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Wednesday,
September 18, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Iraq
caves in, allows UN inspectors’ return
EC
rejects Deuba’s claim to Nepali Cong |
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J&K poll free: USA Lankan peace talks constructive
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Sattahip (Thailand), September 17 India and the USA have pledged financial and logistical support to the Lanka government in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Jaffna peninsula. 
In video: Dozens of Sri
Lankans peace activists from different religious groups held a
candlelight vigil in Colombo to pray for the success of peace talks. (28k, 56k) 4 Japanese alive, says N. Korea
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Iraq caves in, allows UN inspectors’ return United Nations, September 17 UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said a tough speech last week by US President George W. Bush to the UN General Assembly had “galvanised the international community” to put pressure on Iraq. The White House dismissed the Iraqi move as a “tactical step in hopes of avoiding strong UN Security Council action. As such, it is a tactic that will fail. “This is not a matter of inspection. It is about disarmament of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and the Iraqi regime’s compliance with all other Security Council resolutions.” Annan said Iraq had agreed in a letter “to start immediate discussions on the practical arrangements for the return of the inspectors” withdrawn in December 1998. In the letter, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said the government of President Saddam Hussein wanted “to remove any doubts that Iraq still possesses weapons of mass destruction.” Sabri also reminded Annan that the Secretary-General had told the General Assembly the return of the inspectors should be “the indispensable first step” towards “a comprehensive solution that includes the lifting of the sanctions imposed on Iraq.” The Iraqi move followed four days of intense diplomatic lobbying by the USA to drum up support for a tough new Security Council resolution to force Iraq to disarm. The first hint that Iraq might be buckling to pressure came in an announcement by its official INA news agency that Saddam had chaired three meetings with top aides in
Baghdad within 24 hours. Annan acknowledged Arab states had “played a key role, and singled out the secretary general of the Arab League, Amr Musa, for “his strenuous efforts in helping to convince Iraq to allow the return of the inspectors. “ In another sign of mounting pressure on Saddam, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that USA and British warplanes enforcing no-fly zones in north and south Iraq were taking a more active approach, methodically attacking air defences. VIENNA: The UN International Atomic Energy Agency said today it was ready to resume inspections in Iraq as early as tomorrow if authorised to do so by the Security Council. “We are now awaiting a green light from the Security Council,” said agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming. “We could start work tomorrow but we need the Security Council’s okay.” WELLINGTON: New Zealand would contribute 10 experts to a United Nations weapons inspection team in Iraq, Prime Minister Helen Clark said today. She said the government had received a request from the UN for 10 weapons inspectors. “I think you can regard it as a done deal that we’d want to help,” Clark said. “We’re prepared to move as quickly as the UN requires.”
AFP, Reuters
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EC rejects Deuba’s claim to Nepali Cong Kathmandu, September 17 “The Nepali Congress Party headed by Girija Prasad Koirala has been recognised as the official Nepali Congress party for election purpose,” Shambhu Prasad Khanal, Secretary at the Election Commission told reporters today. It also handed over the tree symbol to the Koirala-led party. Deuba will not be able to take part in the November parliamentary elections as a member of the party but can do so under a different party name. The commission’s decision over the dispute between Koirala and his arch-rival, Deuba, to get the official recognition from the commission came eight weeks ahead of the mid-term poll. However, Khanal also made it clear that the decision was provisional, which applies till the November polls and may change in future. He also gave seven days time for the Deuba faction to apply for new name and election symbol for his party within seven days. The Deuba faction of the party
strongly attacked the commission’s decision. The commission has taken a political decision and it was prejudiced, Bimalendra Nidhi, Nepali Congress (Deuba) Central Committee member and a close associate of Deuba, said. However, Koirala faction welcomed the decision. “We are satisfied with the EC’s decision,” said Arjun Narsingh, a Nepali Congress (Koirala) spokesman. The Nepali Congress split into two in May when Deuba recommended elections two years in advance without consulting top party colleagues. Meanwhile, EC sources said the election schedule would be published in a week, adding that polls would be held amidst tight security in at least five phases in view of the growing threat by Maoists who had threatened to disturb the November poll. The EC has registered 23 new parties for the poll and 95 parties are already registered with the commission. The commission has set up 10,858 polling stations for 205 constituencies. About 15 million people will exercise their voting rights during the polls.
PTI |
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J&K poll free: USA Washington, September 17 “The elections were free; there were only one or two incidents but by and large there was no violence; participation was good; the elections were conducted in a good manner and there are no reports of intimidation,” a US official said. “We are hopeful,” he said, reflecting American optimism on the peaceful conduct of the next three phases of the poll. “It was really good that the level of participation was good and the elections were conducted in a good manner,” the official said. American officials said they were waiting for reports of two US diplomats from the embassy in Delhi who had gone to two different areas of the state. They said the USA saw these elections as part of a broader process that began to address the problems of Kashmir. The American media, meanwhile, hailed yesterday’s poll, reflecting the widely held view in the official circles, as the triumph of democracy despite the bullets of Pakistani or Pakistan-backed terrorists.
PTI |
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Lankan peace talks constructive Sattahip (Thailand), September 17 “The talks have been frank and constructive and were held in a relaxed atmosphere, where the parties have shown understanding and mutual respect for each other’s concerns,” a statement, issued at the end of the day’s talks said. “Among other issues discussed were implementation of the ceasefire agreement, humanitarian challenges and further cooperation to improve economic development and normalisation. Also the structure and framework for future meetings and the way forward have been
discussed,” it added. The talks at this royal naval base, 160 km south-east of the capital, got into full swing yesterday and today after the ceremonial opening, in which both sides struck a conciliatory note to reaffirm their commitment to resolve the ethnic conflict. Sri Lankan minister G.L. Peiris told a private television channel yesterday that the talks were “progressing well” and spoke of a shift in the thinking of the two sides to resolve the 19-year old separatist conflict. The LTTE too expressed its willingness to be part of the government’s effort in the rehabilitation and development process in the north and east of the country.
UNI |
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India, USA vow help for Jaffna Sattahip (Thailand), September 17 In view of the large amount of financial aid being promised by the international community, the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers have evolved an understanding for the reconstruction and de-mining of the peninsula. Sri Lanka’s Port and Muslim Affairs Minister Rauff Hakeem, a member of the Lankan delegation at the ongoing Government-LTTE talks, has reportedly also raised the issue of rehabilitating 100,000 Muslims sent away by the Tigers from Jaffna in 1990. He pointed out that unless all mines laid by the Tigers were removed, transport services could not be viable on the Kandy-Jaffna highway which had already reopened. Unofficial estimates place the number of mines planted in Sri Lanka’s war-ravaged regions at between 1.0 to 1.5 million while civilian mine casualties are regularly reported from the island’s north. Two mine clearing teams from the US State Department’s Quick Reaction De-mining Force (QRDF) are currently deployed in Sri Lanka’s northern peninsula of Jaffna. Official sources here said the joint appeal that is expected to come out of the three-day peace talks would target the USA, India and the United Nations for expertise and funding for de-mining. LTTE’s chief negotiator Anton Balasingham is reported to have told the Sri Lankan government team that the Tigers want to work with the government for rehabilitation and reconstruction of the war-ravaged Jaffna peninsula. He alleged that the ministers who visit Jaffna end up meeting only with the officials and appealed to the government to also arrange meetings with Tamil activists. The LTTE is keen on the restoration of free movement not only because it eases the life of the people but also because it would allow its own cadres to move about freely. On the issue of missing persons, both sides decided to set up a committee to look into the matter.
UNI, AFP |
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4 Japanese alive, says N. Korea
Tokyo, September 17 “The (North Korean) Red Cross society has notified the Japanese side of the fact that it has confirmed the whereabouts of missing Japanese on the list requested by the Japan Red Cross to ascertain,” yongyang’s official KCNA news agency said, quoting a spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, in Pyongyang for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, has made progress on the issue of 11 allegedly abducted Japanese citizens — whom Pyongyang has denied kidnapping — a prerequisite for normalising ties between Tokyo and its secretive communist neighbour. A Japanese official in Pyongyang later said that North Korea had confirmed that seven of the 11 were dead and four were alive.
Reuters |
MASOOD AZHAR REARRESTED USA AGREES TO WIRTE OFF $ 1B DEBT BOMB IN TOY KILLS WOMAN |
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