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| Thursday, June 1, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Heptullah
addresses Israeli MPs Sankoh’s trial “shortly” Sectarian riots in Indonesia India ‘can make’ Cruise
missiles Lazio nominated
to face Hillary |
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| Clinton to share hotel with lawyers BERLIN, May 31 — Even if President Bill Clinton loses the right to practise law in Arkansas, he will have plenty of legal advice at hand during his visit to Germany this week as he will be sharing a hotel with 1,600 lawyers. 
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Nuclear issue BEIJING, May 31 (PTI) — China today clarified that not discussing the South Asian nuclear issue during Indian President K.R. Narayanan’s on-going state visit does not mean that the Chinese stand on the issue has softened. “On the issue of the South Asian nuclear tests, the consistent policy of the Chinese Government has not changed, a senior Chinese Foreign Ministry official told reporters during an informal briefing on Mr Narayanan’s talks with senior Chinese leadership here from Monday. “We have on many occasions through diplomatic channels expressed our position to the Indian side that we hope the countries in South Asia, namely, India and Pakistan abide by the UN Security Council Resolution 1172 unconditionally,” he said. “We are unwilling to see a new round of nuclear arms race in the South Asian region and this policy has not changed,” the official said on condition of anonymity. He said the nuclear issue was not raised in the talks this time. “President Narayanan’s visit this time is part and parcel of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and India.” “So, this time the Indian President did not come to discuss and solve the specific issues between China and India. So, specific issues such as the nuclear issue was not raised,” the official clarified. Since the Chinese side did not raise the nuclear issue during talks, Mr Narayanan had dropped references to the nuclear issue from his prepared speech he delivered at the prestigious Peking University here yesterday. China had condemned India’s May 1998 nuclear tests following which India-China relations remained nearly frozen for about one year. Meanwhile, China today agreed to work with India for the much needed UN reforms but was non-committal in supporting New Delhi’s candidature for a permanent seat in the restructured Security Council. President K. R. Narayanan and Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji during their meeting here also agreed to enhance economic cooperation especially in the information technology sector between the two countries. During the parleys, the two leaders discussed the need for UN reforms and restructuring of the Security Council to enable developing countries to have full responsibility in their role, Foreign Secretary Lalit Mansingh told reporters. Mr Narayanan told the Chinese Premier about India’s claim for a permanent seat in the Security Council, but Mr Zhu, without giving any indication of support, agreed with him that UN restructuring was needed and Beijing was willing to work together with New Delhi for UN reforms. Narayanan had raised the matter during his talks with his Chinese counterpart Jiang Zemin on Monday but his response was also quite similar to the one expressed by Zhu. Soon after his talks
with Mr Zhu, the President left for industrial city of
Dalian on the third day of his week-long state visit to
China. |
Heptullah addresses Israeli MPs JERUSALEM, May 31 (PTI) — In a rare honour accorded to a foreign dignitary, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman and Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) President Najma Heptullah addressed a well-attended session of the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) and called upon the lawmakers to give peace a chance in the troubled region. Ms Heptullah, currently on a visit here as IPU president on an invitation by the Knesset, also called on Israel’s Foreign Minister David Levi last evening who appreciated India’s long-held tradition of democracy and secularism. The two leaders also discussed the Middle East peace process in the wake of Israel’s pullout of troops from Lebanon Appreciating Israel’s decision to withdraw its forces from South Lebanon, Ms Heptullah lauded their efforts in strengthening peace during the last decade saying “the entire world shares your aspiration for peace and stability, development and growth... This is a time of great challenge for you. The entire world looks to you with great hope.” “Accommodation and trust, prosperity and equal opportunity are the keys to lasting peace at least as much as those lines on those maps,” she told the 120-member House. Urging peace with Israel’s Arab neighbours, Ms Heptullah said the region, situated at the junction of three continents, had moulded the evolution of human civilisation perhaps more than any other. “Some of the most sublime ideas emerged in the harsh lands of Sinai. Humanism, tolerance and the ideals of democracy must be our touchstone as we seek to build a better and safer world for our children,” she said. Earlier, during her
meeting with Israeli President Ezer Weizman, she conveyed
India’s appreciation of the withdrawal of Israeli
troops from Lebanon and hoped that the move would boost
confidence building measures in the region. |
Sankoh’s trial “shortly” FREETOWN, May 31 (Reuters) — Sierra Leone’s government is weighing up whether to try rebel leader Foday Sankoh at home or send him abroad to face charges of ordering atrocities and plotting to seize power. “There are a lot of issues to consider,’’ President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah’s spokesman Septimus Kaikai said yesterday. “We have to consider if he could have adequate protection here. Is there the possibility of an impartial jury? Is it possible within our legal system? Or do we have the logistics?’’ he wondered Sankoh’s fate is one of the main stumbling blocks to bringing back on track a 1999 West African peace accord that foundered when rebels launched fresh attacks and took hundreds of UN peacekeepers hostage early in May. Kaikai said it was erroneous of the economic community of West African states to have announced on Monday that Sierra Leone had agreed to send Sankoh to another country under a deal agreed among West African leaders in Nigeria’s capital Abuja. Kaikai said the estimated cost of trying Sankoh abroad would run into millions of dollars — vastly more than Sierra Leone could bear itself. “We also have to consider the question of co-conspirators, said Kaikai. A decision on the trial would be made ‘’shortly’’ after consultation between the government and Sierra Leoneans, he added. Reports that Sankoh, who launched the rebellion in 1991, would be tried outside the country angered many here, where callers to radio stations demanded justice and retribution. In a war marked by
atrocities on all sides, Sankoh’s rebels have a
reputation for brutality, hacking off the arms of
civilians — including very young children — to
terrify into submission those who did not support their
aims. |
Sectarian riots in Indonesia JAKARTA, May 31 (AFP) — The police has been given shoot-at-sight orders to crack down on sectarian rioters in the Central Sulawesi district of Poso, it was reported here today. “We have issued orders to the Poso district police chief to take firm action against rioters, and even shoot them on the spot if necessary,” Central Sulawesi’s deputy police chief, Col Zainal Abidin Ishak said, according to the Media Indonesia daily. Ishak, the daily said, made the statement in front of hundreds of Muslim students who had gone to provincial police headquarters yesterday to protest the spread of Muslim-Christian violence which has claimed seven lives in Poso in the past nine days. He said the decision was taken because some in the mobs involved in the clashes had been using firearms, but he gave no further details. Col Guntur Manihuruk, an officer at the military command which oversees security in Central Sulawesi, said around 100 troops had been dispatched to Poso and other soldiers put on standby. “We are getting them prepared, should the Central Sulawesi police chief calls for assistance,” Manihuruk told AFP by telephone. Clashes between Muslims
and Christians broke out on May 22 in Poso, and later
spread to the surrounding sub-districts. |
India ‘can make’ Cruise missiles WASHINGTON, May 31 (PTI) — India is among a select band of military powers in Asia who has the capability for domestic production of Cruise missile, a defence publication reports. While 15 countries in Asia currently have Cruise missiles in their inventory, only five of them - India, China, North Korea, Japan and Taiwan, have capabilities for domestic production, says “Military Technology” or Miltech, a German publication. Comparing the Indian and Pakistani military programmes, the magazine says that New Delhi’s ballistic missile efforts are more advanced and diversified than Islamabad’s, and that they profit from the country’s space programme. Development of the Agni
II two-stage 2,500-km range intermediate range ballistic
missile will enable India to take aim at the major parts
of China, as far as Beijing, all of south-west Asia, all
of Pakistan and Iran. |
Lazio nominated to face Hillary BUFFALO, New York, May 31 (AP) — His fresh face marred by a fat lip, Rep. Rick Lazio was nominated by the Republican Party to battle Hillary Rodham Clinton in the nation’s most closely watched Senate race. To the cheers of more than 400 delegates and hundreds of other supporters, Lazio — a little-known in Long Island congressman who entered the race after New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani withdrew because of prostate cancer, was yesterday declared the unanimous pick of the party’s state convention. With the “Rocky” theme blaring from loudspeakers, Lazio, 42, took the stage to declare, “I am the underdog in this race.” He promised to take his “message of hope, opportunity and responsibility” across the state. “My opponent is better financed and better known. She comes to New York with the support of every left-wing special interest, from Washington insiders to the Hollywood elite,” Lazio told the delegates. Lazio arrived here as a
wounded warrior. He tripped Monday during a Memorial Day
parade on Long Island, splitting his lip. He needed eight
stitches. |
Clinton to share hotel with lawyers BERLIN, May 31 (Reuters) — Even if President Bill Clinton loses the right to practise law in Arkansas, he will have plenty of legal advice at hand during his visit to Germany this week as he will be sharing a hotel with 1,600 lawyers. Clinton will be staying at the Intercontinental Hotel for his stop here as part of a week-long European tour at the same time as the German Lawyers’ Association stages its annual gathering. “They only told us about this five weeks ago,’’ said association spokeswoman Vte Riesenbeck. An Arkansas court panel said last week that Clinton, a qualified lawyer, should lose the right to practise law in Arkansas because of his conduct in the sexual harassment case that led to his impeachment in 1998.
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