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| Wednesday, February
21, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Gloria suspends operations against MILF rebels Alternative to NMD presented to NATO Labour gets a week
to join coalition China using labour camps
to curb Falungong Iraqi sanctions
should stay: UK |
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Troops quell jail riots Laden ‘won’t be’ extradited
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Gloria suspends operations against MILF rebels Manila, February 20 However, she said there would not be a withdrawal of government forces. She told the nation in a televised speech that she was considering halting military action against communist rebels, the other major armed group that had fought Manila for years. Ms Arroyo, catapulted to the presidency last month by a “people power” revolt that ousted Joseph Estrada, said the halt in military offensive against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front
(MILF) would enable more than 200,000 persons displaced by the fighting in the south of the country to return to their homes “and repair their shattered lives.” “With the full consensus of the Cabinet, I have today issued an order to (the) Secretary of National Defence and the Armed Forces Chief of Staff directing the suspension of offensive military operations vis-a-vis the
MILF,” Arroyo said. Her decision was intended “to lay the proper environment for the reconstruction of peace talks,” she said. “Let us heal and build but above all let us be one.” Ms Arroyo made no reference to the fundamentalist Abu Sayyaf militia, the other separatist group operating in the country’s south which gained world attention last year when it seized a number of foreign and Filipino hostages from the nearby Malaysian isles and on southern Jolo island. Most of the hostages were later freed on ransom, escaped or were rescued by soldiers, leaving American national Jeffrey Schilling and Filipino Roland Ullah in Abu Sayyaf hands. Negotiations between Manila and the
MILF, the biggest group fighting for an Islamic state in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic country, collapsed in August last year after the military seized more than 40 big and small
MILF bases in line with Estrada’s order for an all-out offensive against the separatists. The President urged the
MILF to reciprocate her gesture “by positive moves in the same direction.” “I hope the
MILF will take this move as ample proof of the sincerity and determination of the government to take the high road to peace,” she said. More than 120,000 persons have died in the separatist war since it started in 1972, while over 40,000 have been killed in the insurgency war for the establishment of a marxist state waged by the communist New People’s Army since 1969. While offering “the hand of friendship” to the
MILF, Ms Arroyo rejected a long-standing separatist demand for the withdrawal of government forces from
MILF bases overrun during the Estrada presidency. “There shall be no return of territory to the
MILF,” she stressed. Ms Arroyo announced her military initiative a day after she ordered the release of 49 political dissidents held in military and police jails. They included 20 suspected
MILF guerrillas linked by the police to the bombing of two Manila shopping malls last year.
Reuters
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Alternative to NMD presented to NATO Moscow, February 20 Col-Gen Leonid Ivashov said the three-stage plan for non-strategic anti-missile defence — which puts closer assessment of the threat and political efforts before military hardware — would keep existing arms accords intact. The leading military hawk who heads the Defence Ministry’s foreign relations department, said the proposal was “radically different from what the Americans are proposing”. He said it was “not a defence for the whole European territory, only a part, the main part of European territory”. Russia has been alarmed by U.S. plans to push ahead with NMD, which Moscow believes would undermine the cornerstone 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty (ABM) and trigger a new arms race. Late last year, President Vladimir Putin proposed an alternative “non-strategic” defence, which in his opinion could head off potential attacks from “rogue states” like Iraq, Iran and North Korea without undermining existing disarmament pacts. The Russian plan provides for close assessment of existing and future missile threats. If detected, they could be nipped in the bud by joint political efforts. A mobile missile force would be deployed near a potential aggressor only as a last resort. Moscow’s proposals have been received sceptically in Washington. But European members of NATO have urged the USA to consult Russia and China, another strong opponent of NMD, before going ahead with it. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov will meet U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell for the first time in Egypt this week. Robertson was also due to meet President Putin, and Mr Sergei Ivanov, secretary of the influential Security Council, and leaders of Parliament, where anti-NATO sentiment is especially strong. Russia also says it wants to improve relations, but Sergeyev made clear a range of awkward issues remained. “One of the most painful for Russia is NATO’s expansion eastwards,” he said.
Reuters |
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Labour gets a week
to join coalition Jerusalem, February 20 “We really made an extraordinary effort and I can say to you with certainty...There are no more additional points of disagreement,” said Ehud Olmert, Israeli Mayor of Jerusalem. Olmert said today his that party would give the Labour Party one week to convene its central committee to decide whether it wanted to join a unity government and would approve outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s participation in the joint coalition. “In other words, the government’s fate will be sealed on Monday,” Olmert told Israel’s Army Radio. “I hope the Labour Party will approve the unity government and we can progress quickly. But if that will be delayed beyond Monday then another government will be formed,” he said. The Labour Party is expected to convene its 1,700-member central committee early next week to take its decision. Sharon must present a government before a late March deadline or face new elections. If Labour refuses to close ranks with Likud, Sharon would be forced to ally with ultra-nationalist and religious parties likely to obstruct peacemaking in order to survive in Israel’s deeply fragmented Parliament. Israeli media reported that Labour members were considering a compromise by which Barak would fulfil his pledge to resign but also serve in Sharon’s government. “With goodwill and a true desire for partnership, I hope and believe we can forge a unity government within days,” he said. “I am talking about a partnership for shaping (policy) and leading the government in all areas.” Likud Secretary-General Uri Shani said the two sides “reached conclusions and understandings which were almost closed,” and charged the Labour Party with “dealing in petty politics and not entering the unity government.” Israeli security sources said Israel killed Mahmoud al-Madani on Monday in the West Bank for his involvement in car bombings in the Israeli towns of Netanya and Hadera.
Reuters |
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China using labour camps
to curb Falungong SHANGHAI: China has admitted making extensive use of a much-criticised form of imprisonment without trial in its efforts to suppress the banned Falungong spiritual sect. The practice of sending people to labour camps for “re-education” has been condemned by human rights groups abroad. They say Beijing may also be employing it to clear the streets of undesirables during its bid to stage the 2008 Olympic Games. The police is on heightened alert against demonstrations, after another alleged Falun Gong supporter committed suicide in public on Friday. A thousand women followers of Falungong have been “successfully re-educated” at a “re-education through labour institute” in Liaoning province, the official People’s Daily reported at the weekend. It said the “tutors” at the Masanjia camp provided “loving care”, helping the inmates to overcome their resistance to reform. Claims by the Falungong organisation abroad that many members had been tortured by Masanjia were denied. The figures quoted for one camp in one province give an idea of the magnitude of the operation against the Falungong. The People’s Daily said more than 300 inmates had returned home from Masanjia after finishing their “re-education terms”. Another 300 had their terms reduced or were serving them “outside the facility”. The process of labour re-education appears similar to the “thought reform” methods used in Chinese labour camps during the Mao Zedong era. In a typical case in Masanjia, former cult leader Li Lina says the prison “even provided the latest articles of Li Hongzhi and organised former practitioners to debate them”. The use of repentant inmates to persuade more stubborn prisoners to change their beliefs was a characteristic feature of the “thought reform” process. Mr Li, the Falungong’s spiritual “master”, who issues his pronouncements from the USA, has denounced unnamed Falungong members for working for the authorities after being persuaded to recant. Falungong sources abroad have published claims of alleged torture in the detention camps leading to more than 140 deaths since the Falun Gong was banned in July, 1999. Beijing routinely denies that torture occurs, while admitting that Falun Gong members have died in detention. “You have to ask how they died,” Chinese diplomat Zhang Yuanyuan told the BBC last week. There are some who are old, sick and they commit suicide. “They throw themselves against the wall and got themselves fatally injured, and they refused to eat, refused to take medicine, refused medical attention, and people also died of natural causes.” The Falungong confirms that members frequently resort to a fast as a form of protest, and say that this is dealt with brutality. It publicised the case of Li Mei who died in the Hefei detention centre on February 1 after going on fast. Her family was allegedly not allowed to examine her body.
The Guardian, London |
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Iraqi sanctions should stay: UK London, February 20 Leaders in the Arab world, Russia, France and Turkey have lined up to criticise the strikes against six air defence sites on Friday. The Guardian newspaper reported today that Britain and the USA were rethinking their sanctions policy towards Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s regime amid mounting hostility from the Arab world.
AFP |
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Suharto daughter
quizzed Jakarta, February 20 A smiling Siti “Tutut” Hardiyanti Rukmana, who served as a minister in her father’s last Cabinet, came to the Attorney-General’s office in south Jakarta with 12 bodyguards pushing a way for her through the throng of journalists. The government is investigating a $ 31.4 million claim by Pt Triharsa Buminusa Tunggal, which she headed, over a pipeline project.
Reuters
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Troops quell jail riots Sao Paulo (Brazil), February 20 Yesterday troops dressed in body armour and carrying rifles swept through Latin America’s biggest prison, Carandiru, in what appeared to be a negotiated end to the bloody 25-hour siege. They started a cell-by-cell search with prison guards in the biggest of the 29 prisons but pulled out of the decrepit compound before nightfall, saying that they would only complete the search today. Independent observers and the riot police will stay overnight to prevent further bloodshed. “The rebellion is over, but we won’t know with any certainty in what conditions or how many deaths until we finish the search,” said Renato Simoes, the President of the Human Rights Commission in the state Assembly. At least 15 inmates were killed, including one prisoner who was found with stab wounds and strangulation marks in a rubbish bin inside Carandiru yesterday.
Reuters |
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Laden ‘won’t be’ extradited Dubai, February 20 “This is a mischief by the media and there is absolutely no truth in the published report ,” Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan Mullah Zaeef was quoted as saying in Gulf News. Mr Zaeef was reacting to a report in Pakistan’s leading English daily Dawn which stated that the Taliban militia were willing to hand over Laden to Saudi Arabia. The newspaper said the offer in this regard was made by Taliban’s supreme leader Mulla Mohammed Omar to Pakistans Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider.
UNI |
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Oppn boycott Tokyo, February 20 |
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Order on Estrada Manila, February 20 |
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Nurse admits to 40
mercy killings 29
arrested in passports racket Shipwrecked
Kurds seek asylum 10 die as boat
sinks in Philippines Probe into Church
attack ordered HK Court jails
cyber-stalker
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