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| Friday, August 18, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Libya ‘financing’ release
of Philippine hostages Al can ‘gore’ Bush: Lieberman
What’s it like inside the submarine hull
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Awami League
leader shot dead No need for more
Pak N-tests Masood claims
province capture Baghdad airport
reopened
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Libya ‘financing’ release
of Philippine hostages AS HOPE for the release of the 15 foreign hostages held by Muslim rebels in the Philippines rose yesterday (Wednesday), a French newspaper claimed that Paris had secretly asked Libya to buy the freedom of two of its citizens. “Le Canard Enchaine” said the Foreign Ministry’s Director of North African and Middle Eastern Affairs, Mr Yves Aubin de la Messuziere, visited Tripoli two weeks ago to negotiate the terms of Libya’s assistance in releasing Sonia Wendling and Stephane Loisy. These were said to centre on “the return to the diplomatic fold” of Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, including a French invitation to attend a summit in Marseille in November and the promise of intervention to help lift UN sanctions against Libya. The Foreign Ministry, which has repeatedly denied that it would pay a ransom or deal with the rebels, refused to comment on the report, which echoes a German press report that Col Gaddafi had paid $25m ransom for the freedom of the Abu Sayyaf group’s remaining hostages. A Lebanese minister Suleiman Traboulsi, said yesterday that the Lebanese-born Marie Moarbes would probably be released from captivity on the island of Jolo in the next 24 hours, Libya’s former ambassador to the Philippines, Mr Rahab Assurak, played a key role in the negotiations, and Mr Traboulsi praised Libya’s efforts. “Many European, Arab and Islamic countries tried to help in the release, but it seems that it was the Libyans who got results,’’ he said. Officials say a Libyan plane will fly the released hostages to Tripoli, where they will be handed over to their governments. Philippine newspapers said moves to end the crisis began in earnest early this month when Libya agreed to pay the ransom. Mr Assurak denied the reports, saying Libya would fund social projects, but police sources on Jolo said $5.5m had already been given to the rebels. — The Guardian ZAMBOANGA (AFP): The fate of three French journalists among 31 captives held by Muslim extremists in the Philippines emerged as a stumbling block today in resolving the crisis. Emissaries officially blamed poor weather for postponing the scheduled closing negotiations with Abu Sayyaf guerrillas to Friday. But sources close to negotiators said Philippine President Joseph Estrada had personally ordered the talks be called off. Mr Estrada told chief negotiator Roberto Aventajado to discontinue talks while the Abu Sayyaf leaders refused to include the journalists among the hostages to be released. “Don’t go if the three others are not included. Find out ways so that they could be included”, a source close to Mr Aventajado quoted Mr Estrada as saying. A member of the negotiating panel, Mr Parouk Hussein, said the rebels would not release the French reporters because they were initially seized by another Abu Sayyaf faction while covering the hostage crisis. TRIPOLI (Reuters): European tourists, including two Germans, being held by Muslim rebels in the Philippines could arrive in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, any time from Saturday onwards, a senior German official said today. Mr Cornelius Sommer, the Berlin Government’s Asian Affairs Adviser, told reporters that bad weather and continuing negotiations on the fate of the three French journalists appeared to be holding up the Libyan-brokered release of 16 hostages being held by the Abu Sayyaf rebels. But he added “we are optimistic that the present negotiations should lead to a conclusion.” |
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Al can ‘gore’ Bush: Lieberman LOS ANGELES, Aug 17 (Reuters) — Democrat Joseph Lieberman, saying he was living the American dream as the first Jewish vice presidential candidate, praised Al Gore as a leader of vision and dismissed his Republican rivals as pleasant men who offered empty talk. Delegates to the democratic national convention later formally nominated Gore, the Vice-President for the past 7-1/2 years, for the presidency. Mr Lieberman, the first Jew in US History to be nominated on the presidential ticket of a major political party, spoke yesterday on the third night of the convention, setting the scene for Gore to deliver a speech accepting the nomination today. “Only in America,” Mr Lieberman said. “We have become the America that so many of our parents dreamed for us.” Lieberman did not mention republican presidential nominee
George W. Bush or his vice presidential running mate Dick Cheney by name. But he said the Republican ticket had no idea how to protect the environment, fix the health care system, reform education or cut taxes for the middle class. Mr Gore arrived in Los Angeles yesterday, still trailing Bush, the Governor of Texas, in the poll and badly needing a substantial bounce from the convention to get back into the November 7 election race. Mr Lieberman, a two-term Senator from
Connecticut, had the job of praising Gore while removing some of the shine off the Bush-Chfney ticket. Analysts contacted by Reuters after the speech said he had succeeded. “He was optimistic, thematic, anecdotal, personal and powerful on values,” said American University political historian Allan Lichtman. “When he attacked, it was more with a smile than a snarl.” Mr Lieberman’s second task was to build Gore’s image, and here again, he delivered, “I can tell you that Al Gore is a man of family and faith, a father and now a grandfather,” he said. Arriving in Los Angeles, Mr Gore gave a foretaste of his speech, the most important of his life. “There are some big choices we have to make and I’m looking forward to addressing the nation at the convention podium tomorrow night with some specific, hard choices that I believe we have to make in order to ensure that we have a bright future,” Mr Gore said. As delegates settled down on the third night of the convention to officially nominate Mr Gore as their presidential candidate, several thousand angry demonstrators surrounded Los Angeles police headquarters yesterday, burning a US flag and shouting obscenities. In television interviews, Mr Lieberman said he did not think Mr Bush could match Gore in terms of experience or qualifications. “I don’t think George W. Bush, with all respect, is anywhere near as qualified as Al Gore is,” he told CNN. Gore’s name was placed in nomination for President by his daughter, Karenna Gore Schiff, 27, who has been a tireless advocate for her father. “Dad is a man of faith in the most gutsy, practical sense. He wants to see goodness prevail,” she said. A poll by the voter.com Internet service found Gore had slipped two points further behind Bush during the first two days of the convention. |
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Window on Pakistan ON August 14 Pakistan completed 53 years as an independent country, and during two-thirds of this period it was ruled by military dictators. People’s wish to have a democratic government permanently has remained unfulfilled not because of the conspiring rulers like Ayub and Zia but because of elected rulers like Z.A. Bhutto, his daughter Benazir and Nawaz Sharif. The last elected ruler, who had a two-thirds majority in Parliament and captured one by one all the state assemblies, wasted his mandate as no one had done earlier. He went on a money-collecting and a demolishing spree. First came the turn of the judiciary, then the President and then the Army, when he was dethroned. Now he has to spend his life in jail. General Pervez Musharaf, who deposed Mr Sharif, rules the roost and delivers sermons to politicians and others alike. His one such sermon delivered on August 14, Pakistan’s Independence Day, has been a subject of close scrutiny by those newspapers which are conscious of the ever-worsening situation in their country. News International, in its sharp and focused editorial, questioned the much-touted devolution plan to restore what General Musharraf calls grassroots democracy. It said, “The speech will be noted for the devolution plan which attempts to reshape the administrative structure at the grassroots, and introduces a new political order, through which, according to General Pervez Musharraf, ‘essence of democracy’ will be introduced, replacing ‘sham democracy’ controlled by a few families of feudals, industrialists and others in the business of politics. The concept of the plan seems fine and its purpose is well-intentioned. It appears, on the face of it, to have been wisely designed. It stands on four pillars; vertical political integration; shared responsibility; supremacy of public representatives over public servants; and distribution of power and accountability of its use.” The newspaper further said, “It is anybody’s guess how this scheme will fare in a country where even the most successful models tend to collapse. The best test of the scheme will be in its implementation. But before that, and on a general note, some of its problems are obvious. Its perceived quality aside, it is the brainchild of a military government which, by its own admission, took over power reluctantly and which sees itself as a transitory (arrangement) though in this critical phase in the nation’s history. The scheme ventures into an area which, strictly speaking, should be the preserve of directly elected public representatives. It is an open question how future political governments, expected to come into being after the military vacates the seat of power, will react to this scheme.” Another direct observation was: The devolution plan rests on the premise that by putting in place a people-friendly decentralisation scheme, power will automatically shift to the public, weakening the monopoly of the moneyed class. Reality might turn out to be totally different from this nice supposition. In any country, tilts of politics and inequities of power distribution are the outcome of socio-economic factors. Monopolies thrive on deprivation and unfair access to opportunities, including opportunities to acquire and possess land. For such factors to change, processes are needed. Economic well-being, education, openings for progress, and breakthroughs for material improvement in the quality of life are what change the destiny of the people. Those yoked to the burden of existence, and who are slaving away for the basic necessities of life, have little chance of being empowered by a prayer and a plan.” If the pithy comments in News International were not enough, Dawn came heavily on the all-party meeting held in Lahore under the leadership of Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan. This
motley crowd of all shades of political parties had gathered to drum up support for the demand for early elections. On August 16, Dawn summed up thus: “The APC held that frequent military interventions were responsible for thwarting the political process and the weakening of the political system. This is only part of the truth though. The whole truth is that the politicians themselves also bear a large part of the responsibility for how the situation has developed in Pakistan. The fact is that they took too long and squabbled too much among themselves in the crucial years when they should have worked in concert to evolve a system of governance for a state which the father of the nation had hoped would be democratic, egalitarian and in step with the modern world. Instead of laying the foundations of the state, the vested interests of certain dominant urban classes such as the bureaucrats, the lawyers, the urban intelligentsia, were uppermost in the minds of the decision-makers.” — Gobind Thukral |
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What’s it like inside the submarine hull THE 116 Russian crewmen of the crippled nuclear submarine will be waiting in semi-darkness for any sounds of rescue. Movement in the companionways may be impossible with sensor displays, gauges and even the radio out of action. Oxygen is likely to be at a minimum and the crew could already be having difficulty breathing. The air conditioning will not function, and it is likely to be freezing. Last night, former British Royal Navy nuclear submarine commander Mike Finney said: “It is very difficult to gauge the crew’s state of mind or health. We can only speculate as we don’t have details of the damage ... or the design of the vessel. But it is not a place you would want to be.” “However, if the conditions on board support life, a waiting game might be the sensible one to play until weather conditions allow support ships to provide the men with a controlled escape.’’ He added: “In terms of atmosphere inside the submarine, as soon as the crew shut down the nuclear reactors, the normal supply of electricity would have been reduced. They will then be relying on power from a large lead acid battery.” “The air purification will be down to manual so there could be quite a large build-up of carbon dioxide, making it difficult to breathe.” “The men will also be in semi- darkness as the lighting will be down. They will have to rely on torches and emergency lights on the bulkheads. There will be plenty of food and water on board, although eating would probably be the last thing on their minds. If the vessel is fitted similarly to British submarines, the crew would also be able to make oxygen for themselves for about a month, using special candles which create a chemical reaction,’’ he said. One glimmer of hope may be the realisation that crews have rehearsed escapes at 600ft below the surface, using inflatable diving suits and bobbing to the surface — suffering only perforated eardrums. But as the vessel is on its side, and with reports of possible damage to some of the escape hatches, any rescue could be lengthy. — The Guardian, London |
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Awami League
leader shot dead DHAKA, Aug 17 (PTI) — A ruling Awami League leader was shot dead by gunmen allegedly for protesting against hoisting of Pakistan’s national flag atop the house of a Jatiya Party leader in old Dhaka area on the night of August 14, the police and media reports said today. The police and witnesses said the gunmen shot dead Kamal Hossain, who had protested against hoisting of Pakistan’s national flag at the house of former Deputy Mayor of Dhaka and leader of Opposition Jatiya Party (JP) Jahangir Mohammad Adel on Pakistan’s national day. |
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No need for more
Pak N-tests ISLAMABAD, Aug 17 (PTI) — Pakistan’s best-known nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan has said his country need not conduct any more nuclear tests and enhance its nuclear capability as it has already achieved a credible nuclear deterrent against India. In an exclusive interview with Kyodo News here, Mr Khan, who is viewed as the architect of Pakistan’s nuclear programme, said that even if India carries out more testing, Pakistan should refrain from doing so. “We know our design is perfect, the system that we have developed worked” on May 28 and 30, 1998, when Pakistan carried out six nuclear tests in response to tests India conducted earlier that month, Mr Khan said. Mr Khan said that since carrying out those tests, his organisation has kept a low profile as ‘’there was no need to enhance production of fissile material and bombs’’. |
Masood claims
province capture KABUL, Aug 17 (AFP) — The Afghan anti-Taliban alliance has claimed their fighters had gained territory in the key province of
Samangan. Abdullah, spokesman for the opposition key commander Ahmad Shah Masood, yesterday said the areas of Gordara and Dara-i-Zendan in Samangan were captured in a dawn attack. Dara-i-Zendan is adjacent to Samangan’s provincial centre of Aibak and 6 km from the main northern highway connecting Baghlan province with Balkh on the Uzbekistan border, the spokesman said. “It is also cutting off the Taliban supply route to the districts of
Khuram, Sarbagh and Royee in Samangan,” he said. Both sides suffered casualties, he said, without giving details. Abdullah said the Taliban militia, which holds most of the country, launched counter-attacks which were “unsuccessful”. |
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Baghdad airport
reopened BAGHDAD, Aug 17 (Reuters) — Iraq announced today the reopening of Baghdad international airport after 10 years of enforced closure. But the move remained symbolic given the lack of prospect for lifting of UN sanctions in the near future. An Iraqi airways plane carrying passengers from western Iraq landed at a deserted Saddam International Airport during the climax of an official ceremony. |
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