed in the Jaffna Peninsula, the Tamils' traditional heartland in Sri Lanka.

The security forces, which include about 45,000 voters, will cast ballots by mail on Monday and Tuesday. The forces "have been out here safeguarding out country, and their sacrifice must be appreciated," Wickremesinghe said. "The bottom line is they (the forces) want peace, and I will deliver that."

Wickremesinghe, 56, in a white shirt and jungle-green trousers, visited a Jaffna hospital that was often packed with war victims in the past."I'm glad that, for the first time, these soldiers are in hospital because of appendicitis and injuries through volleyball, and not the war," he said.

He also walked along a defense line, peering into bunkers and talking with troops, many of whom raised concerns about a future peace deal and the military's role."We don't see this as a cease-fire, as so many of our colleagues have been killed during this time," said soldier Anura Wijesinghe. "But we don't want a war."

The Tamil Tigers, who began fighting the government in 1983 for an independent Tamil state in the northeast, control much the area around Jaffna town. The town and airport are under government control.

Wickremesinghe said Thursday he would make efforts to accommodate the Tiger rebels' demands. Since the cease-fire, peace talks have stalled due to disagreements over the Tigers' demands for wide autonomy. However, he said, "if it threatens the territorial integrity and divides the country, or threatens Sri Lankan identity, I will not allow it."

Hours before Wickremesinghe's visit, suspected Tiger attacks injured at least three soldiers elsewhere in Jaffna, the military said. Also Thursday, the government accused the rebels of killing 20 people in October, and scores of others in recent months, including Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. Military helicopters circled the area Thursday, as a van sped Wickremesinghe from place to place.

"I know the people of Jaffna, they want peace," he said. "I am in constant touch with them." Wickremesinghe - a Buddhist like most of Sri Lanka's Sinhalese - visited a Hindu temple in Jaffna and joined a ceremony. Afterward, a red-and-gold shawl was draped over his shoulder, and sacred ash applied to his forehead.

"We don't want food or money. All Tamil people only want peace," said the temple's Tamil secretary, Vishwanathen Shanmuganathen. "We will vote for Ranil because he stopped the war, and we think only he can make permanent peace a reality for us." Wickremesinghe's main opponent in the Nov.17 presidential election - ruling-party candidate Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse - has aligned himself with hard-line anti-Tiger parties by vowing to overhaul the Norwegian-brokered peace process.

Sri Lanka's prime minister pledges to review cease-fire with rebels if elected president
Associated Press, 11/4/05

Sri Lanka's ruling party candidate for president vowed Friday to review a shaky cease-fire with Tamil Tiger rebels as he met with government troops in the country's Tamil heartland.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse flew to a heavily guarded northern air base, where he had breakfast with a group of soldiers. He then visited the army hospital, camps and naval base and spoke to the security forces about his plans if elected president in the Nov. 17 poll."As prime minister I can go to London and to America ... wherever in the world. But I cannot visit some parts of my own country," Rajapakse told the troops.

He was referring to large swaths of land under Tamil rebel control in Sri Lanka's north and east where the guerrillas run their own administration."The cease-fire needs to be revised," Rajapakse said, referring to a truce agreed between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels in 2002. But he added: "I am against war."

The cease-fire has come under criticism from some among the 14 million Sinhalese, who feel it grants too many concessions to the rebels. Scores of people - including security forces personnel, rebels, politicians opposing the rebels, and civilians - have been killed despite the cease-fire. Violence has sharply escalated since a breakaway faction split from the main rebel group in March 2004.

Rajapakse has promised to take a tough line against guerrillas and overhaul the Norwegian-brokered peace process if elected president. His visit to the area took place a day after his chief rival, opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, also tried to woo troops in Jaffna. Wickremesinghe promised them a peace deal with the Tamil Tiger rebels in two to three years and pledged to restructure and modernize the armed forces if elected. The Sinhalese-majority security forces, accounting for about 45,000 votes, will cast ballots by mail on Monday and Tuesday.

For nearly 20 years, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fought for a separate homeland for Sri Lanka's 3.2 million Tamil minority, claiming discrimination at the hands of the majority Sinhalese. Nearly 65,000 people died before then-Prime Minister Wickremesinghe signed a cease-fire agreement with the rebels in February 2002.

Sudan forms body to oversee north-south truce
Agence France Presse, 11/2/05

Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir has issued a decree establishing a body to oversee implementation of the permanent ceasefire with former southern rebels nearly 10 months after they signed a peace deal.

The president also issued a decree naming members of the National Petroleum Commission created in late October in line with the accords that ended more than two decades of north-south war, officials said Wednesday. The accords called for the formation of a number of commissions, including the Constitutional Review Commission that drafted the country's interim constitution and the yet to be formed Human Rights Commission.

Officials said the presidential decree establishing the Ceasefire Political Commission used the January 9 peace agreement as a reference to determine membership in the commission. Under the deal, the commission's members would include a representative each from the ruling National Congress Party and its peace partner, the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).

"One senior officer each from the SAF (Sudan Armed Forces) and SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army)" would also be members in the commission, the agreement said. It also named as members of the commission the UN special envoy in Sudan and a representative of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which sponsored the negotiations that led to the signing of the accords. The main responsibility of the commission will be to "supervise, monitor, and oversee the implementation" of the ceasefire that came into force after signing of the January 9 Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

The UN has begun deploying a 10,000-strong peace support contingent to help the parties carry out their obligations under the ceasefire deal.

Darfur rebels in disarray as faction proclaims new leader
Agence France Presse, 11/3/05

Darfur's main rebel group was in disarray Thursday, after a faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement proclaimed it had elected a new leader, a move the group's founder dismissed as illegitimate.

The ongoing power struggle inside the SLM further dimmed the prospect of successful peace talks with the government in Khartoum, 32 months after the bloody civil conflict erupted in western Sudan. A congress of SLM hardliners in Darfur elected Mani Arko Minawi, one of the group's founding military commanders, as the movement's new chairman.

"The congress elected Mr Minawi the new chairman of the SLM by 486 votes out of 633 delegates," spokesman Mahjub Hussein told AFP of the meeting, attended by thousands of Darfurians and by rebel delegates.

The vote took place at the close of a five-day congress in the eastern Darfur town of Haskanita, which was initially tipped as a reconciliation conference but was boycotted by SLM chairman Abdul Wahid Mohammed Nur."Everything is solved now. All the army is behind us. Everybody is behind us," Hussein said. "Mr Nur didn't come. I don't know if he will accept this result. That's his choice."

Nur's supporters dismissed Minawi's group as a breakaway faction."They have stepped out of line," Ahmed Jibril, an SLM political and military leader close to Nur, told AFP from Darfur. "We do not recognize the congress," he added, saying it was simply an attempt by Minawi to unseat Nur."We are ready for dialogue if the other side is ready," Jibril said. He also accused Minawi's supporters of scuppering recent efforts by Chad to reconcile the two factions.

The SLM and another rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), launched an armed rebellion against Khartoum in early 2003, demanding greater political and economic autonomy from the central government. Successive rounds of AU-sponsored peace talks have so far failed to end the conflict, which has left some 300,000 people dead and displaced about two million, with more than 200,000 people seeking refuge in neighbouring Chad.

While Nur attended a latest round of peace negotiations in Nigeria, the dissident faction which is headed by Minawi and controls the movement's military wing, boycotted the process.

After meeting US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick in Washington on Tuesday, Sudanese First Vice President and former southern rebel leader Salva Kiir acknowledged that the Darfur crisis was in an impasse as the government was also split over the issue. He explained that his Sudan People's Liberation Movement and its unity government partners from the northern National Congress Party had not yet reached a common platform for the next round of talks.

Kiir nevertheless voiced his hope of a breakthrough in the next round of negotiations."We are sure if the fighting groups in Darfur come together as one opposition group and come with one position to the Abuja talks, I believe we also will come in with one position as a government," he said."If we find out the reason that led them to fight the government, I think we can find a solution."

Mahjub Hussein, whose faction had condemned the latest round of negotiations, vowed to take part when the talks restart on November 22."We are now ready to go to Abuja with a unified platform ... I am very glad that the SPLM will be taking part in the talks," he said. It was not immediately clear whether the African Union and other international players involved in mediations efforts would recognise Minawi as the new SLM chairman.

Sudan VP: Darfur peace deal possible by year-end
Agence France Presse, 11/5/05

A peace deal in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region could be reached by year's end if southern Sudan officials join the talks, First Vice President Salva Kiir said Friday.

"Our determination is to let us bring peace to Darfur by the end of the year," said Kiir at a forum of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. But Kiir expressed disappointment at US renewal of sanctions against the government as a sponsor of terrorism, and what he said was a lack of promised aid to rebuild the south in the wake of January's Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) with Khartoum.

Kiir spoke as the US State Department announced that Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick will travel to Nairobi next week to attempt to reconcile feuding factions of the Sudan Liberation Movement, the main group fighting the government in Darfur. The plunge of the SLM into a divisive power struggle following the election of a new leader, whom the group's founder branded illegitimate, threatened to stall the Darfur peace talks in Abuja two weeks before they are scheduled to resume.

"All have agreed to go to Nairobi" to meet Zoellick, said Jendayi Frazer, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs."The critical component here is that all sides see the United States as a critical player in trying to bring the SLM together," Frazer said."Our message to them getting back to Darfur is that you cannot win friends or win advantage at the negotiating table if you are attacking civilians," she said."And if you want the US to help you and to provide assistance to you in terms of negotiations, then you have to honor the ceasefire" with the government in Darfur.

Kiir also serves as president of Sudan's southern government, which signed the US-brokered CPA with Khartoum in January to end a 21-year civil war between the north and the south. He said he believed the CPA could be a model for the upcoming Abuja talks, in which his southern government will take part for the first time. His officials will make proposals he believed the Darfur rebels will find attractive, but declined to give any details in advance of the talks.

But Kiir meanwhile said that implementation of January's peace accord could be impeded by US sanctions on Khartoum.

Washington announced the renewal of the sanctions Tuesday just as Kiir was meeting with Vice President Dick Cheney, timing Kiir called "a very bad coincidence".

The United States has applied annual sanctions, including an economic embargo, against Sudan since 1997 because Khartoum's actions and policies "continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States".

Sudan would ask for humanitarian exemptions for railway and riverboat equipment in order to restore major transportation links between the north and the south, Kiir said. The links were necessary to transport home thousands of people displaced by the lengthy civil war, he said. But Kiir added that rebuilding southern Sudan was further imperiled by the lack of aid disbursements, despite pledges of 4.5 billion dollars for the next three years at an Oslo donors conference in April.

"Pledging is one thing... nobody has paid," Kiir said, noting that the World Bank will manage the money."To enjoy peace you must have a peace dividend," he said. According to the state department, Zoellick, who has visited Sudan three times this year, will also travel to Khartoum, Darfur and Juba in the south to evaluate the situation after the CPA pact.