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| Monday, May 29, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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Narmada activists put pressure on Berlin Narayanan arrives in Beijing US decision may
set off arms race |
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Fastest Everest climber sets record straight Refugee camp closure to
end ‘boat people’ saga 26 ultras held for Manila blasts 16 Russian troops killed
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Narmada activists put pressure on Berlin BERLIN, May 28 (PTI) — Indian opponents of the controversial Maheshwar dam, being built as part of the Narmada valley power project, have mounted pressure on the federal government here not to grant Hermes export credit guarantee to two top German companies, which would clear the decks for their
participation in the project. According to officials of “Blue 21” and “Urgewald”, two German NGOs supporting the cause of the dam opponents, a three-member delegation of grassroots level representatives from the Narmada region held meetings with federal government officials for eight days here recently, a few weeks ahead of the expected decision by the Schroeder government. The delegation under the aegis of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) has unequivocally demanded that Siemens and Hypovereins-bank should not be granted the Hermes guarantee which would clear the way for their
participation in the project. The two companies have sought the Hermes guarantee from the German Government for loans and turbine supplies to the tune of around $ 170 million for the construction of the dam and power station in Madhya Pradesh. An inter-ministerial taskforce here comprising officials from four ministries — Foreign Affairs, Finance, Economics and Development Cooperation — is examining the issue and is expected to come up with its recommendation by the end of next month. According to a spokesman of “Blue 21”, the issue would go before the German Cabinet for a final decision if the task force is divided on giving the go-ahead for Hermes guarantee for the two firms. Both the Development Cooperation Minister Wieczorek-Zeul and the Environment Minister Jurgen Trittin during their meetings with the Indian delegation reportedly expressed their disapproval of the Maheshwar dam project and have cited displacement of an estimated 40,000 persons as one of the reasons for their reservations. The issue of delay in granting Hermes guarantee to the two German firms had come up during Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha’s visit here last month during which he had said that India was confident of getting funds for the dam project in the event of their withdrawal as investment partners. Two German power utilities-Bayernwerk and Vew-have already withdrawn from the project in view of the long drawn out controversy surrounding the Maheshwar dam. |
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Narayanan arrives in Beijing BEIJING, May 28 (PTI) — President K.R. Narayanan arrived here this evening for a six-day state visit to China to strengthen Sino-Indian relations and refresh contacts with the top Chinese leadership. “What I expect from this visit is to increase the goodwill and friendship between the two countries and to create a greater mutual
understanding, "Mr Narayanan had said ahead of his visit to China, the first by an Indian president in eight years. The special Air India flight arrived at 6 p.m. local time (3.30 p.m. IST) at the new Beijing international airport. The President and his entourage were warmly welcomed by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Yang Wenchang, Indian Ambassador to China, V.K. Nambiar, senior officials and the Indian community. Mr Narayanan is accompanied by his wife Usha Narayanan and a high-powered delegation that includes the Minister for Heavy Industry Manohar Joshi and Foreign Secretary Lalit Mansingh. A delegation of MPs including Ms Sushma Swaraj (BJP), Mr Sushil Kumar Shinde (Congress) and Mr Somnath Chatterjee of the CPM are also accompanying the President. Mr Narayanan, a former Indian Ambassador to China, who played a key role in steering India-China ties after the two Asian giants clashed in a brief border war in 1962, is regarded highly by the Chinese leadership. Mr Narayanan’s visit, at the invitation of Chinese President Jiang Zemin, is expected to open a new chapter in India-China relations in the new millennium, especially when the two Asian giants are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations which fell on April 1. Official sources said they hoped that Mr Naryanan’s interaction with top Chinese leaders in the next three days in Beijing would reduce the mutual mistrust and forge a long-term good-neighbourly relations with China. Though no breakthroughs were expected on contentious matters like the boundary dispute and the nuclear issue, the President’s visit was the best opportunity for both sides to rework their relations taking into account their own sensitivities, an official source told PTI. Mr Narayanan would start his visit officially on Monday with Mr Jiang, also General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China, welcoming him at an official ceremony with a guard of honour at the great hall of the people at the world-famous Tiananmen square. Mr Jiang will host a banquet in his honour on Monday night, after which a “very special cultural programme” would also be held. Indian violin maestro Dr L. Subramaniam and the Beijing symphony orchestra will jointly perform before an Indian-Chinese audience. Mr Narayanan would also meet with the Chairman of the National People’s Congress (the Chinese Parliament), Mr Li Peng, Prime Minister Zhu Rongji and the Chairman of the Chinese Peoples Consultative Congress (the top advisory body), Mr Li Ruihuan, during his stay here. Mr Narayanan’s talks with the Chinese leaders are expected to cover a wide range of bilateral, regional and international issues. He will also interact with Chinese scholars and address the academic community at Beijing University, China’s premier institute of higher learning. Mr Narayanan will end his visit to Beijing on Wednesday afternoon and leave for the booming port town of Dalian in North-East China. He would then visit the picturesque south-west Chinese city of Kunming and return to India on Saturday. |
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US decision may set off arms race WASHINGTON, May 28 (UNI) — As U.S. President Bill Clinton nears a decision on whether to build a limited national missile defence, American intelligence officials are warning that such a system could set off a cold-war-style arms race between China, India and Pakistan, says the New York Times quoting administration officials. While the American officials have repeatedly said an anti-missile defence was not aimed at Beijing, even they acknowledge that the system being designed, could significantly undercut or even neutralise China’s small nuclear force. “That could lead China to add to its nuclear arsenal, and if China built up its force, its regional rival India could do the same, as could India’s rival Pakistan, heightening tensions along the world’s newest nuclear frontier,” the daily says. Such a scenario, which officials are expected to outline for Mr Clinton in an official intelligence estimate due in June, has raised questions about the administration’s own efforts to try to slow the spread of nuclear weapons and the ballistic missiles needed to launch them. If China increases the number of missiles it has, India would think it has to increase its missiles the daily quotes a senior US official having said. And if India increases its missiles, then Pakistan does. Mr Clinton has said he plans to decide later this year whether to proceed with a missile defence based on four criteria: the missile threat, technological viability of the programme, the effect on arms control and cost. The response from China and Russia is an important factor in Mr Clinton’s decision. While newly disclosed defence documents indicate that the Pentagon was researching ways in the mid-1990’s to counter a limited Chinese missile attack, the daily quotes defence officials saying, that is no longer the American policy. The system under consideration, they insist, is intended to counter relatively small, unsophisticated missile threats from countries like North Korea, Iran and Iraq. |
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Fastest Everest climber sets record straight KATHMANDU May 28 (AP) — A Sherpa guide who set a new record for the fastest ascent of Mount Everest today said he took an hour longer to climb the world’s highest peak than had been reported earlier. Babu Chhiri, 34, scaled the 8,850 metres summit on May 21 through icy winds, a year after he set a record by camping for 21 hours on the peak. Most climbers retreat within a few minutes of scaling the peak, with its high winds, freezing temperatures, unpredictable and rapid weather changes and brain-starving lack of oxygen. “I climbed the mountain in 16 hours and 56 minutes and not 15 hours and 56 minutes as reported due to communication problems between the base camp and me,” Chhiri told reporters when he arrived in Kathmandu today. Even with the extra hour he said he took, Chhiri broke the record for the fastest climb set two years ago by Kaji Sherpa, who climbed Everest in 20 hours and 24 minutes. |
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Refugee camp closure to end ‘boat people’ saga HONG KONG, May 28 (AFP) — The closing of the last Vietnamese refugee camp here on Wednesday will finally bring down the curtain on a drama spanning 25 years, leaving behind memories many would rather like to forget. When the gates close at the midnight of May 31, the Pillar Point refugee camp in Tuen Mun, in Hong Kong’s south western New Territories, will be no more, officially ending the long-running Vietnamese refugee saga. More than 200,000 Vietnamese refugees arrived by the boatload in Hong Kong during the late 1970s and 1980s, after Communist North Vietnam defeated the US-backed South in 1975. The decision to close the camp has brought mixed reactions, with the government calling it a “humanitarian solution” to integrate the remaining 1,000 refugees into mainstream Hong Kong. As an open camp, the Pillar Point refugees were largely permitted to come and go as they pleased. But some refugees say they would rather stay in the camp, with high Hong Kong rents, rather than camp affinity, being the main reason. “My husband (a road worker) only gets 10 days’ work a month,” Dai Ting Nan, 22, said. “That equates to around $ 5,000 a month ($ 643 US). Monthly rent is no lower than 2,000 (Hong Kong dollars) for a two bedroom flat. If I could afford to move, do you think I would still be here?” Mr Nan asks. With just days to go before the camp closes, many of the refugees claim not to have found alternative accommodation. |
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26 ultras held for Manila blasts MANILA, May 28 (Reuters, DPA) — As many as 26 suspected Muslim militants, including a police sergeant, have been arrested here for alleged involvement in the recent bombing of two Manila shopping malls, the police said today. The arrests were made in pre-dawn raids yesterday at three hideouts in a Muslim area of the Manila suburb of Taguig, police chief Panfilo Lacson told a news conference. He said the 26 were suspected to be members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the main insurgent group fighting for an independent Muslim homeland in the south of this mainly Roman Catholic country. Some of the MILF suspects arrested had been in Manila since February with specific orders “to conduct bombings on selected target.” Charges of murder and attempted murder were being prepared against the suspects as well as against top leaders of the milf. A senior MILF officer, Eid Kabalu, denied the allegation. “We have not sent any one to Manila to throw bombs. We have no elements in Manila doing such kind of jobs,” Kabalu told Reuters by phone from the MILF base in southern Maguindanao province. Meanwhile, Muslim separatist rebels today gunned down three unarmed pro-government militiamen and burned down a government rice warehouse in the southern Philippines, the military said. Nearly 50 MILF fighters swooped down on the village of Paulino Labio in Kabuntalan town, Maguindanao province, 960 km south of Manila, said an army spokesman. The spokesman said the MILF guerrillas targeted the warehouse of the state-owned National Food Authority (NFA), where about 6,000 sacks of rice were stored. “They herded the unarmed militias, covered their eyes with cloth and executed them before torching the warehouse,” he said. “The victims were all shot from behind by the barbarians,” he said. After killing the militiamen,
identified as Noel Taylan, Disodado Erise and Joselito Dela Torre. The MILF rebels poured gasoline at the NFA warehouse and torched it. They then broke into smaller groups and fled into nearby hinterlands. More than 200 sacks of rice were burned firemen arrived. Yesterday, about 75 MILF rebels also attacked a village near Tungawan town in Zamboanga Del Sur province. Col Juvenal Narcise, commander of the army’s anti-terrorist unit, said the guerillas attacked a military detachment, torched several thatched houses and strafed “virtually anything that moved”. |
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16 Russian troops
killed
MOSCOW, May 28 (AFP) — Chechen generals claimed to have killed 16 Russian interior ministry (OMON) troops in an attack on a guard-post in the breakaway republic’s capital of Grozny. Russian military headquarters in Chechnya announced yesterday 24 Chechen fighters had been killed since Friday and that military positions had been fired on at least 23 times, Interfax reported. Meanwhile, members of a public commission on Chechnya told Russian President Vladimir Putin that they could not find a Chechen leader with whom Moscow could conduct peaceful negotiations. Top Chechen spokesman Movladi Udoqov told AFP in a telephone interview that the attack in Zavodskoye took place at midday and that 22 Russians had been killed. The source added that a large number of fighters had entered Grozny in the past few days. |
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BEIJING, May 28 — President K.R. Narayanan arrived here this evening for a six-day state visit to China to strengthen Sino-Indian relations and refresh contacts with the top Chinese leadership.
