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| Monday, June 12, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Speight meets ex-Vice-President Rwandan army claims victory, fighting stops Philippine forces
on full alert Judge pays
deaf couple's rent Ethiopia captures
Eritrean POWs Rave reviews in
British press for Shabana Spanking headmaster
eludes prison Provincial capital in
Solomons seized |
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Lankan troops kill 11 Tamil Tigers COLOMBO, June 11 (PTI) — The Sri Kankan army today said that it had killed 11 LTTE rebels in different encounters as the government refrained from reacting to a ceasefire offer by the Tamil Tigers to evacuate civilians caught in the battle front in the northern Jaffna Peninsula. An official press release here said the troops had attacked three rebel bunkers yesterday in the Meesala, Ponnar and Chammani areas in Jaffna and killed nine rebels. Another two were killed in Chandikulam in northern Vanni. The release accused the LTTE of preventing civilians in the areas under their control to move to army-controlled areas and said it was instead forcing them to move to the Vanni region which was under its control. It, however, did not refer to the ceasefire offer made by the LTTE yesterday to evacuate the civilians. Instead it accused the LTTE of conscripting the civilians, including school children and starting military training. In another development, Colombo-based ‘Sunday Times’ newspaper reported today that the army’s only airbase in Jaffna at Palaly and the port at Kaneskanthurai were closed due to heavy artillery shelling by the LTTE. The airfield at Palaly had been closed for the fixed wing aircraft after it sustained heavy damage. "As a result, the two supply routes to Jaffna Peninsula-Kakesanthurai port and Palaly airbase remain disrupted," it said. The government release also accused the LTTE rebels of attacking ships in eastern Trincomalee and plundering food, cash and jewellery items. |
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Speight meets ex-Vice-President SUVA, June 11 (AFP) — The leader of Fiji’s attempted coup George Speight made a surprise move to garner support from a key figure in the suspended civilian government today. Speight left Parliament building, where his men are holding the Pacific nation’s former Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry at gunpoint and travelled a short distance across the capital, Suva, to the official residence of ex-Vice President Ratu Josefa Iloilo. He entered the building without speaking to reporters and the meeting continued for more than an hour. Speight’s talks with Iloilo are almost certain to centre on the future make-up of Fiji’s government, the sticking point holding up a peaceful resolution to the three-week-old crisis. Speight has so far quarrelled with all rival claimants to power, from Chaudhry to Mara and finally the military, over the shape of Fiji’s future government, refusing to release his hostages until he is satisfied. Today’s talks with Iloilo are the first time the former businessman has openly sought allies within the political establishment and came after calls from some western tribal chiefs that Iloilo be the next President. Meanwhile 31 political hostages held by the rebels since the attempted coup on May 19 appeared to be in good health, a senior officer of Fiji’s military government said today. The hostages, who include deposed Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, an ethnic Indian, are being used as a bargaining chip by men who say they want to break the political power of Fiji’s large Indian minority. ‘‘I went in and saw the Indian members of Parliament, the 14, plus Mahendra Chaudhry, and they were resting in their room. I spoke to them,’’ Colonel Filipo Tarakinikini said. ‘‘Then I went into the Parliament chambers where the other 16 were being kept, and they were having their church service, so I didn’t speak to them,’’ he said. ‘‘But there were all indications they are in good health,’’ Col Tarakinikini told Fiji television. Col Tarakinikini did not say when he visited the hostages. Meanwhile, Fiji’s military today defended its declaration of martial law saying it had been modified to suit the country’s unique cultural system and rejected and military tribunal to try civilians during the crisis. Fiji Military Forces head Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama declared martial law on May 29, 10 days after failed businessman George Speight seized Parliament, taking Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudary, his Cabinet and ruling MPs hostage. In full-page statements in English, Fijian and Hindi the “military council” said it now had the power to restrict the rights of individuals in their aim of “returning the country to normalcy at the earliest possible time”. “The authorities have decided that no military tribunal shall be set up specifically to try civilians during the crisis. “The police has been allowed to continue its normal law-enforcement duties and investigations, the judiciary has not been tampered with and the bureaucracy has been allowed to continue with occasional guidance from the military authorities. “The form of martial law currently adopted in Fiji has been modified to suit and accommodate the unique socio-political and cultural system that is intrinsic to our beloved country”, it said. In another development 70 Indian families were evacuated from the Fijian village of Baulevu and moved to a secret location, government-owned Radio Fiji reported on Sunday. The radio gave no sources for its report and said only that the area had been under regular attack from indigenous Fijians. |
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Rwandan army
claims victory, fighting stops KISANGANI, June 11 (AP) — Fighting stopped here today after a week of ferocious artillery bombardment with the Rwandan army claiming it had forced the Ugandan forces to withdraw across a key bridge in a major military victory. “There is no firing anymore. The Ugandan army has withdrawn. We are ready to interpose ourselves between the two sides,” said Lt Col Danilo
Paiva, head of a group of 22 UN military observers. Lt Col Paiva said Ugandan Brigadier James
Kazini, the army Chief-of-Staff, had received orders from his superiors to pull troops away from the front line in the northern district of
Tshopo, where they have tried unsuccessfully to mount a siege for the past week. Rwandan troops controlled most of
Kisangani, including two airports and the city centre. The Rwandan army officials said they had pushed the Ugandan units away from Tshopo district and across the Tshopo river bridge in a major push yesterday. “The two sides are on the opposite sides of the river. That’s why they cannot shoot at each other easily,” Lt Col Paiva said. The lull, the first since fighting broke out last week, would give both the armies enough time to withdraw and spare the 200,000 trapped Congolese civilians further death and destruction. At least 150 people have been killed and 700 wounded since Monday, the Red Cross said. “This is a humanitarian crisis. We want to have a cease-fire with a compromise by the both local commanders to withdraw their troops,” Lt Col Paiva said. “A cease-fire without a withdrawal cannot hold.” |
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Philippine forces
on full alert JOLO, June 11 (AFP) — Philippine maritime police, the navy and the coastguard were on full alert today to block attempts by Muslim extremists from smuggling their hostages out of the southern island of Jolo, the police said. Sulu police chief Superintendent Candido Casimiro said today that intelligence reports indicated that all the 21 mostly foreign hostages held by the Abu Sayyaf were still in the jungle on Jolo island, but could have been divided into two groups in separate villages. “The hostages are within the vicinity of the villages of Bandang and Samak according to our latest information,” Mr Casimiro told AFP. Talks for the release of the three Germans, a French couple, a Finnish pair, two South Africans, nine Malaysians, two Filipinos and a Lebanese have dragged on with no early solution in sight. Yesterday the rebels demanded the removal of chief government negotiator Roberto Aventajado over his earlier remarks that the government was not ruling out a military option to solve the crisis. The hostages were seized on April 23 from the Malaysian resort of Sipadan and taken by a speedboat to the rebel stronghold on Jolo island. A Malaysian medical mission which visited the rebel camp yesterday reported that they did not see any western hostages, and were only able to treat the Asians. |
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Judge pays deaf couple's rent WASHINGTON, June 11 (DPA) —A deaf couple unable to pay $ 250 in back rent to their landlord in suburban Washington got a helping hand - from the sympathetic Judge who heard their case and paid the money out of his own wallet. When the landlord insisted on a judgment against the deaf couple, Fairfax Judge Donald P. Mcdonough abruptly left the courtroom, returning a minute later with two crisp $ 100 bills and a 50 in his hands, the Washington Post reported yesterday. “Consider it paid,” he said, leaning over the Bench and handing the money — his own money — to the landlord’s stunned attorney. As a sign-language interpreter translated for defendants Deborah Morris and Louis Swann, Ms Morris pressed her hands to her chest in unaffected rapture, the Post said. The made-for-TV courtroom drama began with Mr Swann and Ms Morris telling their story. They were short of money, again. Married in October, they learned only recently that their new status as a couple meant a sharp reduction in Ms Morris’s disability benefits. Without the aid, they couldn’t pay their full $ 630 monthly rent. Using an interpreter, Ms Morris passionately argued the couple’s case in sign language. They were virtually broke. They thought marrying would save them money. The caprices of the disability rules caught them by surprise. Things seemed hopeless. The landlord’s attorney, exasperated by what he called a string of late payments, asked the Judge to order full restitution and eviction. Mr Mcdonough sighed and asked if settlement was possible. No, said Mr Andrew Lawrence, the lawyer. A former legal-aid attorney, Mr Mcdonough looked down at the Bench
for a long half-minute while no one and nothing moved in his
courtroom. Finally, the Post said he wheeled back and looked at
Mr Lawrence. “What if I pay it?” Mr Mcdonough asked. Exiting and returning to the Bench moments later, he quickly
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Ethiopia captures
Eritrean POWs
AXUM, (Ethiopia), June 11 (Reuters) — Ethiopia said today it had captured hundreds of Eritrean prisoners-of-war, including a Colonel, in a fierce clash on the western front. Ethiopian Government spokesman Haile Kiros told reporters that Col Gebre Egziabher Iqubai, who was in charge of an Eritrean brigade, was captured yesterday near the western Eritrean town of Guluj. “They captured hundreds of Eritrean soldiers. They also captured one Colonel. Now on the western front, it is relatively clam,” he said. Ethiopia launched a massive offensive yesterday along its front line with Eritrea, hours after Eritrea had announced that it had accepted an internationally-brokered peace plan. It said it was forced to go on the attack because of provocation by the Eritrean Army. |
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Rave reviews in
British press for Shabana LONDON, June 11 (PTI) — Bollywood actress Shabana Azami has received rave reviews in the British press for her role in the new play ‘The Waiting Room’ which ran to a full house at the National Theatre here for 18 days. “If you have never seen one of Shabana Azmi’s 100-plus films, you are sure to become a fan by watching ‘The Waiting Room’ at the National,” wrote theatre critic Robert Butler in the Financial Times. Azmi plays a woman in her fifties who has just died and whose spirit has to wait for three days before her soul can move on. In this time she can revisit her family in their dreams. “Azmi’s performance almost defies description. It’s acting that looks like not acting,” the daily said. The play by Tanika Gupta, the National’s writer-in-residence, is an intriguing portrayal of bold theatrical strokes. “The play is illumined by the performance of Shabana Azmi as Priya. Famous in India and elsewhere for 26 years of work in over 100 films, Azmi has qualities that remind me of Judi Dench at her finest: she can seem fallible and small-minded one moment and then — with no apparent transition whatsoever — serious, poignant and transcendent the next, the paper said. “She (Shabana) can be both a domestic shrew and a radiant charmer; the full complexity of Priya shines easily through her whole being. Her very stance has an absorbing calm and a rare moral force about it. “And her voice — effortlessly blending chest and head tones, both musical and affecting, with no evidence of contrivance — makes both the English language and the Indian accent a vivid delight,” the daily said. “This is not a ‘great’ play. Its subject matter and its shape are so poetic that at times I wish its incidental dialogue were more consistently eloquent,” the critic said. “The spirit guide, Dilip, talks about a phenomena which immediately stopped me looking forward to the afterlife. Witty lines such as Priya’s proud remark that her daughter changes boyfriends like socks are too sporadic. But Indu Rubasingham’s direction makes it all completely real, and all the actors are good. ‘The Waiting Room’ is both funny and moving, and rarer than either, it is lovable,” he wrote. The Sunday Times said: “Indu Rubasingham directs with a sense of tact, gentle humour and brooding melancholy, and the cast is led by the renowned Indian actress Shabana Azmi, playing Priya as a thoughtful, watchful sad woman — voluptuous but self-contained, with large dreamy eyes that see more than they show.” Azmi told PTI today that owing to popular demand, there would be re-run of the play in about 10 months’ time. Azmi, who is a member of the Rajya Sabha, said she would participate in a conference on population in Geneva beginning on June 25 and attend a three-day Asian film festival in Zanzibar from July 6 where her films would be shown in a special category. |
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Spanking
headmaster eludes prison LONDON, June 11 (DPA) — A spanking headmaster, who fondled the buttocks of his young student while administering the traditional British discipline, has eluded prison on the basis of commendatory letters from his former pupils, including Sophie, Countess of Wessex. A judge on Thursday released Robin Peverett (66), former headmaster of the elite Dulwich College Preparatory School, south of London, with an 18-month suspended sentence after he admitted stroking and smacking the bare bottoms of nine of his pupils, aged nine to 13. Peverett was charged after one of his former pupils told her husband of her experiences while watching the wedding of the Countess, then Sophie Rhys-Jones, to Prince Edward. The woman’s husband persuaded her to go to the police, and other former pupils then came forward to give evidence against Peverett, who taught at the school from 1960 to 1990 and was headmaster for his last 20 years. The incidents took place between 1969 and 1977, when Sophie Rhys-Jones was at the school, which charges fees of £ 7,000 ($ 11,000) a year. Among the nine counts Peverett, who received the order of the British empire in 1995, admitted spanking a boy for fluffing his lines in a school production of the Twelfth Night and smacking a girl to “help” her learn Latin. Passing the sentence, Judge David Griffiths said he had taken hundreds of testimonies, including one from Sophie, into account. Normally such offences should carry a custodial sentence, he added. In a bizarre sideshow to the trial, Peverett’s barrister defended his client’s behaviour, the Daily Mirror reported. |
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Provincial capital in
Solomons seized
HONIARA, June 11 (AFP) — A third rebel group has seized control of Gizo, capital of the Solomon Islands’ western province, in a sudden escalation of the conflict in the strife-torn country, reports said today. Local radio and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported that a new ethnic militia linked to the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) raided the Gizo police station and telecommunications facilities. The development came as a Commonwealth delegation returned to Australia today after talks with representatives of the Solomons Government and of the two militia groups struggling for domination on the main island of Guadalcanal. Regular telecommunications to Gizo, Munda and other parts of the western province which border the neighbouring war-ravaged Papua New Guinea province of Bougainville were cut, the ABC reported. Shortly before the telephone links went down, the Solomons provincial police commander for the western province, Aloysius Ora, said 45 heavily armed men, some apparently from Bougainville, had taken control of Gizo. He said some of the men were armed with M-16 assault rifles and added they claimed to be protecting the western province against the Malaita Eagles Force (MEF) which launched a coup last Monday, seizing control of Honiara and kidnapping Prime Minister Bartholomew Ulufa’Alu. Ulufa’Alu, who was released on Friday, took part in the talks with the Commonwealth delegation, which included Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff and officials from Botswana and Malaysia. Reuters adds: A young member of one of the warring militias in the Solomon Islands was shot and killed on Sunday as ethnic unrest appeared to spread to remote western islands in the strife-torn south Pacific nation. The killing came as visiting Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer expressed hope that a delicate truce would hold between rival militias from the islands of Malaita and Guadalcanal. “I understand that there has been one young Malaitan boy killed this morning in Gizo,” a Solomons Government source told Reuters. Australian aid worker Tony Jansen said it appeared the new militia had been holding a junior Malaita Eagles member in Gizo under armed guard. The detainee had been asleep and was accidentally shot when he awoke and grabbed the barrel of the gun pointed at him, he said. “The man pulled on the gun in an instinctive move. The gun accidentally discharged, killing him,” Jansen said in a statement. “He was...not to be the intended target.” Meanwhile, New Zealand and Australia today continued to evacuate foreign nationals, mostly their own, a day after residents fled in panic from chaotic Honiara. Mr Downer, who led a delegation of Commonwealth ministers to the Solomons at the weekend, had said earlier he hoped a truce between the warring sides would hold. He later warned the situation was still very dangerous. “The situation is volatile...the situation could change very quickly within a matter of minutes or hours and they really do need to be extremely cautious,” he told reporters after arriving in Townsville in Australia’s north from Honiara. Guadalcanal islanders are resentful of migration by Malaitans who have taken top jobs in Honiara. About 20,000 Malaitans have been forced from their homes on Guadalcanal, while fighting over the past 18 months has left some 60 people dead. The current unrest is the worst in the Solomons, which is about 1,600 km northeast of Australia, since independence from Britain 22 years ago. Mr Goff said after arriving at a military base in Auckland that Mr Ulufa’Alu’s safety could not be guaranteed. “It’s fair to say the Prime Minister himself still fears for his life,” he told reporters. “We are naturally worried that, on our departure, the place may erupt into violence again.” Ulufa’Alu is Malaitan but the Malaita Eagles Force sees him as too soft on Guadalcanal islanders. |
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