Thursday, April 22, 1999
today's calendar
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W O R L D | Thursday, April 22, 1999 |
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Milosevic party HQ hit in
raid Poll panel to hear Benazir’s
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No hijacker found on
plane
Peace pact signed on East Timor
Left wins option of open vote Where lions, hyenas battle it out |
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Russia to boycott NATO summit BELGRADE, April 21 (AFP) — A NATO raid has hit the Belgrade headquarters of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s ruling Socialist Party and left the building in flames, while two other missiles struck the last bridge over the Danube. “We were all in our offices and I understand unfortunately that people were inside (when the strike came) because of the nature of their work,” party Secretary-General Gorica Gajevic told Serbian TV. This civilian building housed not only the headquarters but those of 20 businesses. The pictures from Serbian RTS TV showed the four lowest floors of the more than 20-storeyed skyscraper were in flames. The TV also said, “Two missiles struck the middle of the bridge (over the Danube)” but without saying if it had been destroyed. The two other bridges across the Danube at Novi Sad, the capital of Voivodina province 70 km north of Belgrade were destroyed by NATO on April 1 and 3. Meanwhile, the Yugoslav army, shrugging off Washington’s pledge to step up economic, political and military pressure on Belgrade, had been in action in Montenegro after being allegedly attacked by guerrillas of the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). The 2nd Army Command said in a communique that one of its units had come under fire from “a large group of terrorists of the KLA” in the area of Kaludjerska Laz and in a “resolute action” had broken them, killing four. In Washington, the Pentagon said the deployment of US ground troops in Albania swelled to 3,300, but the long-awaited arrival of two dozen Apache attack helicopters was put off for at least another day. A bipartisan group of Senators — four Republicans and three Democrats — submitted a resolution that would authorise Mr Clinton “to use all necessary force and other means, in concert with the US allies, to accomplish their objectives in... Yugoslavia”. MOSCOW (DPA): Russia will stay away from the summit meeting of NATO leaders in Washington next weekend, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov announced today. Mr Ivanov made the announcement after a meeting with President Boris Yeltsin. Russia suspended ties with the western alliance last month in protest against the NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia. Mr Yelstin’s special envoy for Yugoslavia, Mr Victor Chernomyrdin, announced that he will travel to Belgrade tomorrow. He had visited Georgia and Azerbaijan yesterday in a bid to coordinate the position of member-nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on the Balkans conflict. After his talks in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, today the former Russian Prime Minister announced that Russia and its CIS partners were preparing joint moves aimed at solving the Kosovo crisis, Itar-Tass news agency reported. This included a possible participation in a peacekeeping mission in the Balkans, he said without elaborating. Mr Ivanov stressed that no joint position on the issue had been worked out among CIS nations, and it was up to individual members to decide on whether to attend. Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze has already announced that he would attend the NATO celebrations. Russia was engaged in efforts in all directions in a bid to seek a political solution to the Kosovo crisis. “For this purpose we are in regular contact with western European nations and the USA” Mr Ivanov said. UNITED NATIONS: A three-phase action plan worked out by Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma to bring peace to Kosovo has been circulated as a Security Council document. The plan, which was sent to the council president, the European Union and the Yugoslav authorities over the weekend, envisages the adoption by the Security Council of basic principles for a settlement and mandate of a UN observer mission. That would be followed by the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo, cessation of NATO air strikes and halt of military actions by Kosovo Albanians. The second phase foresees deployment of UN peacekeepers. The third stage would culminate in an international peace conference to work out a political settlement based on 10 points by the contact groups and the Rambouillet political agreements. WASHINGTON: Notwithstand-ing the fact that a thousand US and other NATO warplanes are pounding Yugoslavia day and night, Washington is not at war with that country, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Asked whether it was not necessary for the Congress to declare war on Yugoslavia before US forces were engaged in such a massive action, Ms Albright replied in the negative. “It is the President’s belief that it does not need a declaration of war. Since 1941, there has not been a declaration of war,” Ms Albright argued before the US Senate committee on Tuesday. SKOPJE: Two French NATO soldiers were injured and one of their vehicles set on fire in the most serious anti-NATO incident to date in Macedonia, an alliance spokesman said on Wednesday. Major Eric Mongnot said
the incident happened on Tuesday in the village of
Kuceviste, some 15 km north of the capital Skopje, when a
convoy of four NATO vehicles was attacked by a small
crowd throwing stones. |
Poll panel to hear Benazir’s case ISLAMABAD, April 21 (AP) — Pakistan’s Election Commission today asked both Ms Benazir Bhutto and her jailed husband Asif Ali Zardari to defend themselves against disqualification from politics. The lawyers for both Ms Bhutto and her husband will argue their case before the Election Commission on Saturday, said Mr Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for Ms Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party. Ms Bhutto, who currently is in London, was convicted last week, along with her husband, of taking kickbacks from a Swiss company while in power. The couple was sentenced to five years in jail, disqualified from politics and fined $ 8.6 million. Their property, worth an estimated $ 100 million, also was ordered confiscated. Ms Bhutto will appeal against her conviction and her lawyers argue that any decision by the Election Commission to disqualify her should be made after the Supreme Court appeal. “Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, a member of Ms Bhutto’s party and a prominent lawyer, wrote a letter to the Election Commissioner asking him to wait until after the Supreme Court appeal to make his decision. “In the final analysis the Supreme Court will be the ultimate forum and even your present verdict, if you choose to decide now, may be set aside by its judgement,” Mr Ahsan wrote in his letter. “Any other course
of action may lead to a grave miscarriage of
justice,” said Mr Ahsan in his letter. |
Six white cops suspended in SA JOHANNESBURG, April 21 (AP) — Six white South African police officers were suspended after a videotape showed the police beating suspected thieves, one of whom later died, a department spokesman has said. The videotape broadcast by the BBC shows officers punching and kicking criminal suspects, some of whom were handcuffed. At one point, an officer stubs out his cigarette on the head of one of the suspects. The officers also set a German Shepherd on two handcuffed suspects. The men scream as the dog attacks them. Police officers can be heard laughing in the background. “This is shocking,” said police spokesman Inspector Mark Reynolds yesterday. He has seen the videotape. The six officers, who were suspended with pay, may be charged with assault, the authorities said. National Police Commissioner George Fivaz did not defend the attacks, but said they may have been a result of the enormous pressures put on South African Police Service officers. “Although I in no
way condone acts of brutality committed by law
enforcement officers... SAPS officials have to deal with
the murder of their colleagues as well as attacks on
themselves. They frequently witness the worst acts of
violence perpetrated against ordinary citizens,” Mr
Fivaz said. |
No hijacker found on plane MOSCOW, April 21 (Reuters) — An airliner made an emergency landing today in the central Russian city of Samara after a stewardess found a note in the toilet saying there was a "terrorist" on board demanding to be flown to Iran. All 136 passengers, including four children, were safely evacuated from the Tupolev TU-154, but security forces failed to find any hijackers aboard, officials said. "The incident appears to have been some sort of joke. Our investigation is coming to an end. We still do not know who wrote the note," a spokesman at the Regional Governor’s Office said. He said the note in the toilet read: "There is a terrorist on board the plane. Please change course for Teheran." In Samara, anxious stewardesses discreetly asked passengers to disembark as armed troops surrounded the plane. But when they boarded the craft they found no hijackers and no explosives, as initially feared. Russian news agencies had said around 15 hijackers were suspected of being either Kurds or Chechens. The plane, which belongs
to the Tajik state airline Tochikistan, had been flying
from the Tajik capital Dushanbe to Moscow’s
Domodedovo Airport. |
Chandrika's party loses majority COLOMBO, April 21 (AP) — President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s People’s Alliance lost its single seat majority in Parliament today when a member crossed over to the opposition. There was, however, no immediate danger to her position or to the government, which has the legislative support of other smaller parties. Under the Sri Lankan Constitution, the President can continue her six-year tenure even if she loses parliamentary majority. Mr Vasudeva Nanayakkara of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party left the ruling alliance and joined the opposition benches, accusing the government of misrule and ignoring campaign pledges given five years ago at the national elections. Mrs Kumaratunga’s People’s Alliance won 113 seats in the 225-member Parliament in the 1994 general elections, gaining a single seat majority. But seven members of the
opposition Ceylon Workers Congress provided legislative
support to the government. Also, the party’s leader,
Mr Soumiamurthy Thondaman, who heads several unions
consisting of Indian-origin Tamil tea labourers, became a
Cabinet minister. |
4 Indians killed in Abu Dhabi DUBAI, April 21 (PTI) — Four Indians were killed in two separate incidents in Abu Dhabi yesterday, the Gulf News Daily reported today. Three Indian workers, including a father and a son, were charred to death in a fire at a tourist club, it said. The duo were identified as Hayder and Majeed. The victims along with a third Indian, yet to be identified, who was also burnt to death, were sleeping in the Blue Star restaurant when a fire broke out at Nadi Al Siyahi Tourist Club early in the morning. The cause of the fire was not known. In another accident, a 13-year-old Indian girl, Sridevi, daughter of a prominent businessman, Dr V.S. Gopal, fell to death from her seventh floor flat while taking a short break after practising for a dance performance. She was rehearsing for a dance show for the Ahlia Medical group’s annual party to be held tomorrow when the accident occurred. Sridevi, winner of
several awards for her extracurricular activities, was
studying in the eighth grade. |
Peace pact signed on East Timor JAKARTA April 21 (DAP) — Leaders of warring factions in Indonesia’s troubled East Timor province today signed a peace accord in a bid to end violence prior to a planned UN sponsored direct ballot in July on the future of the former Portuguese colony. Indonesia’s armed forces commander General Wiranto, Dili’s Catholic Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and other high-ranking military and civilians witnessed the accord. The peace agreement was signed by jailed freedom fighter Xanana Gusmao in Jakarta and later by the Chairman of the East Timor Forum for Unity, Democracy and Justice, Dominggus Soares, on behalf of pro-Jakarta groups, at the house of Nobel peace laureate Belo. The peace agreement was signed amid international concern at Indonesia’s failure to prevent brutal attacks committed by armed pro-Jakarta militias, which have killed several of civilians in recent weeks. However, leaders of the
pro-Indonesian autonomy supporters doubted the agreement
would “guarantee” a peaceful outcome in East
Timor. |
Yeltsin’s impeachment MOSCOW, April 21 (DPA) — The Communists in the Russian Parliament, the Duma, today won a small victory when deputies backed a motion that allows an open ballot in next month’s vote on the impeachment of President Boris Yeltsin. Although the vote in the Lower House on whether to start impeachment proceedings against the 68-year-old Russian leader was expected to be a closed one, today’s decision means that deputies will now decide on the day how the ballot will be held. It is scheduled for May 13 to 15. The Communist Party leadership is concerned that in a closed vote some of its members may stray from the party line and vote in Mr Yeltsin’s favour. For the same reason, the Communist Party swung a vote last week to postpone the impeachment decision from mid-April to next month, thereby allowing time for further efforts to ensure an open ballot. Mr Yeltsin is charged with unlawfully dissolving the Soviet Union, shelling the Russian Parliament in 1993, “genocide” of the Russian people, waging war in Chechenia and undermining Russia’s defence and security capabilities. A two-thirds majority vote of 300 for just one of the charges would start impeachment proceedings rolling. AP adds: Meanwhile, Russia’s Upper House of Parliament has harshly criticised President Yeltsin, saying he still hadn’t given them good enough reason to oust the country’s prosecutor-general. The Upper House, the Federation Council, met today to debate Mr Yeltsin’s request that they dismiss Prosecutor General Yuri Skuratov. The session turned rancorous almost immediately. At the start of a debate, Mr Yeltsin’s Chief of Staff, Mr Alexander Voloshin, read out a letter in which the President implored the Federation Council to remove Mr Skuratov from his post. “You all understand the danger of instability and hesitation in law enforcement agencies,” Mr Voloshin told Parliament, reading from Mr Yeltsin’s letter. “Uncertainty about the leadership of law enforcement agencies is the best weapon in the hands of criminals and irresponsible politicians.” But Federation Council members quickly cut Mr Voloshin off, demanding that he tell them what Mr Skuratov had done to deserve losing his job. Mr Voloshin avoided the question, and lawmakers then shouted at him that they couldn’t take a decision on Mr Skuratov if they didn’t know why Mr Yeltsin wanted him fired. Then they voted to hold the remainder of the debate behind closed doors. President Yeltsin has
been trying for months to get rid of Mr Skuratov, who has
been investigating alleged bribe-taking by Kremlin
officials. Mr Yeltsin has argued that Mr Skuratov should
be fired on moral grounds. |
Where lions, hyenas battle it out ADDIS ABABA, April 21 (AFP) — A war between lions and hyenas in eastern Ethiopia is resulting in a “horrible carnage” which the lions are winning, the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) reports, quoting villagers and local police. The battles have been raging for two weeks in the Gobele desert 460 km east of Addis Ababa, with the toll so far six lions and 35 hyenas killed, according to witnesses, the agency said on Monday. One lion will take on up to six hyenas at a time, with a reserve lion going in to fight when the first one is exhausted or put out of action by the hyenas, they told ENA. The violence was
“ferocious and the hyenas had to fall back
eventually”, one witness said, adding, “It is a
scene of horrible carnage... the stench from the dead
animals is terrible”. |
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| Torrential rains kill 7 in Lanka COLOMBO: Torrential rain, mudslides and lightning killed seven persons and forced 20,000 residents out of their homes across Sri Lanka, radio stations and the weather office reported on Wednesday. Colombo, the capital, was one of the worst hit, with 28.5cm of rain overnight, the Weather Office said. Mudslides killed two persons in the gem city of Ratnapura, about 80 km east of Colombo, and five others in a nearby area on Tuesday night, a local radio station reported. — AP Five found dead War on dogs Baroness dead Kohl honoured 2 walk to North
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