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| Monday, September 11, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Fresh fighting
in Lanka, 98 killed PA candidate shot dead in Lanka Palestinians delay
state declaration UK troops free hostages in raid ‘Israeli
official visited India to sell spy plane’ |
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| Infighting in UN
Mission in S. Leone WASHINGTON, Sept 10 — Infighting has been triggered in the UN peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone following accusations by its Indian commander Maj-Gen Vijay K. Jetley against his two Nigerian deputies of sabotaging the peace process in the war-torn African country. Atlantis docks with space station Hasina-Musharraf
meeting cancelled W. Timor refugees
‘running out of food’ Fuel protests shift
to UK, Germany Capture of General by
Chechen rebels denied
Indian bags Special Director Award
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Fresh fighting in Lanka, 98 killed COLOMBO, Sept 10 (PTI) — Sri Lankan Army tonight said 86 rebels and 12 soldiers were killed in its limited offensive to expand its defences in the outskirts of northern Jaffna town, even as the troops captured 3 km of territory and destroyed four rebel boats. Seventyfive rebels were killed and a large number of them wounded in today’s operation, which brought 3 km of territory held by the LTTE under army control, the Army said in a release here. Twelve soldiers were killed and 62 personnel injured in the operations, taking the Army toll this week to 137 with injuries to around 900. The new defences now closer to Navatkuli in the southern outskirts of Jaffna town would cut off a key supply route to the LTTE. Backed by heavy artillery, ground attack aircraft and fast-moving naval craft, troops destroyed four LTTE boats at Ariyalai in the Peninsula. It was the second operation by the Army in a week to expand its defences in the southern outskirts of Jaffna, ahead of October 10 general elections. |
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PA candidate shot dead in Lanka COLOMBO, Sept 10 (PTI) — Poll-related violence escalated today with unidentified gunmen killing a Sri Lankan ruling party candidate and one of his key supporters even as the European Union (EU) agreed to send 88 poll observers to monitor the October 10 poll. Reports from Batticaloa said the ruling Peoples’ Alliance (pa) candidate, Mr Chezhiyan Perembanayakam, contesting from Batticaloa and S Manoharan Pillai, the party’s campaign manager from neighbouring Amparai district, were killed by gunmen at Pandiruppu this morning. Confirming the two deaths today, former mp and Batticaloa district leader of the pa, Mr s. Geneshamoorthy, said the two were shot dead by four gunmen when they met at Manoharan Pillai’s house at Pandiruppu in Amparai district. Mr Ganeshamoorthy also alleged that the murders were committed by supporters of “jihad,” an armed wing of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC). Both the
SLFP and the SLMC were allies at the national level but contesting separately at Batticaloa. The police in Amparai district, however, said they did not rule out the hand of
LTTE pistol group in the murders. “these groups were operating in a number of places in the East,” a police official said. Meanwhile, the
EU for the first time would send a large delegation of election monitors to oversee the Sri Lankan elections,
EU sources said, adding that the first batch of about 30 observers would arrive shortly to commence preparatory work. Another 58 members would arrive in the first week of next month. The
EU has decided to send 88 observers even though the Sri Lankan Election Commission had invited only 22 observers. Mr Perimbanayagam, a former Mayor of Batticaloa town, is the first
candidate to be killed in the current round of general election announced last month. So far six supporters from varied political parties have been killed in different parts of the country. Three candidates of the moderate Tamil United Liberation Front
(TULF) from the northern Jaffna peninsula have pulled out of the election race following threats. Sri Lanka’s principle opposition United National Party (UNP) has accused the government of not providing additional security to its leader, Mr Ranil Wickramasinghe, with a view to restricting him campaigning for the October 10 general election. It was normal practice to step up security for Mr Wickramasinghe during the elections. But the party’s request to the police to increase security for him has been ignored so far,
UNP spokesman Karunasena Kodituwakku said. The UNP felt that the security had not been increased in order to curtail the movements of Mr Wickramasinghe as the campaigning by President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake was severely hampered by threats of suicide bomb attacks from the
LTTE. |
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Palestinians delay
state declaration GAZA, Sept 10 (Reuters, DPA) — The Palestinian mini-parliament agreed today to delay a declaration of an independent Palestinian state for at least two months to allow more time for a peace deal to be reached with Israel. The 129-member Palestinian Central Council (PCC) said in a statement after a two-day meeting in Gaza that final preparations for statehood should be completed by November 15. The PCC should meet again by November 15 to consider when the statehood declaration should be made, it said. “The PCC has decided from this day to take steps, sovereignty steps, by November 15,” Ahmed Abdel Rahman, a senior aide to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, told reporters. November 15 is the anniversary of Arafat’s 1988 declaration of Palestinian independence, while January 1 is the anniversary of the founding of the Fatah Movement, which Arafat headed and which is the leading faction within the Palestine Liberation Organisation.
Earlier in the day, before the PCC began its second day of discussions on the issue,
its chairman, Mr Salim Zanoon, said a
clear majority of Palestinians favoured postponing the decision.
Nonetheless, he said, the majority of PCC members preferred that the statehood declaration be postponed for only a few weeks. Only a small minority supported a postponement
that left the date of the declaration open, he said. The PCC began yesterday discussing whether to authorise President Yasser Arafat to carry out his intention of declaring an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza strip on September 13, when interim agreements with Israel expire. Both Israel and the USA
had warned Arafat and the Palestinians that a unilateral declaration of statehood without reaching a permanent Israel-Palestinian settlement would lead to a wave of violence throughout the region. Israel
had also threatened a “harsh response’’ to any unilateral Palestinian declaration, saying a Palestinian state should come about through negotiations. World leaders who
had met with Arafat had also reportedly advised the Palestinian leader to delay the statehood declaration. Meanwhile, a leading Palestinian official appeared to backtrack on earlier statements that the sides could reach a peace agreement which did not provide a solution for Israel-occupied East Jerusalem. Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Nabil Shaath had said the Jerusalem issue was too emotional and, therefore, the sides should concentrate on the other issues, such as borders and water rights, for which solutions could be found. But he said this morning that Jerusalem was an issue “like any other’’, and that the negotiators should discuss all matters, “including Jerusalem’’. The problem of Jerusalem is considered the main reason why the sides have as yet not been able to sign a treaty. Israel, which occupied East Jerusalem in the 1967 war, offered Palestinians some form of limited control over Arab neighbourhoods in the city. |
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UK troops free hostages in raid FREETOWN, Sept 10 (Reuters) — British troops attacked a rebel base in Sierra Leone today and freed six British soldiers as well as a Sierra Leonean officer held hostage since August 25, a British military spokesman said. “We have freed the remaining six British soldiers and the one Sierra Leonean officer,’’ Capt John Price, a spokesman for the British forces in Sierra Leone, told
Reuters. “The raid began at 6.30 am this morning and fighting is still going on.’’ BBC’s
Ceefax service said the freed Britons were on a British naval vessel off the capital, Freetown. In London, the Defence Ministry declined comment. Earlier, Britain’s Chief of Defence Staff, Gen (Sir) Charles Guthrie, said the hostages were safe but that we could not rule out British casualties resulting from the operation. “The situation is confused, there is still trouble in the area. It will be some time before we know exactly what’s happened ... I’m not triumphant at the moment,’’. Gen Guthrie told BBC’s Breakfast with Frost. A maverick band of former soldiers calling themselves the West Side Boys seized 11 British soldiers and a Sierra Leonean officer on August 25. The Britons were members of a special force training a new Sierra Leone army after a 1999 peace deal meant to end a brutal civil war in the former British colony. Sierra Leonean military sources said soldiers from the new army took part in Sunday’s operation. Britain had sent 100 elite paratroops to nearby Senegal last week. Two British military helicopters shuttled to and from Freetown in the direction of the West Side Boys’ hideouts more than 50 km from the capital
Freetown, witnesses said. In the past, the West Side Boys have held hostages on a heavily forested island in a river near the Occra Hills. Relatives of the West Side Boys, renegade former soldiers who briefly toppled elected President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah in 1997, visited their jungle base and persuaded them to free five of the Britons on August 30. Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels, once allies of the West Side Boys, derailed the peace deal in May when they briefly took hundreds of UN Peacekeepers hostage. Britain then helped the United Nations put its peacekeeping mission back on track. Gen Guthrie said Prime Minister Tony Blair had given the go-ahead for Sunday’s operation. He said Britain had decided to attack ‘’because we were getting nowhere’’ in negotiations and the kidnappers were threatening to kill their hostages or move them. If they had been moved, “We’d never be able to recover them with the ease with which I hope we have done this morning. “Either the West Side Boys negotiators didn’t turn up at meetings, or when they did come, they gave us demands that were undeliverable,’’ Gen Guthrie said. “And yesterday it got bad, and that’s why we did it,’’ he added, without elaborating. The West Side Boys had made various demands, ranging from the release of comrades jailed in Freetown and immunity from arrest and prosecution to a formal role in the peace process. |
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‘Israeli
official visited India to sell spy plane’ JERUSALEM, Sept 10 (AFP) — A top Israeli defence official made a secret visit to India to promote several arms deals, including the possible sale of a spy plane, a newspaper here reported today. The ‘Yediot Aharonot’ said Defence Ministry Director General Amons Yaron made the trip at the weekend following Israel’s decision in July to scrap a deal to sell the spy plane to China in the face of strong US pressure. The Defence Ministry had no immediate comment on the report. The Yediot said the cancellation of the $ 250-million sale to China of a Phalcon Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) had dealt a serious blow to the image of the Israeli Defence Industry, which was working urgently to find alternative contracts. Beijing was furious when Israel shelved the deal, accusing the USA of interfering in its affairs, and press reports say Israeli officials fear Washington may also try to block any sale to India. “The Americans recently demanded that Israel report to them about any weapons deals signed with a long list of countries that the USA has defined as ‘troublesome’ — including India,” the Yediot
said. |
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Infighting in UN
Mission in S. Leone WASHINGTON,
Sept 10 (PTI) — Infighting has been triggered in the UN peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone following accusations by its Indian commander Maj-Gen Vijay K. Jetley against his two Nigerian deputies of sabotaging the peace process in the war-torn African country. Maj-Gen Jetley, in a memorandum circulated among diplomats in the Sierra Leone capital,
Freetown, said the Mission’s Deputy Commander, Gen-Mohammad Garba, and un secretary-General Kofi Annan’s special representative Oluyemi Adeniji, both Nigerian nationals, were profiting from illegal diamond trade there, the Washington Post reported today. General Jetley said the two Nigerian officials were undermining the un mission in Sierra Leone
(Unamsil) as they had secret contacts with the main rebel group in the country, the Revolutionary United Front
(RUF). The General also said both Nigerian officials were “working hard” to sabotage the peace process and “show Indians in general, and me in particular, in poor light.” The post said the two officials denied the charges. |
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Atlantis docks with space station CAPE CANAVERAL, Sept 10 (AP) — Space shuttle Atlantis flew up to the international space station and docked early today, a complicated job made even tougher by a failed navigation device. The link-up took place nearly 370 km above Kazakstan, with both spacecraft zooming along at 17,500 mph. Commander Terrence Wilcutt had to rely on a single start racker for the rendezevous. Normally, two start trackers are used, but only one was working aboard Atlantis. To compensate for the failure, Wilcutt and his co-pilot, Scott Altman, had to add a couple of flip-flop manoeuvres to their repertoire. “Congratulations on a fine rendezevous and docking,” Mission Control told the crew once the spacecraft were latched together. “That was letter perfect. Great to watch.” Although still uninhabited, the space station has expanded since astronauts last visited in May. The arrival of the Russian control module, Zvezda, one-and-a-half months ago nearly doubled the space station’s size. A Russian supply ship carrying toilet components, oxygen generators and other gear quickly followed. Atlantis’ seven astronauts and cosmonauts will unload the supply ship and the shuttle later this week. They will install as much of the equipment as possible to ease the burden for the first permanent residents, due to move in at the beginning of November. |
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Hasina-Musharraf meeting cancelled DHAKA, Sept 10 (AFP) — A sudden cancellation of the scheduled talks between Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed and Pakistan’s General Parvez Musharraf at the UN has raised questions about bilateral ties. A meeting between the two leaders at Musharraf’s request was not held on Friday after the Pakistani leader reportedly did not appear after Hasina’s speech at the UN at Millennium Summit in New York. The speech called for action against regimes that grabbed power by overthrowing elected governments. Bangladesh’s UN Representative Anwarul Karim Chowdhury said: “We are not sure what the reasons are, but it came as a surprise,” referring to the cancellation of the meeting. Foreign Secretary Shafi Sami said the Premier’s speech “was not directed against any particular country.” In an interview with CNN on Friday Hasina had called for fresh elections in Pakistan, saying that the absence of democracy could not help any country. “People should have every right to elect their government,” she said. General Musharraf, who seized power in an October coup last year, evaded questions on the cancelled talks during a press conference. General Musharraf concurred with Sheikh Hasina’s comments when referring to Bangladesh’s war of independence that one has to forget the bitter past and look
forward. |
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W. Timor refugees ‘running out of food’ KUPANG (Indonesia), Sept 10 (Reuters) — The UN warned today that thousands of refugees left helpless in West Timor by the evacuation of foreign aid workers were running out of food. ‘‘The conditions are getting worse and worse,’’ Mr Jake Morland of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said from Denpasar on Bali, where he was evacuated after pro-Jakarta militia killed three UNHCR workers. ‘‘They are running out of food. We gave the last food supplies to them last month so if the (Indonesian) government does not accept the moral responsibility to take over the situation, we will see a security meltdown.’’ Asked if the refugees had enough food for another month, he said: ‘‘It will be shorter than that.’’ More than 120,000 East Timorese refugees remain in camps in Indonesian West Timor, where they were herded by the militia who razed East Timor after it voted in August 1999 to end Indonesia’s harsh military rule. A spokesman for groups opposing East Timorese independence warned the food shortage would ignite fighting between refugees and West Timorese. After an emergency cabinet meeting on Friday, Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri ordered 100 tonnes of rice to be sent to the refugees. Mr Morland warned conditions could not improve until the militia were disbanded. |
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Fuel protests shift
to UK, Germany LONDON, Sept 10 (DPA) — Service stations throughout France were being supplied with fuel for the first time in a week today as European blockades of refineries by consumers protesting at high fuel prices shifted to Britain and Germany. In France, tank trucks were in operation all night on Saturday and during the day on Sunday after the authorities lifted a weekend lorry ban on France’s highways in order to ensure that motorists would be able to fill up in time for the morning rush hour, tomorrow. In Britain, some 50 service stations operated by oil companies Shell and
BP had run dry or were close to doing so as a result, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported today. Motorists were engaging in panic buying for fear of being unable to find petrol. And in Germany, drivers braced for possible autobahn blockades following a protest by hauliers which snarled traffic in one city. Some 120 tank truck drivers blocked major thoroughfares in Hildesheim to press demands for lower diesel prices.
Capture of General by
Chechen rebels denied SLEPTSOVSK (Russia), Sept 10 (AFP) — Chechen rebels said today they had captured a Russian General and two other senior officers, a claim dismissed by Kremlin. A spokesman for Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov told AFP that the General and two Colonels had been captured yesterday but gave no further details. However, in a written
communiqué later sent to AFP in Moscow, Maskhadov’s press service said three unnamed officers and five soldiers had been caught in the Chernorechiye district of southwest
Grozny. Taken by surprise, most of the accompanying Russian troops fled for the nearest interior ministry troop post at Alkhan Yurt, a few kilometres west of
Grozny, the statement said. |
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Madhuri open to
Hollywood
films BERLIN, Sept 10 (PTI) — Top film actress Madhuri Dixit, settled in the USA after marriage, says she has no plans to quit acting in films, and would consider a debut in Hollywood films if offered “suitable roles’’. “Though I live in America, you will see more of me in films. I love acting and I am not not going to give up (acting) so easily,’’ Madhuri Dixit said here last night. Looking
resplendent in a multi-coloured silk sari worn in typical Marathi style, the glamorous Madhuri made these comments when asked about her plans after the world premiere of eminent painter Maqbool Fida Hussian’s Hindi film
“Gajagamini’’. Hussain, who has conceived, written and directed the film, told the packed audience at the Arsenal theatre located in the ultra-modern Sony centre complex that the film would be released in India in
November. Madhuri plays the lead role in the 130-minute film essaying different forms of women spanning several centuries. Shah Rukh Khan, Naseerudian Shah and Shabana Azmi are also in the starcast in what film critics here said was “out and out a Madhuri film’’. Asked whether she would take up Hollywood films, Madhuri said “If I get offers for roles to my liking, I would consider making a Hollywood debut.’’ But, she was quick to point out, “I am not following a strategised approach to work in Hollywood films.’’ To a question whether she likes India or the USA, her new home, Madhuri diplomatically replied, “India is where I grew up and got fame, but my husband is in the
USA and I love my husband.’’ |
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Indian bags Special
Director Award VENICE, Sept 10 (Reuters) — Indian director Buddhadeb Dasgupta today won the Special Director’s Award for his film “Uttara” at the Venice film festival. Buddhadeb’s film is a lyrical portrayal of the devastating impact of violence on a small town in rural India. A dark Iranian movie about the oppression of women called “The circle”, directed by Jafar Panahi, won the prestigious Golden Lion Award for best film. US painter and director Julian Schnabel took home the Jury Grand Prix for Best Director for “Before night falls”, about the life of gay Cuban novelist and poet Reinaldo Arenas whose controversial work made him a victim of Cuban censors. Spanish actor Javier Bardem won the Volpi Cup for best actor for his moving and forceful portrayal of Arenas in “Before night falls’’ and Rose Byrne won the award for best actress for “The goddess of 1967” by Clara Law. |
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