UN urges Sudan, Uganda action
Warning that the lives of millions of Africans are at stake, the UN humanitarian chief urged stepped-up international efforts Monday to tackle worsening conflicts in Sudan and Uganda, and severe food shortages in Zimbabwe and southern Africa.
Jan Egeland appealed for an expanded security force to stop rapes, killings, burning and looting in Sudan’s Darfur region that is spilling across the border to Chad.
He called for international efforts to curb the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda and southern Sudan, and he said Zimbabwe’s government must stop further evictions and allow its people to receive international aid.
‘More is currently at stake in terms of lives saved or lost in Africa than on any other continent,’ Egeland said in a briefing to the UN Security Council. ‘As humanitarian workers, we cannot accept that so many lives are lost every year on this continent to preventable diseases, neglect and senseless brutality.’
The UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs said the international community must demonstrate its ‘humanity’ by funding a more ambitious development and humanitarian agenda. He expressed hope that new African Union initiatives and additional resources pledged by the powerful Group of Eight major industrialized nations would result in major changes.
‘Humanitarian aid cannot be an alibi for unwillingness to address the root causes of conflict,’ he said. ‘The greatest contribution we can make to addressing humanitarian crises in Africa is determined, energetic and sustained efforts to bring an end to conflict and injustice that cause so much suffering in Africa.’ (AP)
Colombia, ELM talk – in Cuba
Colombia’s government and the nation’s second-largest rebel group ended nearly a week of cordial talks in Cuba on Wednesday with an agreement to set an agenda for formal peace negotiations, a move both sides called significant.
‘This commits us as the government to continue moving ahead,’ said Colombian peace commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo, the government’s envoy, as the discussions wrapped up in Havana.
Antonio Garcia, the second-in-command of the National Liberation Army or ELN, said his group was ‘pleased with this first step. This recognizes years of work, and could show a change in the path taken by Colombia.’
The fact that both sides have committed to more face-to-face meetings in Havana at the end of January was ‘transcendental,’ Restrepo said.
Diplomats from Spain, Norway and Switzerland monitoring the talks praised the ‘exploratory’ meeting as a step forward that could lead to a new round of negotiations.
Both parties declined to provide details of the issues that would be tackled in the agenda-setting meetings. But Garcia said the discussion of deep social and economic changes in Colombia would have to be central to any peace process, and it was assumed the government would demand some sort of cease-fire agreement.
Colombia’s triangular conflict involving government troops, leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitary fighters kills more than 3,000 people each year, most of them civilians.
Iranians, EU agree to further talks
Iranian and European negotiators tentatively agreed Wednesday to meet next month, signalling a possible new start to negotiations to restrain the Tehran regime’s nuclear program and reduce fears it is trying to make atomic bombs
Still, diplomats conceded no progress was made on the main issue - Iran’s insistence on its right to enrich uranium, which is a process that has peaceful uses but also can produce the fissile core of nuclear warheads.
Weeks of tension have diminished hopes they will make headway in defusing the crisis, with declarations from Iran that the Holocaust is a myth and Israel should be wiped out, and a European Union accusation on Tuesday that Tehran has serially violated human rights at home.
‘We repeated our positions and the Iranians repeated theirs,’ said Stanislas de Laboulaye, the senior negotiator for France, representing the European Union at the negotiations along with Britain and Germany.
‘Both sides set out their positions in an open and frank manner ... (and) agreed to consult with their respective leaderships with a view of holding another round of talks in January,’ de Laboulaye said.
Javad Vaidi, the senior Iranian negotiator who handles international affairs for the Supreme National Security Council, described Wednesday’s session as giving both parties ‘the opportunity to see the other side’s point of view.’
Israel bans Jerusalem vote over Hamas
Israel said on Wednesday it would ban East Jerusalem Arabs from voting in a Palestinian election next month if militant Islamic group Hamas takes part – a move Palestinian officials said could delay the vote.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Israel will not allow voting in Jerusalem for the January 25 poll because Hamas, which calls for Israel’s destruction and has spearheaded a suicide bombing campaign, is running for the first time.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ aides talked openly about the possibility of postponing the elections that pit the ruling Fatah Party against the increasingly popular Islamic militant group Hamas, citing Israel’s threat to ban voting in Jerusalem.
Postponing or even cancelling the elections could serve the interests of Abbas and the Israelis, but both sides dismissed speculation they were in this together.
Speaking to the AP from Beirut, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said the Jerusalem issue could be resolved in a ‘compromise among Palestinian factions rather than postponing elections.’ He said if Abbas puts off the elections, it would be an admission that Hamas would win.
Hamas’s corruption-free reputation and extensive charity network mean its popularity is rising among Palestinians. Its strong showing in the first three rounds of municipal elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, winning in several major cities including the Fatah stronghold of Nablus, has prompted concern about a Hamas victory in Israel and abroad.
300 killed in Chad clashes
Government forces clashed with army deserters in an eastern border town of Chad, killing about 300 militants in the biggest recent offensive against rebels, officials said Monday. Five soldiers and three civilians also died in Sunday’s raid to retake control of Adre, 620 miles east of the capital of N’djamena, the army said in a statement read on state-owned Radio Chad.
The clash was with two rebel groups - the Rally for Democracy and Freedom and the Foundation for Change, Unity and Democracy, the army said.
Communication Minister Hourmadji Moussa and the army said some 300 rebels were killed, although the claim couldn’t be independently verified. Representatives of the rebels were not immediately available for comment.
If true, the death toll would be the largest in recent fighting between government forces and military deserters reportedly seeking to overthrow President Idriss Deby.
Scores of soldiers deserted several military camps in October and have since regrouped in eastern Chad, near the border with Sudan’s volatile western region of Darfur. Joined by former high-ranking government officials - including two nephews of Deby - some of the rebels have formed the Foundation for Change, Unity and Democracy.
Since October, soldiers have fought intermittently with rebels, who at times have crossed into Sudan to escape army attacks. (AP)
Warning that the lives of millions of Africans are at stake, the UN humanitarian chief urged stepped-up international efforts Monday to tackle worsening conflicts in Sudan and Uganda, and severe food shortages in Zimbabwe and southern Africa.
Jan Egeland appealed for an expanded security force to stop rapes, killings, burning and looting in Sudan’s Darfur region that is spilling across the border to Chad.
He called for international efforts to curb the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda and southern Sudan, and he said Zimbabwe’s government must stop further evictions and allow its people to receive international aid.
‘More is currently at stake in terms of lives saved or lost in Africa than on any other continent,’ Egeland said in a briefing to the UN Security Council. ‘As humanitarian workers, we cannot accept that so many lives are lost every year on this continent to preventable diseases, neglect and senseless brutality.’
The UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs said the international community must demonstrate its ‘humanity’ by funding a more ambitious development and humanitarian agenda. He expressed hope that new African Union initiatives and additional resources pledged by the powerful Group of Eight major industrialized nations would result in major changes.
‘Humanitarian aid cannot be an alibi for unwillingness to address the root causes of conflict,’ he said. ‘The greatest contribution we can make to addressing humanitarian crises in Africa is determined, energetic and sustained efforts to bring an end to conflict and injustice that cause so much suffering in Africa.’ (AP)
Colombia, ELM talk – in Cuba
Colombia’s government and the nation’s second-largest rebel group ended nearly a week of cordial talks in Cuba on Wednesday with an agreement to set an agenda for formal peace negotiations, a move both sides called significant.
‘This commits us as the government to continue moving ahead,’ said Colombian peace commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo, the government’s envoy, as the discussions wrapped up in Havana.
Antonio Garcia, the second-in-command of the National Liberation Army or ELN, said his group was ‘pleased with this first step. This recognizes years of work, and could show a change in the path taken by Colombia.’
The fact that both sides have committed to more face-to-face meetings in Havana at the end of January was ‘transcendental,’ Restrepo said.
Diplomats from Spain, Norway and Switzerland monitoring the talks praised the ‘exploratory’ meeting as a step forward that could lead to a new round of negotiations.
Both parties declined to provide details of the issues that would be tackled in the agenda-setting meetings. But Garcia said the discussion of deep social and economic changes in Colombia would have to be central to any peace process, and it was assumed the government would demand some sort of cease-fire agreement.
Colombia’s triangular conflict involving government troops, leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitary fighters kills more than 3,000 people each year, most of them civilians.
Iranians, EU agree to further talks
Iranian and European negotiators tentatively agreed Wednesday to meet next month, signalling a possible new start to negotiations to restrain the Tehran regime’s nuclear program and reduce fears it is trying to make atomic bombs
Still, diplomats conceded no progress was made on the main issue - Iran’s insistence on its right to enrich uranium, which is a process that has peaceful uses but also can produce the fissile core of nuclear warheads.
Weeks of tension have diminished hopes they will make headway in defusing the crisis, with declarations from Iran that the Holocaust is a myth and Israel should be wiped out, and a European Union accusation on Tuesday that Tehran has serially violated human rights at home.
‘We repeated our positions and the Iranians repeated theirs,’ said Stanislas de Laboulaye, the senior negotiator for France, representing the European Union at the negotiations along with Britain and Germany.
‘Both sides set out their positions in an open and frank manner ... (and) agreed to consult with their respective leaderships with a view of holding another round of talks in January,’ de Laboulaye said.
Javad Vaidi, the senior Iranian negotiator who handles international affairs for the Supreme National Security Council, described Wednesday’s session as giving both parties ‘the opportunity to see the other side’s point of view.’
Israel bans Jerusalem vote over Hamas
Israel said on Wednesday it would ban East Jerusalem Arabs from voting in a Palestinian election next month if militant Islamic group Hamas takes part – a move Palestinian officials said could delay the vote.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Israel will not allow voting in Jerusalem for the January 25 poll because Hamas, which calls for Israel’s destruction and has spearheaded a suicide bombing campaign, is running for the first time.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ aides talked openly about the possibility of postponing the elections that pit the ruling Fatah Party against the increasingly popular Islamic militant group Hamas, citing Israel’s threat to ban voting in Jerusalem.
Postponing or even cancelling the elections could serve the interests of Abbas and the Israelis, but both sides dismissed speculation they were in this together.
Speaking to the AP from Beirut, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said the Jerusalem issue could be resolved in a ‘compromise among Palestinian factions rather than postponing elections.’ He said if Abbas puts off the elections, it would be an admission that Hamas would win.
Hamas’s corruption-free reputation and extensive charity network mean its popularity is rising among Palestinians. Its strong showing in the first three rounds of municipal elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, winning in several major cities including the Fatah stronghold of Nablus, has prompted concern about a Hamas victory in Israel and abroad.
300 killed in Chad clashes
Government forces clashed with army deserters in an eastern border town of Chad, killing about 300 militants in the biggest recent offensive against rebels, officials said Monday. Five soldiers and three civilians also died in Sunday’s raid to retake control of Adre, 620 miles east of the capital of N’djamena, the army said in a statement read on state-owned Radio Chad.
The clash was with two rebel groups - the Rally for Democracy and Freedom and the Foundation for Change, Unity and Democracy, the army said.
Communication Minister Hourmadji Moussa and the army said some 300 rebels were killed, although the claim couldn’t be independently verified. Representatives of the rebels were not immediately available for comment.
If true, the death toll would be the largest in recent fighting between government forces and military deserters reportedly seeking to overthrow President Idriss Deby.
Scores of soldiers deserted several military camps in October and have since regrouped in eastern Chad, near the border with Sudan’s volatile western region of Darfur. Joined by former high-ranking government officials - including two nephews of Deby - some of the rebels have formed the Foundation for Change, Unity and Democracy.
Since October, soldiers have fought intermittently with rebels, who at times have crossed into Sudan to escape army attacks. (AP)
