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| Tuesday, August 22, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Anger wells up against
Putin over N-sub deaths Kumaratunga to quit
after resolving strife |
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Bangladesh opposition stir on Aug 23 Hunt on for brain
behind Fiji coup Napoleon died of ‘arsenic poisoning’
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Anger wells up against
Putin over N-sub deaths SEVEROMORSK (Russia), Aug 21 (Reuters) — A wave of sorrow and anger spread through the home port of Russia’s Northern Fleet in the wake the news that the entire crew on board the sunken submarine “Kursk” was dead. “What sorrow. I don’t want to believe it,” said Yulia Kalmykova, a housewife in Severomorsk, the closed military city that is home to the fleet to which “Kursk” belongs. “We hoped all these days and prayed. My relatives were not on board, but I feel as if my own children were. The past two nights I couldn’t sleep, waiting for the morning news,” she said. All of Russia has been drawn into the disaster, but here in the north, where life depends on the navy and the sea, the pain and shock over the past week has been palpable. Many residents lashed out at officials, especially for refusing international help for nearly five days. Mr Alexander Bobrov, a navy mid-shipman, told Reuters that officials must be punished. “We lost time. We shouldn’t have waited a whole week deciding whether or not to accept Norwegian help,” he said. “I consider this criminal negligence. If it turns out that people could have still been saved during the first few days, then those who prevented international help should be tried.” Natash Furs, a fashionably dressed young computer student in Severomorsk’s civilian sister city Murmansk, said those at the top were to blame. “Our President is responsible for this,” she said. “Everyone hoped some of them would survive, but many thought this would happen. Human life is not worth much here. Look at the history of our country: it is always better for someone to die than a secret to get out,” she said. Norwegian divers working at the scene said that there was no hope for any of the crew, dashing the last hopes of relatives, many of whom have gathered in the naval bases in the north. The divers found “Kursk” was totally flooded. More than 300 relatives of the crew have already arrived in Severomorsk and another nearly naval port Vidyayevo, where “Kursk” was based. A plane with more of the victims’ families was due to arrive in Murmansk from Moscow later today. MOSCOW (UNI): Naval officers have emphatically stated having seen three submarines of the USA and UK minutes before the nuclear-powered ‘Kursk’ sank nine days ago, but stopped short of putting the blame on anyone. ‘Voice of Russia’ quoting naval sources at Murmansk port of Barents Sea, where the accident took place, said high officials of the navy have confirmed having seen the three submarines at the time of Kursk’s ‘crash’. “We have checked all our submarines, which along with ‘Kursk’ were participating in the Northern Sea Fleet exercise held a few days ago, and none bore any mark of a ‘hit’,” officials of the Northern Fleet said, stressing that “whenever our fleet holds exercises in the north, Western naval powers never fail to send their underwater ships for surveillance and reconnoitre purposes.” |
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Kumaratunga to quit after resolving strife COLOMBO, Aug 21 (PTI) — Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has said she would quit electoral politics after resolving the ethnic conflict with the LTTE by ensuring the implementation of the new draft Constitution and asked people to vote against the opposition for stalling her constitutional reforms package. Launching her election campaign at a public rally at Kegalle, south of Colombo yesterday, she lashed out at the main opposition party, the United National Party (UNP), saying the country was still burning under impact of the ethnic war because the UNP was opposed to the Constitution which was accepted by 12 of the 14 political parties in the country. “We won all elections. We need only six more years to build the country. Once this is done we will not contest the elections. Then anybody can come forward to govern the country,” she was quoted as saying in the state run newspaper, Daily News today. Referring to the agitation launched by the right wing Sinhalese Buddhist monks and the political parties against granting constitutional rights to Tamils, she said “as long as Tamil people are attacked and injustices are caused to Muslims, they will join hands with people like LTTE chief Prabhakaran for their own liberation. If we do not give these people satisfactory solution we cannot prevent the Tamil people from going after so many Prabhakarans.” Vowing to protect the rights of Sinhalese Buddhists, Ms Chandrika said at the same time they should understand that Tamils and Muslims constituted 28 per cent of the population. “Do you want us to have them butchered and thrown into the sea,” she asked the UNP and accused them of unparliamentary behaviour. Striking a conciliatory note Ms Chandrika said the war against the LTTE could not be won with weapons alone. “We will liberate our land that is held by force by the LTTE terrorists. We will give the hundreds of thousands people in those areas their just rights by the new Constituion. Even if Prabhakaran is killed another Prabhakaran can emerge, therefore those people will have to be vested with power,” she said. Referring to the economic development after she took over the reigns, she said that her government spent over Rs 50 billion on the Defence Budget despite severe constraints imposed by the ongoing war on the economy, whereas other Asian economies crumbled under the weight of economic crisis. Several other Sri Lankan parties including the UNP also launched their poll campaign yesterday. The draft Constitution Bill proposes to change the presidential system of governance with that of parliamentary democracy and offers a broad package of autonomy to the Tamil-dominated north and east to run an autonomous provincial administration. The debate on the Bill was suspended after the government failed to mobilise two thirds majority. Parliament in the meantime was dissolved and it was announced that the General Election would be held on October 10. |
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Hostage crisis MANILA, Aug 21 (Reuters) — Libya has set aside differences with the Philippines on how to end a four-month-long hostage crisis, sources said today, but there was no word on when the dozen remaining captives would go free. “It’s 90 per cent done...all that’s remaining is how we will get them out,’’ said one source. “There are problems in that, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to resolve. Otherwise, everything has been agreed.’’ Chief negotiator Robert Aventajado told Reuters that he had submitted a report to President Joseph Estrada on Saturday’s failed attempt to bring back the hostages. He gave no details of Mr Estrada’s response but said he was discussing what to do next with Libyan envoy Rajab Azzarouq. “We just have to fix our coordination,’’ Mr Aventajado said. Diplomats and other sources close to the negotiations said differences which had erupted after the failed rescue had been overcome and plans were being drawn up for a fresh overture to the rebels. The rebels had said they feared a military attack once the hostages had been released and were not willing to let all of them leave in one go. Libya had blamed calls for an attack by Philippine legislators for the rebels’ fears. The hostages were abducted by Muslim Abu Sayyaf guerrillas on Easter Sunday while they were on a holiday in the Sipadan Island diving resort in Malaysia. JOLO (AFP): Thousands of villagers were fleeing their homes on the Philippine island of Jolo, fearful of being caught in a showdown between the military and Abu Sayyaf guerrillas holding 28 hostages, village chief Asjada Abdu said today. The ranks of the guerrillas had swelled to 4,500 and “each day the Abu Sayyaf numbers are increasing drastically,” he said as ransom money from hostages released so far was splashed out on new weapons, attracting new fighters. At least 7,000 civilians had fled nine villages in the area where rebels are holding their remaining hostages, who include 12 westerners, said Abdu, the village chief of central Talipao and head of the local pro-government private army. “These villages are virtually a ghost town, in fact we have declared them a no-man’s land. There are no more civilians in these areas but guerrillas,” he said. The Abu Sayyaf at the weekend refused to go ahead with the agreed release of all hostages, fearing a military attack. The government has denied the army is active in Jolo, but Abdu said there were soldiers in the area to protect civilians fleeing to avoid being caught in the crossfire in any attack, and because they were afraid of the guerrillas. “Basically they are afraid of the Abu Sayyaf because almost every day rebels were test-firing their new weapons. Most of these are M-14, M-16 rifles,” he said. Armed forces chief of staff General Angelo Reyes confirmed early this month that the Abu Sayyaf had raked in US $ 5.5 million in ransoms paid for the release of seven hostages. |
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Opposition wins Governor’s poll in Chiapas TUXTLA GUTIERREZ (Mexico), Aug 21 (Reuters) — The opposition candidate for governor of troubled Chiapas state has claimed victory after a historic vote toppled the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in one of its strongholds just weeks after it lost its 71-year grip on the presidency. “The people voted and sent a clear message. They want our state to begin a new stage of reconciliation and peace,’’ said independent Senator Pablo Salazar, joining hands with leaders of the eight parties — from Leftist to Conservative — that made up his coalition. With 79.6 per cent of votes counted, Salazar, a 45-year-old lawyer, had 53.6 per cent of the vote compared to 45.9 per cent for Senator Sami David of the PRI, the state electoral board said seven hours after polls closed at 6 hours local time yesterday. Chiapans poured into the streets to celebrate after early results gave Salazar a decisive lead. The results echoed the July 2 elections, when an opposition presidential candidate beat the PRI for the first time in Mexico’s history, and they are seen as crucial to ending the six-year-old Zapatista rebellion. Speaking at a hotel in state capital Tuxtla Gutierrez, Salazar reiterated campaign pledges to bring peace to Chiapas, which captured the eyes of the world on January 1, 1994, when Zapatista rebels emerged from the jungle in an armed revolt against the government to fight for Indian rights. |
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Lawyer’s murder DHAKA, Aug 21 (Reuters) — Bangladeshi opposition parties have called for a half-day strike on Wednesday in protest against the killing of an anti-government lawyer on the weekend. Lawyer Habibur Rahman Mandal, a leader of main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was shot dead by unknown assailants yesterday, the police said. The BNP blamed pro-government militants for the murder. The BNP Chief, Begum Khaleda Zia, said Mandal’s killing was part of “government-led vendetta”. The dawn-to-noon strike on Wednesday had been called in protest against “such heinous designs”, she said. The killing provoked violence by opposition activists who damaged about 50 vehicles and 100 shops, witnesses said. Also yesterday, gunmen killed Kalidas Baral, a leader of the ruling Awami League in southern Bagerhat district, the police said. The Awami League called for a one-day strike in Bagerhat today in protest against the murder. Begum Khaleda and other leaders of a four-party opposition alliance also called for a strike on August 30 against a government decision to raise petroleum product prices by 13 per cent. Separately, transport operators said today that they would observe a 48-hour strike, starting on August 29, in the country’s southern districts, in protest against the fuel price hike. They announced the programme following a 24-hour transport shutdown in the south yesterday, which halted deliveries from Bangladesh’s main Chittagong port and stranded thousands of people. |
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Hunt on for brain behind Fiji coup SUVA, Aug 21 (AFP) —as Fiji settles down to an uneasy calm after the storm of the past couple of months the hunt is under way for the real mastermind behind George Speight’s failed May 19 coup. Poseci Bune, Minister for Agriculture in the deposed government, set off the rumour mill with his disclosure that Speight, minutes after taking the government hostage, revealed that he was not the real leader of the coup. Speight told the hostages as he tied them up that they would be surprised to see the real leader, Bune revealed. “So we had to wait about 40 minutes as he was making calls ... saying we will be surprised that he is not the real leader as the real leader will arrive for us to see him.” Finally, Speight realised the man would not surface and he would have to brave it out. “I think he is going to be late. Well, I have to take it on from here,” he said. Two-time coup leader and former Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has not been above suspicion. Rabuka himself has always vehemently denied any involvement with Speight’s coup. The army intends to hold its own court martial to deal with conspirators and interim President Iloilo has promised the appointment of a commission of inquiry into the coup. But whether these inquiries will reveal the real face of the man behind the May 19 coup, is a moot point. Nevertheless, some are wondering whether Speight, facing trial for treason, might even reveal in court the identity of the man who failed to turn up at one of the defining moments in the country’s history. |
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Napoleon died of ‘arsenic poisoning’ MUNICH, Aug 21 (DPA) — The mystery surrounding the death of the French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), is no nearer to being solved despite recent research by scientists in Germany. According to the toxicologist, Prof Thomas Zilker, research near the southern German city of Munich has revealed unusually high levels of arsenic in two of the “Little Corporal’s” hair but the concentration was too low to provide irrefutable proof that intentional poisoning caused his death. For many years historians have speculated that the Emperor, who died in exile on the island of St Helena, may have been poisoned with arsenic, despite the fact that his doctors recorded the official cause of death as cancer of the stomach. It appears Napoleon’s hair was shaved from his body following his death for commercial gain. Zilker was keen to point out that the levels of arsenic found in the hair samples were merely an indication that the Emperor may have been subjected to a gradual process of chronic poisoning. However, he also revealed that this, too, did not provide sufficient grounds to assume that Napoleon had been maliciously poisoned in stages. The high levels of arsenic could equally have arisen from a diet rich in fish, he said. Fish, in modern times at least, is very high in arsenic. Other potential sources were dyes present in crockery and chemicals used in viticulture. Moreover, the professor emphasised that there were numerous arsenic compounds which were not poisonous to humans. In early July, French scientists had requested the two hairs undergo so-called active neutron analysis at the nuclear research reactor FRM-I in Garching, not far from Munich. The analysis was one of the last tasks to be carried out at the plant which is due to be closed down after 43 years in service following the German government’s decision to abandon nuclear power. The analysis revealed a concentration of 3.05 arsenic parts per million (PPM). This figure confirmed the results of similar tests carried out in France in the mid-’90s. |
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