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| Friday, February
9, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Sharon
rejects plea for talks Let us
begin talks first: Musharraf |
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N-proliferation
in Asia concerns CIA Pak,
Taliban to check border flows Laden
defector reveals terror network LTTE says no to
federal constitution |
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Tapes prove Ukraine
President’s complicity New
detector to beat landmine scourge
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Sharon rejects plea for talks JERUSALEM, Feb 8 (AP, PTI) — Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon rejects a key Palestinian demand that peace talks resume at the point they stopped under Israel’s previous government, a senior Sharon adviser said today. Mr Sharon did not feel bound by the concessions his predecessor, Mr Ehud Barak, made to the Palestinians, said adviser Zalman Shoval a former Israeli Ambassador to the USA. “There were offers by the previous government. All that was said, either verbally or as ideas, did not commit Israel or any government,” Mr Shoval said a day after the Palestinian Cabinet affirmed the demand for continuity in the talks. Palestinan officials said they had low expectations that negotiations, if they eventually resumed, could produce results. Mr Sharon had ruled out more land concessions and was only interested in reaching an interim, not a final, agreement. Palestinian officials said privately they did not expect Mr Sharon to stay in power for too long. He would be forced to step down if he failed to form a coalition and get the 2001 budget approved by March 31. During the final days of his government Mr Barak had offered the Palestinians a state in about 95 per cent of the West Bank and control over parts of Jerusalem. Meanwhile, faced with a fractured Knesset (Israeli Parliament), Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon had begun hectic efforts to form a new coalition government that he said must be of national unity to govern the troubled Jewish state. The 72-year-old right-wing leader appointed Likud Party Director-General Uri Shani to lead his team in negotiations with the centre-left Labour Party over a national unity government which was expected to have a moderate stance on the peace process with the Palestinians. Mr Sharon has 45 days — when official election results are due to be announced — to form a government and pass the national budget or face early parliamentary elections. Meanwhile, the hasArab League warned Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon against turning his back on the peace process, saying that this would only lead to more Palestinian violence against the Jewish state, add Reuters. In a statement issued at the United Nations headquarters yesterday where league leaders were attending a conference on peace building, the organisation of Arab states said the platform of Sharon’s right-wing Likud Party did not “constitute the right basis to move this process forward.” Sharon, who scored a decisive victory in Tuesday’s elections against the Labour Party’s Ehud Barak, is despised by many Arabs for his role while serving as Israel’s Defence Minister, in the bloody 1982 invasion of Lebanon and the subsequent massacre of Palestinian refugees by Lebanese Christian militias in Beirut camps. “The secretariat of the Arab League warns against the consequences of the new government turning its back on the peace process and its escalation of the repressive practices and violations of human rights of the Palestinian people,” the Arab League statement said. The league also urged the major powers to pressure the new Israeli Government to respect the peace process and the agreements reached to date as part of that process. Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan congratulated Ariel Sharon on his election as Israeli Prime Minister and said he hoped he would build on the peace efforts of his predecessor, Ehud Barak. In a statement through his spokesman, Annan said he “sincerely hopes that under the leadership of Prime Minister Sharon, the new Israeli Government will continue the search for peace, building on what progress already has been achieved.” JERUSALEM:
Zalman Shoval, diplomatic adviser to Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon, however, rejected today conditions put forward by Syria for resumption of negotiations with Israel. “The conditions put forward by Syria for resumption of negotiations are unacceptable,” Shoval said referring to a demand that Israel first agree to a complete withdrawal from the Golan Heights, which the Israelis seized in the 1967 war. CAIRO:
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak yesterday warned against judging Ariel Sharon too soon saying he hoped the ex-General would put the Middle East peace process back on track. The Prime Minister of Jordan, the only other Arab state to make peace with Israel, echoed Mubarak’s caution on Sharon’s victory over Ehud Barak, saying his country dealt with nations and not individuals. |
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Let us begin talks
first: Musharraf ISLAMABAD, Feb 8 (UNI) — Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf said his talk with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is not a sign of weakness but of sincerity towards peace initiatives between the two countries. In the same breath, talking to a group of foreign journalists at the army house here last evening, the general added that he had nothing new to offer to India as the time had come to move ahead from gestures and begin the dialogue for the settlement of the Kashmir problem. “My dialogue with the Indian PM is a sign of sincerity not weakness. Now India has to respond,’’ said the General and
added "Pakistan does not plan to take any new initiative for opening the stalled talks between New Delhi and Islamabad. The ball is now in India’s court. We have done everything possible.’’ Terming insurgency in Kashmir as a “movement of the locals” General Musharraf said there were three parties to the “dispute” hence there was a need for tripartite talks. “Kashmir is not an Islamic movement. It is a movement of the local people. The Mujahideen are indigenous.’’ The General went on to impress that “It would be a folly on their (India’s) part to say that Pakistan was not a party. It would also be a folly on our part to say that the Kashmiris are not a party.’’ Replying to a query on a solution to the problem General Musharraf said “I am against talking of solutions before beginning the dialogue. Let’s move step by step. Let’s begin talking first. There are a number of parties and a number of solutions.’’ Asked if the SAARC play a role in breaking the deadlock, the General replied in the affirmative. On the Indian position on Kashmir, General Musharraf said there had been a regular shift in India’s positions. “Some months ago they wanted to talk to the Hizbul Mujahideen but not with Pakistan. Then they wanted to talk to the APHC. There are regular somersaults,’’ he was quoted as saying. |
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N-proliferation in Asia concerns CIA WASHINGTON, Feb 8 (UNI, Reuters, PTI) — The Central Intelligence Agency has expressed concern over nuclear proliferation, development of missiles and weapons of mass destruction by India and Pakistan and does not rule out the prospect of another round of nuclear tests by both the countries. Competition between the two south Asian nations on the nuclear proliferation front is along predicted lines and there’s no sign that the situation has improved,
CIA Director George J. Tenet told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. “We still believe there is a good prospect of another round of nuclear tests,” he said indicating that pressure exerted on both countries by the USA through slapping of comprehensive sanctions three years back has been unproductive. Islamabad might soon respond in kind to testing of the Agni missile. Stating that Pakistan’s development of the two stage Shaheen ii medium range ballistic missiles would require additional assistance from Beijing, the spy chief said the USA was closely monitoring for any sign of Chinese entities providing assistance to Islambad’s venture. The Director recalled the statement issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry last November not to assist other countries in the development of ballistic missiles that could be used to deliver nuclear weapons. Based on the commitment the Clinton administration decided not to slap sanctions against China though it possessed hard evidence of assistance provided by some Chinese companies for the Pakistani missile programme. Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden and his global network is the most immediate and serious threat to America’s national security, the
CIA chief George Tenet said yesterday. In a wide-ranging annual report on threats to
U.S. security, the Director of Central Intelligence also highlighted the explosion in information technology and the use of the Internet which was being exploited by extremist groups. He said Russia, China and North Korea were the main suppliers of missile technology and equipment for making weapons of mass destruction to other countries, particularly to South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. Tenet said computer-based information operations could provide adversaries of the USA with an asymmetric response to the us military superiority. Attacks on the military, economic or telecommunications infrastructure of the
USA could be launched from anywhere in the world and they could be used to transport the problems of a distant conflict directly to America’s heartland, he added. The US Central Intelligence Agency also expressed
concern over activities of the insurgent group ‘Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan’ and said international terrorism networks were becoming technically sophisticated to advance their capabilities. |
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Pak, Taliban
to check border flows ISLAMABAD, Feb 8 (Reuters) — Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban movement has agreed with Pakistan to set up a joint commission to control the movement of people across their porous common border, news reports said today. The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) quoted Taliban officials as saying that the agreement was reached with Pakistani Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider, who is on a visit to the Afghan capital. Mr Haider is the highest ranking Pakistani official to visit Kabul since the Taliban movement swept to power in 1996. He arrived yesterday after heavy snow thwarted his first attempt to visit the city last week. Pakistan’s official APP news agency reported that during his talks with Taliban officials, Haider convinced them that steps should be taken to check the unmonitored movement of Afghans back and forth across their common border. Mr Haider was also expected to ask the Taliban to extradite some Pakistanis facing charges of involvement in sectarian or political violence. He will also raise the issues of smuggling of narcotics and other items. |
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Laden defector reveals terror network NEW YORK, Feb 8 (DPA, AP) — A defector from suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden continued testifying yesterday offering a rare glimpse into a network of international finance and military training that reaches from Sudan to London to Brooklyn to Chechnya. The trial of four suspects in the 1998 bombing of two US embassies in Africa that claimed 224 lives was recessed after two hours, until next Tuesday. It began on Monday and is expected to last nearly a year. The identity of the star prosecution witness, Jamal Ahmed Al-Fadl, was kept under wraps until Tuesday for security reasons and Judge Leonard Sand instructed court artists to stop sketching from the moment he appeared in the court room. Al-Fadl, (38), who was born in Sudan and studied in the USA, described how Bin Laden founded his organisation, al Qaeda (The Base), by recruiting among former members of the Afghan resistance movement during the Russian occupation of the 1980s, and how he turned his focus to the USA in the early 1990s. |
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LTTE says no to
federal constitution COLOMBO, Feb 8 (PTI) — The LTTE has rejected Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s stand that a new federal constitution should be the basis for a solution to the island’s ethnic conflict. The LTTE’s views were conveyed to Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solheim when he met rebel spokesman Anton Balasingham in London on Tuesday. Confirming the meeting, LTTE’s website reported that Balasingham rejected the solution of power devolution through provisions contained in a draft constitution that failed to get past parliament in August last. “The right to self-determination, recognition of a Tamil homeland and Tamil ethnic identity will remain the three-pronged foundation for any negotiations and not the government’s plan,” the LTTE ideologue was quoted as saying. Mr Solheim is expected to be back in Colombo soon with the LTTE’s response but if the strident criticism of Kumaratunga’s ambitious plan to buy peace from the warring group by offering to create a new federal constitutional structure is any indication, a meeting point will remain elusive. Tamil political parties, also pitching for peace talks, but demanding a ceasefire declaration by the government first, have already expressed scepticism about Kumaratunga’s address to the nation on the Independence Day on February 4. They alleged that there was no material change in the government’s
attitude as Kumaratunga had reiterated that there would be no ceasefire prior to progress in talks. |
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LONDON, Feb 8 (AFP) — Heir to the British throne, Prince Charles yesterday appeared for the first time in public together with his son Prince William and his lover, Camilla Parker Bowles. They put in the appearance at a star-studded party in London to mark the anniversary of the Press Complaints Commissioner, a body which protects the royal family and others from intrusion by Britain’s notoriously assertive press. But it was carefully choreographed so that Parker Bowles arrived separately from the two princes and was not photographed together with them. Their attendance at the function was part of a subtle campaign by Prince Charles to persuade the public to accept Parker Bowles — a woman widely reviled for destroying Charles’ marriage to the late Princess Diana. Charles and Parker Bowles have made public appearances together before, but never accompanied by William, who is Diana’s eldest son. The function was attended by the Editors of Britain’s newspapers, blamed by many in Britain for making Diana’s life a misery. She died in August, 1997, when her limousine, pursued by press photographers, crashed in a Paris underpass. |
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Tapes prove Ukraine President’s complicity MOSCOW, Feb 8 — President, Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine was fighting for his political life yesterday after the general prosecutor’s office ended months of stonewalling to confirm that audio tapes indicating presidential complicity in the murder of an opposition journalist were genuine. The announcement came a day after thousands of anti-Kuchma demonstrators marched in Kiev, denouncing the sump of corruption that is the presidential court, only to be met by masked thugs breaking up the “tent city’’ established by protesters on the capital’s main shopping street. The threats to Mr Kuchma’s political survival grew as leading opposition figures in Ukraine’s notoriously fractious political scene announced they were uniting on an anti-Kuchma platform. But the biggest threat to his hold on power came with the confirmation by the general prosecutor’s office that Mr Kuchma’s voice was on the tapes at the heart of the so-called Gongadze scandal. Georgy Gongadze, the editor of a Ukrainian internet newspaper which focused on corruption, disappeared in September and a beheaded corpse, believed to be his, was found in a forest outside Kiev in November. After denying that the corpse was Gongadze’s, then spinning out the investigation to play for time, the authorities now say it is more than 99 per cent certain that the missing journalist was murdered and that the beheaded body was, in fact, his. After weeks of contradictory statements from the general prosecutor’s office, widely seen as an attempted cover-up, the deputy general prosecutor, Alexei Bahanets, said yesterday that Mr Kuchma, the Interior Minister, the secret service chief, and the president’s chief of staff, had all been questioned about the tapes and had confirmed that their voices could indeed be heard on them. He also said while the voices were genuine, the tapes had been doctored and the President still denied that the incriminating evidence on the Gongadze case was authentic. The recordings were made by the former presidential bodyguard Mykhailo Melnychenko, who had placed a digital recorder under a sofa in the President’s office. |
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New detector to beat landmine scourge LONDON, Feb 8 — Every 20 minutes someone in the world takes a step that either kills or maims them. Each year about 25,000 people die from stepping on a landmine and virtually all survivors require at least one amputation and then endure a lifetime of physical and usually economic hardship. The mines, hidden in the soil and designed to explode at the slightest pressure have stubbornly remained a cruel scourge — 85 per cent of all child victims die before they reach hospital — mainly due to the high cost of mine clearance. But now it is hoped that a new British-made low-cost mine detector that works without batteries could help save thousands of lives. The manufacturers, Roke Manor Research, say mines could be detected more easily with their machine, which, if mass produced, could halve the rate of mine casualties. The device is called SPLICE — self-powered locator and identifier for concealed equipment. As the user sweeps the detector over the ground the sweeping action generates enough power for the machine to work and give the user audible signals. Tests by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency in the UK found that SPLICE could find mines five centimetres below the surface. No one knows how many mines lie in the soil. Estimates of the numbers scattered across the landscape range from 60 to 100 million in at least 70 countries from Afghanistan, Angola, and Cambodia, to Somalia, Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo. All deliberately placed to maim or kill. Apart from the human cost in deaths and disfigurement, mines also blight the economic potential of the land in which they lie. Mined farmland lies idle and farmland thought to be mined lies idle as people prefer to stay safe rather than risk growing food in what could be lethally contaminated fields. “It can take only two of three mines to make an area useless”, says Landmine Action, the UK section of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997. The late Princess Diana gave publicity to the cause when she visited a landmine clearance project in Angola, run by the UK-based voluntary agency, the Hazardous Areas Life-Support Organisation (Halo) Trust. The Halo Trust employs nearly 4,000 people in mine detection work in ten countries. Last year it cleared upwards of 10,000 mines and 25,000 tonnes of unexploded shells. But detection remains expensive because equipment usually needs batteries, maintenance and trained staff. It can cost as much as a $ 1,000 to get rid of a single mine — only 100,000 are cleared in a year. More money is seen as the priority by landmine clearance groups. There is an urgent need `for more, better targeted resources for mine action’, says Landmine Action. The 1999 Ottawa Convention, which prohibits the manufacture, trade and use of anti-personnel landmines and which urges help for poorer countries to clear land and rehabilitate survivors raised hopes of reducing the suffering caused by landmines. But while 137 countries have signed the treaty, a number of leading nations, including the United States, Russia, China and India, have not signed. The USA says it will sign at some point in the future when it has alternative weapons available. Meanwhile thousands continue to count the cost of these crippling weapons of war.
— By arrangement with The Guardian. |
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