PEACE NEGOTIATIONS WATCH

Armenia/Azerbaijan Azerbaijani human rights advocate says he will appeal to U.N. over campaign against him

Burundi Ndayizeye faces tough task as Burundi's next president as war rages on

Kashmir Kashmiris hail resumption of India-Pakistan ties, pray for breakthrough

Philippines Philippine Muslim rebels reject Malaysian advice to drop independence bid

Philippine op-ed suggests that rebellion in Philippines could be ended by examples in the Middle East, in Iraq and Israel.

Serbia & Montenegro Italy urges Serbia-Montenegro to cooperate with U.N. war crimes tribunal

Italy suggests that Serbia and Montenegro’s hopes of joining the EU may depend upon cooperation with tribunal.

Spain Spanish Basque priests to give pope letter urging Basque autonomy

Basques plan on appealing case to Spanish constitutional court and, if necessary, European court.

Sri Lanka Mainstream Tamil political party joins Tamil rebels in asking Sri Lankan army to leave civilian areas

Fear, apprehension grips northern Sri Lanka as Tamil Tiger rebels suspend peace talks

Tamil rebels suspend peace talks, claiming Sri Lanka won’t remove its military from city center and airport.

Sudan Crisis in Darfur - Urgent Need for International Commission of Inquiry and Monitoring

Amnesty International calls for Darfur to be included in upcoming human rights monitoring.

U.S. Report on Pattern of Global Terrorism Ignores Sudan's Efforts in Combating Terrorism

Embassy of Sudan issues statement saying that U.S. hasn’t recognized its efforts in the war on terrorism.

Peace Negotiations Watch is prepared by the Public International Law and Policy Group in cooperation with American University and is made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Azerbaijani human rights advocate says he will appeal to U.N. over campaign against him

An Azerbaijani human rights advocate said he was appealing to U.N. officials over a recent campaign of insults and threats against him and other activists. Speaking by telephone from Geneva on the sidelines of a U.N. meeting on torture, Eldar Zeynalov, head of the Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan, said the attacks began after he appeared at a seminar April 22 in Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave within Azerbaijan controlled by ethnic Armenian separatists.

That day, pro-government human rights workers speaking on television condemned Zeynalov and Leyla Yunus, head of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, as a traitors to Azerbaijan and called on viewers to make life difficult for them. Zeynalov said he received many threatening phone calls after that. Politicians and pro-government media joined in the condemnations of the activists in subsequent days. Last week, there were a series of small protests outside Zeynalov's center, during which eggs were hurled at the building and windows broken, he said. On Monday, the women's wing of the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party held a protest outside Yunus' institute and threw eggs at the building.

The Vienna-based International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights on Tuesday condemned what it called "an orchestrated campaign of intimidation against a group of independent human rights organizations." It said police failed to keep order at the protests. Zeynalov said he hoped to meet with Sergio Vieira de Mello, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, to discuss the campaign against him.

Ndayizeye faces tough task as Burundi's next president as war rages on

Domitien Ndayizeye, a Hutu who took over over Burundi's presidency Wednesday from Tutsi incumbent Pierre Buyoya, will need all his oft-vaunted skills of dialogue and compromise to steer his country through its 10-year civil war. For the last 18 months, Ndayizeye has served as vice-president under Buyoya in line with a power-sharing accord signed in Arusha, Tanzania, in August 2000 aimed at ending the war that has claimed more than 300,000 lives since 1993 and devastated the small central African country. On Wednesday he was sworn in as president for the second half of a three-year transitional power-sharing period. The plan is aimed at redressing the balance of power in a country where Hutus make up 85 percent of the population, but which has been traditionally dominated by Tutsis. "Ndayizeye takes over as president at a very delicate time, with the war still continuing," said Eugene Nindorera, a moderate Tutsi and former minister of institutional reform.

A ceasefire signed last December between the government and three of the four Hutu rebel groups in Burundi is effectively a dead-letter. The main insurgency, Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD), and the army, accuse each other of repeatedly violating the truce. At least 10 civilians died this month in a series of rebel attacks on the capital Bujumbura, while the army claims to have killed 26 rebels. "Domitien is stuck in the middle, between the rebels who have stepped up their attacks ahead of the handover, and the army and Buyoya, who are going to keep him under close scrutiny," a foreign diplomat in Burundi has said.

To steer his ship in such stormy waters, Ndayizeye will need what L'Aube de la Democratie, the newspaper of his Hutu Front for Democracy in Burundi (FRODEBU) party, described as his talent for "dialogue, contact and compromise." Ndayizeye "gives the impression of being someone who listens," said Eulalie Nibizi, a Tutsi trade unionist who negotiated with him last year. Born May 2, 1953 in Murango, in the northern province of Kayanza, Ndayizeye went into self-imposed exile in Belgium, Burundi's former colonial power, after an early spate of ethnic massacres in 1972. After earning a degree in industrial engineering in Mons, Belgium, in 1981, he moved to Rwanda, where he militated in Hutu student movements while working for a privately-owned firm. After 21 years in exile, Ndayizeye went home in July 1993, just after Burundi elected its first Hutu president, Melchior Ndadaye. At the beginning of 1995, Ndayizeye joined the Burundi secret services, but in February of the same year he was jailed for attempting to a murder a Tutsi youth movement leader and participating in rebel Hutu groups.

Burundians disagree as to why Ndayizeye was freed early, in March 1996. "He won his case," said Louis Niyonzima, a Hutu political leader. But a Tutsi journalist who asked not to be named said Ndayizeye was set free following an agreement between FRODEBU and the Tutsi Union for National Progress (UPRONA). Appointed FRODEBU executive secretary, in 2000 Ndayizeye was chosen by Hutu political groups involved in the Arusha talks to become Buyoya's deputy in the transitional government. He is married with six children.

The United States commends today's ceremony of investiture, marking the transition of the Office of the President in the Republic of Burundi from President Pierre Buyoya to President Domitien Ndayizeye. The transition of the Presidency in Burundi is a significant achievement on Burundi's road to a peace, as the three-year transition to a representative, democratically elected government reaches its mid-point. We commend the achievements of Pierre Buyoya in his tenure as president, and the responsible and constructive role he has played in bringing Burundi to this point where prospects for peace have been strengthened.

The challenges that remain in the implementation of the Arusha Accords, related agreements, and the Transitional Constitution are formidable, and success depends on constructive cooperation and collaboration between President Domitien Ndayizeye and Vice President Alphonse Kadege, as well as all political parties in Burundi. The United States renews its call for full and complete implementation of the cease-fire agreements between the Government of Burundi and rebel groups in Burundi, and urges Agathon Rwasa's National Liberation Forces to immediately cease hostilities and join the cease-fire.

'TO MAKE peace with an enemy one must work with that enemy." Nelson Mandela wrote these words within the context of the South African negotiation process. That motto guided Mandela's work as the mediator of the Burundi peace process, at times strengthening and at times threatening the negotiations. However, his commitment to bringing an all-inclusive deal to Burundi is slowly beginning to pay off. It has taken much patience from all sides and sceptics who proclaimed the process was doomed have had to eat their words. On Wednesday, Mandela witnessed the hand-over of power from Tutsi leader Pierre Buyoya to Domitien Ndayizeye, a Hutu. The handover occurred under the terms of a three-year power-sharing government inaugurated in 2001.

Ndayizeye will rule until presidential elections are held at the end of this transitional phase. He is the fourth Hutu to lead the country since the assassination of President Malchior Ndadaye in 1993, a few months after his election by an overwhelming majority. Ndadaye's death shattered hopes for peace; the situation worsening when his successor, Cyprien Ntaryamira, also a Hutu, was killed in a plane crash, together with his Rwandan counterpart, sparking the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Observers say this week's handover was a miracle. There was a time when such a development was unimaginable because of the intricate nature of the Burundi conflict, the mistrust and animosity which characterised the negotiations, and the ongoing killing of civilians. The successes in Burundi so far are testimony to what Africans can achieve if they work together. South Africa's involvement in the two countries has gone beyond proving President Thabo Mbeki's assertion that the continent has to find its own solutions to its problems. It has also registered a shift from the old days when intervening parties were foreigners who used force to settle conflicts.

Mandela brought his moral authority to the Burundi peace process, ensuring international support and involving the expertise of other Africans in his mediation, most notably Deputy President Jacob Zuma, who has been the chief facilitator and a key player in bringing on board the main rebel forces. The process was not without challenges, however. Burundi's political history cannot be viewed in isolation from the rest of the Great Lakes region, a centre of intense ethnic conflict. The divide between the Hutus and Tutsis has been manipulated ever since the Belgian colonial rulers formalised and entrenched that divide by proclaiming one group inferior to the other.

Mandela understood that successful mediation depended on how well he understood the nature of the Burundi conflict. He was lucky to find a process that was built on sound principles. South African analyst Jan van Eck points out that Burundi was the only country in the region which had in place a peace process built on the principle of all-inclusiveness, even though inclusiveness was difficult to achieve in practice. The process was also headed by a prominent statesman, Tanzania's Mwalimu Nyerere, whose death left a void but also created an opportunity for a different approach. Madiba's magic was obvious from the beginning. His first meeting with Burundian parties took place in Arusha in January 2000.

Van Eck points out how pleasantly surprised the delegates were by Mandela's entreaty that if they thought he did not understand certain facts correctly, they should discuss it further with him and provide him with more information. He also stunned the warring parties when he extended an invitation to excluded rebel movements to join the peace process. So far, only one of the major rebel groups has not signed the ceasefire agreement.

The recent transfer of power from a Tutsi to a Hutu leader displayed a commitment to peace from Burundi's leaders. Buyoya's assertion that there would be no more coups from his side has been encouraging. Buyoya seized power in two coups: in 1987 when he ousted President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, recently released from house arrest; and in 1996 when he ousted Slyvestre Ntibantunganya, a Hutu.

The challenge of leading Burundi to real peace is now in the hands of Ndayizeye. It is still true that too many civilians are dying , adding to the United Nations' figure of 300 000 dead and one million displaced since 1993. Rebel movements continue to exchange fire with the Tutsi-dominated army, raising doubts about how much control Ndayizeye will actually exercise. The continent's leaders, through the African Union, are going a long way to offer home-grown answers to local conflicts. Burundi, together with its neighbour Congo, will soon provide answers to the question of just how far Africans themselves can take the dream of a peaceful and stable continent.

Georgia/Abkhazia

Abkhazia's President Vladislav Ardzinba approved the composition of a new cabinet of ministers on Thursday in full compliance with the republic's constitution and the constitutional law "On the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Abkhazia." The government structure consists of 12 ministries, four state committees, 15 state government bodies and eight foundations. Ardzinba also signed a decree appointing Secretary of the Abkhaz Security Council Astamur Tarba first deputy prime minister in charge of law enforcement, military and other related agencies. Emma Taniya, the former first deputy chairman of the Abkhaz National Bank, will occupy the post of vice-premier in charge of economic issues. The two newly-appointed deputy prime ministers are the veterans of the 1992-1993 Georgian-Abkhaz war. Taniya has even been decorated with a medal to commend his bravery in that war. Vladimir Zantariya will continue occupying the post of vice-premier in charge of science, culture and education.

The speaker of Russia's upper parliament house expressed concern Thursday about an agreement that makes it easier for American soldiers to enter Georgia, complaining that freedom of movement for Russian troops based in the former Soviet republic is strictly limited. Federation Council chairman Sergei Mironov said the agreement, ratified by Georgia's parliament in March, gives U.S. military personnel "unprecedented privileges in crossing state borders, while at the same time Russian military personnel based in Georgia cannot always travel even a few kilometers on Georgian territory," the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

The agreement lets U.S. soldiers and civilians working for the U.S. Defense Department to enter Georgia without a visa while on assignment, allows them to carry arms and gives them standard diplomatic immunity. Georgian officials have said the new rules would aid Washington's US$64 million program to train and equip the Georgian army to fight terrorists. Mironov told a news conference in the southern city of Vladikavkaz, near the Georgian border, that all nations have the right to reach agreements but that "when we're talking about a country that neighbors Russia, we also have the right to express our opinion and concern about these agreements, particularly when they are linked to military matters," ITAR-Tass reported.

The U.S.-Georgia deal "directly concerns the interests of Russia and all members of the Commonwealth of Independent States - of which Georgia itself, by the way, is a member," suggesting Georgia's priorities should be in ties with other members of the loose grouping of former Soviet republics rather than with Western nations. But Georgia-Russian relations are tense and worsened last summer, when Russia accused Georgia of harboring Chechen militants on its territory. Russia continues to maintain military units in Georgia, and the two countries have also wrangled over a timetable for their withdrawal.

Georgia, eager to move out of Russia's shadow, has aggressively pursued ties with the United States. Russia's lower parliament house passed a resolution last month calling the U.S.-Georgian agreement "an exceptionally unfriendly, even hostile act" toward Russia that threatens international stability. It said Georgia was paving the way for quick entry into NATO, which would bring the Western alliance to Russia's doorstep in the Caucasus Mountain region. Russia has also complained recently about U.S. reconnaissance flights over Georgia, accusing Washington of Cold War tactics in an official protest over what it said was a flight of a U-2 spy plane near the Russian border in March. The United States says the purpose of the reconnaissance flights is to track terrorists.

Which do we love more, peace or sovereignty? This question came up when Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono addressed the problem of Aceh last week. The chief security minister reportedly said: "Indonesians love peace, but Indonesians value their sovereignty and territorial integrity even more." In the context of the current Aceh crisis, this statement is a pretext to the government's military campaign against the separatist movement. There is nothing wrong with this presupposition except that we know that historically, no military operation in Aceh has ever succeeded. If this had been the 1940s, when the nation fought for independence from the Dutch, this argument -- that sovereignty is more important than peace -- would certainly hold true. In today's context, this statement sends shivers down our spine. It tells us of the prevailing attitude in government: that it is prepared to defend its "sovereignty" over Aceh at all costs, including at the cost of the peace of the people there.

This is the line of thinking which launched many military operations in the past in Aceh, Papua and East Timor, with untold miseries endured by their civilians. This is the line of thinking that caused massive deaths and destruction, disrupted people's lives, if not dislocating them altogether. This is the line of thinking that encouraged our military to commit all kind of atrocities against our own people, all in the name of defending our "sovereignty" and territorial integrity. While we know that it is the peace in Aceh that people like Susilo is willing to disrupt, it is also clear that he is not concerned so much about the sovereignty of the people of Aceh. He is far more concerned about the "sovereignty" of Jakarta over the territory, in other words, Jakarta's rule over Aceh. This is pure arrogance. This is the kind of attitude of the rulers in Jakarta that has fueled strong resentment among the people in many regions, and to cause some of them later to demand separation, and to fight for their own "sovereignty".

Indonesia, lest we forget, is a common project in which the people of various regions, originally from Aceh to Maluku, and later to include Papua (albeit under controversial circumstances), decided to take part in. Each region volunteered to join in this project not solely because of their shared history and cultures, but also because of their belief in a common destiny: together as one nation, rather than individually, we progress and prosper. The basis of this Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia, has been and will always be voluntary. Indonesia was not a project that was imposed on these regions. At least, that was how it started in 1945, and this is how it should be today. Although this 58-year project has not really produced the maximum desired results, many people continue to believe in its future enough to sustain it.

Problems always started when some of us tried to impose our "sovereignty" over the other regions for this usually means the use of force. The people of East Timor, who never shared a common history with the rest of Indonesia in the first place, saw Indonesia as simply another colonizer. Papuans have been critical over what they perceive as the "Javanization" of their land. And the people of Aceh, who made significant contributions to Indonesia's independence struggle in the late 1940s, have long complained about the raw deal and unfair treatment they have been getting from the central government in Jakarta. We lost East Timor through our own arrogance. Surely, we should have learned something from that episode and not want to commit the same mistakes in our dealings with Papua and in Aceh. You do not keep people in the republic by force. You keep them by making them feel part of the republic. As much as we wish that the Aceh people remain in the fold of the republic, no one should ever impose that will on them for that decision should be in the hands of the people of Aceh, and nobody else. We in Jakarta can only try to make the people of Aceh feel at home with the republic so that they will stay.

Pak Susilo was way out of line in claiming to speak on behalf of all Indonesians to suggest that, today, we love sovereignty more than we love peace. And he is even more wrong in suggesting that Jakarta could impose its sovereignty over the people of Aceh, at all costs. The government should make peace in Aceh its overriding concern. In other words, peace at all costs. It should give the existing peace process in Aceh, brokered by the Geneva-based Henry Dunant Centre, another chance to work. Because for most of the people in Aceh, as it is for most Indonesians, peace is not negotiable.

Top Indonesian officials, including Vice President Hamzah Haz, have criticized the Geneva-based Henry Dunant Center (HDC) as being ineffective in mediating for peace in restive Aceh province of, reports said Sunday. In Ciamis, West Java, Haz said the HDC, which has been mediating peace talks in Aceh since 2000, was no longer effective in helping reach a peaceful settlement, the Kompas newspaper reported. But he said the government would give the HDC another chance to broker a peace in the region, where the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has been fighting for secession from Jakarta since 1976. "If until the deadline, the HDC is unable to do it, they should retire," Haz said, referring to deadline -- one week away -- that the government of President Megawati Sukarnoputri has given the GAM to comply with a December 9 peace agreement. Jakarta said that if by then the GAM had not placed its weapons at designated secret places and dropped its demand for independence, the government would leave the peace process and take other options, including a possible massive military operation.

National Assembly chairman Amien Rais was more critical, branding the HDC as a "troublemaker" and saying "it is now time for the HDC to return home". "It is time to bid them farewell because their assistance is no longer of any use," Rais said in Palembang, South Sumatra, Saturday, according to the Kompas. The HDC is a Swiss non-governmental organisation that claims to be a "humanitarian center." It has mediated several fragile truces between the Indonesian government and the GAM since 2000 and hosted a meeting on December 9 that led to the signing of the latest peace pact on Aceh. Rais, however, said the government should not immediately leave the peace process and begin intensive military operations against the rebels. It should first invite everyone in Aceh, including the GAM, to help rebuild the region. "Only if the GAM rejects the good offers should the military operations be launched," he said, according to Kompas.

Syafi'ie Maarif, the chairman of Indonesia's second largest Islamic movement, the Muhammadiyah, was quoted by the Republika as saying that there was no longer any need for a mediator such as the HDC. "Just hold the negotiations directly with the GAM," Maarif said. He said he was prepared to support a government decision to give the HDC a second chance. "But if it cannot (be relied on) just tell the HDC goodbye and negotiate directly with the GAM," he said.

Some 50 Acehnese figures, including local Muslim leaders, are seeking an audience with Megawati to discuss a way to bring peace to Aceh following the failure of the planned HDC-mediated talks between the GAM and the government in Geneva last month, Republika said. Violence has surged as the peace deal began unravelling.

On Monday Jakarta gave the rebels between one and two weeks to respond to its disarmament terms and said a "security operation" would eventually be launched if they ignored the opportunity to salvage the peace drive. The rebels say they are willing to talk but insist that their independence demand still stands. Aceh Deputy Military Spokesman, Major Eddy Fernandi, said that around 1,200 soldiers from the army, navy and airforce have arrived in Aceh in the past week to back up the "humanitarian operation" there, the state Antara news agency said.

The operation, officials have said, was an emergency measure to raise the welfare of Acehnese by repairing, rebuilding public facilities damaged during the decades of conflict. The fresh troops will be deployed across Aceh, to the districts of North, East, South and West Aceh, Bireun, Southeast Aceh, Pidie, and Aceh Besar, he said, adding that they will stay for four months to take part in the humanitarian operation.

Officials from Ivory Coast's warring parties said Thursday they are negotiating a pact to quell fighting that has persisted in the former French colony's western borderlands despite a cease-fire and a peace accord meant to end seven months of civil war. Ivory Coast and Liberia said last week they would move jointly to stop cross-border attacks in their shared frontier region by boosting patrols, which they hoped would include West African and French troops. Rebels - who hold much of the shared borderlands - were brought into the patrol plans during cease-fire talks that ended early Thursday morning after a late-night session. While cautioning signatures are yet to be affixed, "we have put into place a complete cease-fire accord," said Michel Gueu, who represented the rebel forces at the negotiations, held in Ivory Coast's economic capital, Abidjan.

A previous cease-fire line - guarded by nearly 4,000 French troops as well as West African soldiers - has been repeatedly violated. Loyalists and rebel forces are expected to sign the accord early next week said Gueu, who also holds a seat in a new Ivory Coast unity government arranged under a January French-brokered peace accord. Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo and Liberia President Charles Taylor must also approve any deal, Gueu said. "We are not deceived as to the logistical requirements" of securing peace, said Liberia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lewis Brown, who attended the meeting.

The Liberia/Ivory Coast border area have seen the heaviest fighting during the civil war, which sprang from a failed September coup attempt and has now killed some 3,000 people, the government estimates. Ivory Coast rebels and government forces trade accusations of hiring foreign mercenaries to fight in the area, and unallied foreign gunmen roam the borderlands. "There are Liberians fighting on all sides in Ivory Coast," said Brown. "But the Liberian government did not send them."

Ivory Coast accuses France of failing to uphold pacts requiring the French army to defend its former colony against foreign attackers, and a presidential spokesman said that failure could complicate the composition of any monitoring force in its west. "France wants to plunge (Ivory Coast) into a problem so deep that the international community won't be able to save it," said Toussaint Alain, a spokesman for Gbagbo. "We are firmly opposed to a French buffer force in the west." Ivory Coast has been plagued by instability since a 1999 coup shattered its decades-long reputation as West African economic powerhouse and bastion of peace.

Kashmiri politicians and analysts welcomed on Saturday the announcement that diplomatic ties would be renewed between India and Pakistan but warned a breakthrough on the prickly Kashmir issue would not be easy. "It is a very positive development ... a very significant one," said Umar Farooq, leader of the separatist Awami (People's) Action Committee (AAC), an important part of Kashmir's main separatist alliance, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told the lower house of parliament on Friday that New Delhi planned to restore civil aviation and diplomatic links with Pakistan, which were severed 17 months ago. Pakistan said it would match the pledge and hinted that the first talks between the neighbours could happen soon. Farooq, who is also the chief priest at Kashmir's main mosque, said he hoped India and Pakistan would start talking soon. But the 30-year-old cleric sounded a caution. "The problem will start once they begin discussing Kashmir," he told AFP. "That is where we hope a breakthrough should be achieved in the interest of peace in South Asia." Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf held a historic summit in the Taj Mahal city of Agra in July 2001 but the one-to-one talks became deadlocked over the Himalayan state of Kashmir.

Muslim-majority Kashmir is divided between Indian and Pakistani controlled zones and is claimed by both the nuclear-armed neighbours. It is the cause of two of the three wars they have fought since independence from Britain in 1947. Farooq, regarded as a moderate separatist, urged India and Pakistan to once again take up the issue of Kashmir at the highest level. Hurriyat wants tripartite talks involving it, India and Pakistan to resolve the issue of Kashmir. But Farooq said a "triangular approach" could also do. That would involve talks between India and Pakistan, and separate negotiations between New Delhi and the separatist alliance. "Later at some stage all the three can sit together and resolve the issue," he said, urging all sides to be flexible. India in the past has rejected Hurriyat's offer to act as a bridge with Pakistan.

Muzaffar Beigh, Kashmir's finance minister and senior leader of Indian-controlled Kashmir's ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), also said he wanted India and Pakistan to resume talks. "They should try to concentrate on areas of minimum disagreements first and later touch the areas of maximum disagreements," he said. Beigh said the party leaders -- who met India's newly appointed pointman on Kashmir, N.N. Vohra, last week in the territory's summer capital Srinagar -- had told him India should resume bilateral ties with Pakistan. "The prime minister's announcement is a very bold step towards opening a new chapter with Pakistan," he said. He said New Delhi should continue talking to Kashmiris and also invite separatists and Muslim rebels for talks. Beigh said India also needed to address the unpopularity it has faced in Kashmir since 1947, when British divided the sub-continent between India and Pakistan.

A Kashmir analyst Showket Ahmed said the reaction to the peace moves by hardline Muslim rebel groups would give an indication of what obstacles might lie ahead. "There are groups which believe more in jihad (holy war) than in talks," he said, "and it needs to be seen how they react in the coming few days." He said both India and Pakistan would have to go the extra mile to achieve any breakthrough on Kashmir. People in the streets of Kashmir also welcomed the resumption of diplomatic ties between the two countries. "Once the two (India and Pakistan) start talking, resolutions of the issues are bound to follow," said Abdul Aziz, an engineer. Kashmir has been in the throes of an anti-Indian rebellion since 1989, which has left more than 38,000 people dead. Separatists put the toll twice as high.

Brussels, April 29: A group of 30 former Moroccan detainees in Algeria have lodged a complaint with the Belgian justice against Algerian military officials and mercenaries of the separatists group Polisario Front . The former detainees hold the Algerian militaries and the Polisario mercenaries accountable for their captivity for more than twenty years in southern Algeria. Polisario chief, Mohamed Abdelaziz, and Polisario representative in Spain, Brahim Ghali, are among those sued by the former detainees.

The thirty Moroccan civilians, belonging to the Moroccan Sahara Association, all spent more than twenty years in Polisario jails in southern Algeria. They included in their complaint details of their kidnapping and their sequestration in inhumane conditions. The complaint was lodged with the office of the Public Prosecutor in Brussels in accordance with the Universal Competence Law, allowing Belgian courts to try those responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide regardless of their nationality and the places where the crimes were committed.

A leader of the biggest group of Muslim separatists in the Philippines rejected on Wednesday Malaysia's appeal to drop demands for a separate Islamic state and instead settle for limited self-rule. "When the Bangsamoro (Moro nation) revolution was launched in 1968, the demand was independence," Ghazali Jaafar, vice chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), told AFP by telephone. While a second Muslim rebel faction, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), signed a peace treaty with Manila in 1996 in exchange for autonomy for the minority Muslims, who call themselves Moros, Jaafar said, "the MILF and the rest of the Bangsamoro did not agree to it. "The MILF was set up because most of the Bangsamoro believes autonomy is not the answer to the problem," he added.

Malaysian Defense Minister Najib Tun Razak Najib, during a visit to Manila Tuesday, urged the MILF to stop pursuing a separate Islamic state as one of the steps to achieving permanent peace in the southern Philippines. Malaysia had been hosting peace talks between Manila and the 12,500-strong MILF, which has been fighting for independence in the southern third of the Philippines since 1978. Najib, speaking at a regional security conference here on Tuesday, said: "The whole idea that they (MILF) can form a separate Islamic state is something that we will not support or condone, and we will try to influence other Islamic countries not to support them in that cause.

"They have to work on a peace agreement within the context of the Philippine constitution," he added. Najib also urged the Philippines not to wage an all-out assault against the MILF, even though there were extremists within that group who should be weeded out.

THE END of the war in Iraq and efforts to find a final resolution to the Palestinian issue has strategic implications for the Philippines' own national security "especially looking prospectively to a final settlement of the conflict in Mindanao." This was the official statement issued by President Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday after US President George Bush declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq and a commitment to the "road map" for peace in Palestine (Story on Page A1).

"The lesson of Iraq is that only democracy can bring us peace, and only democracy can bring us progress," the President said. Ms Macapagal's statement came even as fighting continues to rage between government forces and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels. (Story on Page A2). The MILF and the extremist Abu Sayyaf have been linked to al-Qaida and Jemaah Islamiah terror networks. President Macapagal said that "post-war Iraq has ceased to be a haven for terrorist hubs across continents." She added that,"This combines with fortuitous events that are paving the way for a final resolution of the Palestinian issue, which lies at the root of Islamic militancy everywhere." Israel, the main military ally of the US in the Middle East, continues to launch armed incursions into Palestine, which it has accused of harboring terrorists, who, in turn, had been regularly attacking Israel through suicide bombings.

In the same statement, the President also said that a team of officials and observers from the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) is set to arrive in the country next month to "strengthen avenues of cooperation in areas of mutual interest." The OIC has been an active participant in efforts to resolve the Mindanao problem, starting from the years when the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) was the main secessionist group. The 56-member OIC helped broker the peace agreement, which ended the MNLF's armed struggle in 1996.

Ms Macapagal also said that the OIC "continues to be the vanguard of the Islamic world's support for our efforts" to find peace in Mindanao. She specifically cited the role played by the Committee of the Eight, where Libya, Malaysia and Indonesia are the more "active" participants. "More and more commitments are pouring in for peace and development, the latest being that of Bahrain," President Macapagal said. In fact, OIC representatives, who went this week on a three-day tour of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to assess the progress of the peace agreement were satisfied with the implementation of the military and peace components.

ARMM Governor Parouk Hussin said OIC representatives have found that the implementation of the components, particularly the integration process of former rebels into the military and the police, was satisfactory. Hussin said that Indonesian delegate Mohammad Abdulla informed him that the integration of MNLF fighters into the military and the police was going well. "In fact, the last integration was done two days ago in Cotabato where around 291 MNLF integrees, the last batch, were absorbed into the 6th Infantry Division," Hussin told the Inquirer. Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Roy Kyamko said former rebels awaiting integration could be fully absorbed into the military and the police by the second quarter of the year.

Serbia & Montenegro

Italy on Tuesday urged Serbia and Montenegro to cooperate with the U.N. war crimes tribunal suggesting its hopes of joining the European Union and NATO hung in the balance. Foreign Minister Franco Frattini of Italy said that while his country supported the Balkan nation's EU and NATO aspirations, "full cooperation with the (U.N.) court in the Hague remains an important proof of this country's resolve to truly change and reform so it can join" those and other European organizations.

Former President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia - Serbia-Montenegro's predecessor - is now being tried by the tribunal for his alleged role in war crimes committed during the Balkan wars accompanying the breakup of Yugoslavia, and some of his associates are awaiting trial in tribunal custody. But tribunal officials and foreign leaders are pressuring Belgrade to deliver others still at large, including Gen. Ratko Mladic, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb army, and former Yugoslav army officer Veselin Sljivancanin, indicted for atrocities in the Bosnian and Croatian wars. Belgrade authorities say they their whereabouts are unknown.

Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic of Serbia and Montenegro said the two republics also needed to harmonize economies and legislation that had grown apart while they were still part of Yugoslavia. Under EU-brokered constitutional reform, Yugoslavia was renamed Serbia-Montenegro in February and the two republics were given near complete sovereignty while sharing foreign and defense affairs. "It's mainly up to us to fulfill the conditions so that further talks can begin," on bringing Serbia-Montenegro closer to the European Union, Svilanovic said. Frattini said that Italy, which in July takes over EU's six-month rotating presidency, will "support the process of incorporation of Serbia-Montenegro into Euro-Atlantic structures," and also encourage Italian firms to invest here. "We can't even imagine a prosperous, reunited and greater Europe without countries of the western Balkans" in the fold, Frattini said.

Belgrade, 30 April: Top Serbian officials and Kosovo Serb representatives agreed in Belgrade today to form a state council or board vece ili savet for Kosovo-Metohija, whose members would pass key political decisions concerning the province. The body would comprise the highest-ranking officials of Serbia and the state union, journalists were told after several hours of talks. Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic told journalists it would be a political body whose main task would be to protect the rights of Serbia and the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija.

"This would be a political body whose positions would not conceal any other decisions, to avoid the decisions being watered down by the activities of this or that political party or organization," Zivkovic explained. He also said the state council for Kosovo "should not cause alarm internationally or with the Albanian community in Kosovo". "This does not represent a new policy. With this decision we only wish to make the Serb views and the views of Serbia more clear and precise in contacts with the international community and the Albanian community in Kosovo-Metohija," the prime minister underscored.

At the meeting in Belgrade, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic, Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic, deputies of the Kosovo Serb Return coalition and officials of the SNV Serb National Council of Northern and Central Kosovo - Bishop Artemije and Milan Ivanovic - agreed that the state council should comprise top Serbian officials.

"This body, through diplomatic activity, will attempt to impose itself as a partner in talks regarding the rights of the Serbian state in Kosovo-Metohija," Kosovo Assembly Presidency member Oliver Ivanovic told Beta. Decisions of this state authority would be binding for all political subjects among the Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija, Ivanovic said and voiced the hope that it would help achieve a political unity among the Kosovo Serbs.

The forming of the state council or board does not mean extinguishing the Coordination Centre for Kosovo-Metohija, which is headed by Nebojsa Covic. The SNV of Kosovo-Metohija has announced that it will seek a reorganization of the coordination body and propose that a political body be formed within it, modelled on the state council for Kosovo initiated today. Rada Trajkovic, member of the SNV of central Kosovo, has voiced her satisfaction with the agreement. "I do not expect that we will solve all unity-related problems at the moment, but it means a lot when the prime minister or the chief of the coordination centre say - when you have a problem, call me and we will talk," Rada Trajkovic said.

Somalia's Transitional National Government (TNG) President Abdulkassim Salat Hassan on Monday accused delegates to national reconciliation talks in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, of failing his government, and announced they will be replaced. "TNG members in the peace talks in Kenya have really misrepresented us and misguided the whole process to pacify Somalia, and must be replaced if we are to support the reconciliation efforts," Salat told Transitional National Assembly (TNA) members, who are preparing to open Somalia's fifth parliament session in Mogadishu on Tuesday.

"People with integrity and capable of contributing positively would be sent to Nairobi to replace those who failed the TNG at the meeting," he said. Salat said the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) member countries, comprising Dibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda and nominally Somalia, would be notified of the change of delegates.

TNA sources in Mogadishu told AFP on Monday that Salat has not been on good terms with TNA Speaker Abdalla Isaq Derrow, who has been attending the Kenya peace talks as a TNG representative since October 15 last year, along with warring clan leaders from Somalia and civil society groups. The sources said Derrow has several times ignored calls from Salat to return to Mogadishu for consultations. Somalia has not had a recognised government since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in January 1991. The TNG only controls pockets of the capital, Mogadishu, with the rest of the east African country riven by clan warfare.

The 245-seat TNA was established in August 2000 after a lengthy conference in neighbouring Djibouti. Reacting to reports that his name was among those set to be replaced by new members, cue to sworn in on Tuesday, Derrow told a press conference in Nairobi on Monday that the move was "contrary" to Transitional National Charter law and TNA's internal regulations. "According to Article 20 of the charter, the exercise to swear in new TNA members is unlawful," Derrow said, and described working conditions of assembly members in Mogadishu as "very difficult, without pay."

A total 530 Basque priests Thursday addressed a letter, to be given to Pope John Paul II when he visits Spain this weekend, stating the Basque conflict will only end with recognition of regional autonomy. Tensions in the bloody, three-decade-long struggle for a Basque homeland were aggravated by Madrid's recent banning of the Batasuna political party, which it sees as the political wing of the Basque armed separatist group ETA. "Our people know that the deep roots of these political problems and these serious expressions of violence lie in the lack of recognition of collective rights," said the letter, published in the Basque newspapers Deia and Gara. The priests said the situation "can be resolved through communication and negotiation ... and especially by ensuring the the (Basque) people's free will to live without constraint," it said. The letter, which decounced "all sorts of terrorism, and especially that carried out by the state and those in power", was signed by priests in the Basque dioceses of of Bilbao, Saint Sebastien, Vitoria and Pamplona and in Bayonne in the French Basque country. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who will accompany the pope on his two-day visit, will meet Saturday with Spanish bishops to discuss the controversy over Batasuna.

The ban has triggered fierce opposition in the Basque country, including from the region's four Catholic bishops. Madrid said the ban was part of Spain's effort to stamp out ETA, whose violent campaign for independence has claimed at least 800 lives. It was the first time a party was outlawed in Spain since the country returned to democracy in 1978 after the death of dictator Francisco Franco. At a mass here Sunday, the 83-year-old pontiff will canonize five Spanish priests and nuns, including a priest executed during the Spanish Civil War, reviving memories of one of the darkest chapters in the country's history.

Spain's supreme court on Saturday barred 241 Basque separatist candidates from standing in municipal and regional elections to be held on May 25, according to a judicial source. The 16 judges took the decision following a supreme court ruling in mid-March banning and dissolving the Basque nationalist Batasuna party, considered the political wing of the armed separatist group ETA. On Saturday the judges barred 241 of the 249 candidates campaigning on a platform of Basque self-determination following a request from attorney general Jesus Cardenal. The barred candidates announced that they would appeal the decision to the Constitutional court and, if necessary, the European court. Justice Minister Jose Maria Michavila declared himself "very happy" with the court's ruling. "We have done what was necessary to put an end to ETA. It is a great day for freedom, particulalry in the Basque country where many democrats have been the victims of terorrism," he told journalists late Saturday.

The banned Batasuna party, which in recent elections has won 10 percent to 20 percent support in the Basque area of northern Spain, has already appealed to the Constitutional coourt over its Supreme court ban. Madrid has said the ban is part of Spain's effort to stamp out ETA, whose violent campaign for independence has claimed at least 800 lives. It was the first time a party was outlawed in Spain since the country returned to democracy in 1978 after the death of dictator Francisco Franco.

Mainstream Tamil political party joins Tamil rebels in asking Sri Lankan army to leave civilian areas

Sri Lanka's mainstream Tamil political party has joined Tamil Tiger rebels in asking the government to withdraw its army from civilian areas in the northern Jaffna Peninsula to allow Tamil civilians to return home, a party official said Monday. "It is the birthright of the internally displaced people to resettle in their own lands," Tamil National Alliance parliamentary group leader R. Sampanthan said.

Resettlement of an estimated 800,000 people, mostly Tamils, displaced by the 19-year civil war has become a major obstacle in the Norwegian-backed peace process, with the rebels from the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam saying the government is not doing enough to help Tamils resettle. This was one of the reasons cited by the rebels for pulling out of peace talks last week.

With the mainstream Tamil party joining the rebels, the government will come under more pressure. "Now the war is over and there should not be any hurdle for the return of the internally displaced people to resettle in their own lands," Sampanthan said. "We are not asking the government to withdraw the army completely from the Jaffna Peninsula. Our position is that the army should reduce its presence amid populated areas, enabling the return of normalcy in the lives of Tamil people," Sampanthan said.

The government says it wants to relocate the military to other areas in the peninsula, but the process takes time and cannot be done immediately. The town of Jaffna and some other areas are under government control, and the army is located near areas of strategic importance. The government is worried that if it allows Tamil civilians to resettle near the army camps, the rebels may plant their cadres, which would create a security risk if the peace talks fail and the war resumes.

The rebels began fighting in 1983 to create a separate homeland for the ethnic Tamil minority, claiming discrimination at the hands of the majority Sinhalese. Since peace talks started, the rebels have said they would settle for more autonomy in Tamil-majority areas. But on April 21, they withdrew from a seventh round of peace talks, scheduled this week in Thailand, saying the government had failed to meet its commitments to resettle displaced Tamils and expedite development projects in the northeast, the traditional home of the Tamils. On Thursday, the rebels also indefinitely postponed a key meeting with the government on development. Norway and Japan are reportedly sending envoys to meet with the rebels and urge them to return to the peace talks.

Fear, apprehension grips northern Sri Lanka as Tamil Tiger rebels suspend peace talks

For more than 14 months, the guns have been silent in Sri Lanka's northern war zone after the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels signed a Norwegian-brokered cease-fire. But the rebels' sudden suspension of their participation in peace talks has awakened fears that war may return to this traditional home of the 3.2 million Tamil minority on this tropical South Asian island.

"There is a certain kind of stiffness that has engulfed people during this last week," said Thiyagalingam Sivakumar, 32, a Tamil pharmacist in Jaffna, the main northern city, which bears the scars of 19 years of fighting. "There is apprehension whether fighting will resume," said Sivakumar, who took over the family business when his father was injured by a shell, and has been displaced three times by the fighting.

The rebels said they suspended the peace talks because the government was not doing enough to normalize the area, particularly removing the military from city centers and the airport. The military is hesitant, as it would have to fight its way back in if the talks fail and war resumes, as has happened twice before. The confidence people had in the peace process six months ago is fast diminishing, Sivakumar said. "We all want peace. We know this is the last chance."

When the British left Sri Lanka in 1948, Jaffna was a vibrant city with graceful colonial buildings, elegant Christian churches, Hindu temples and an enterprising Tamil people. In 1983, the Tamil uprising began in the north - demanding equal rights and then, a separate homeland. From 1990 to 1995, the Tamil Tigers ran a virtually independent state in the Jaffna area, until the military pushed them into the jungles further south. Since then, Jaffna town has been under government control, while parts of the surrounding 2,600 square-kilometer (1,000 square-mile) peninsula have been ruled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam. The rebels have their own police, civil administration, jails, customs, courts and navy.

With the two military forces so close, and peace talks stalled, people are nervous. Sundaraj Nesiah, handling customers in his partially rebuilt grocery shop, says, "People are afraid to invest because the peace process is so shaky. Every time there is an incident people panic." He was dressed in a traditional sarong with markings of vermilion on his forehead, indicating he had started his day with a visit to a Hindu temple. Nesiah is not spending much to fully rebuild his store, which still bears holes from Sri Lankan air force bombing in 2000.

He blames the stalemate on the government dragging its feet on keeping to the cease-fire agreement to move its troops out of civilian areas. "The government should keep to its promises," Nesiah said. His sister, who lives in Canada, had planned to visit Jaffna after an eight-year absence, but has postponed her trip indefinitely, afraid that if fighting breaks out she would be stuck.

There are 40,000 to 50,000 government troops on the peninsula. Also, there are an estimated 6,000-10,000 Tamil Tigers, who hold regular military exercises, displaying their weapons and parading their dreaded "Black Tiger" suicide bombers. The Tigers "aspire for a permanent and peaceful solution," said S. Ilamparithi, the top rebel political leader of Jaffna, "We have made several sacrifices to achieve peace," he said without elaborating, but the Tigers will not disarm until a final political settlement is reached. "It is not up to the LTT and the Tamil people to decide if there is going to be war again," he said. "The ball is now in the government's court."

After a massacre of Tamils in 1983, the rebels started their fight for a separate homeland to escape from job and education discrimination by the 14 million majority Sinhalese. In the latest peace talks, however, they announced they would give up their demand for outright independence and settle for autonomy under a federal system.

Doubts remain about the Tigers' sincerity, because of their history of breaking truces and their traditional opposition to democracy. The areas they control are under a one-party dictatorship, and political assassination is one of the group's trademarks. Appathurai Anandaraj, a teacher, travels on his bicycle, as do most people in Jaffna, to regularly attend meetings convened by the Tigers. They say it is important for students to be aware of the struggle the Tigers are engaging in for the Tamil people, Anandaraj said. "They say they have not given up their demand for Eelam," the Tamil name for the area the rebels control, said the teacher. "I'm not sure what they mean." He said the government has also done a lot to restore normalcy. "We have been able to sleep through the night without the sound of planes raining bombs and shelling," he said. "We want this situation to last."

Crisis in Darfur - Urgent Need for International Commission of Inquiry and Monitoring

As the situation in Darfur, western Sudan, worsens Amnesty International is calling for Darfur to be included in the human rights monitoring set up under the Sudan peace process. In addition, an independent international commission of inquiry should be sent to Darfur to investigate the deteriorating situation. "At a time when peace talks are taking place to end a 20-year conflict which has caused two million deaths and 4.5 million displaced persons, the international community must not watch in silence while the choice of a military solution for human rights problems drags another area of Sudan into disaster," the organization said.

Over the past few years nomad groups from the area have killed hundreds of civilians from sedentary agricultural groups in Darfur, such as the Fur, Zaghawa and Masalit, burning homes and looting cattle and goats. In the latest tragic incident on 23 April, armed members of nomad groups, some of whom were wearing uniforms and said to be members of a government militia, attacked men around the mosque at the market of Mulli in West Darfur, 15 kilometres south of the state capital Geneina. They killed some 55 people, wounded at least 20 and looted or killed domestic animals.

On Friday, 25 April a demonstration in Geneina, protesting at the killings and the failure to arrest those responsible, burnt the governor's office; the security forces killed one demonstrator and arrested a number of people including Munira Abdel Rahman Bahr al-Din, sister of the Sultan of the Masalit, who reportedly led the demonstration. At least one policeman was also killed.

Thousands of villagers have reportedly fled their villages since 11 April after attacks by government forces and government-organized Arab militias fighting against the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA - formed in February by members of sedentary groups in the region) in the area of Kutum, in North Darfur. There are reports of food supplies growing short, but as a result of the military presence in the area, it is extremely difficult to get information about those who have fled their villages. Now Kutum is under curfew from sunrise to sunset, telephones are cut and checkpoints have been set up on the roads in the area. On 25 April the SLA attacked the military airport at El Fasher the capital of North Darfur, reportedly damaging two Antonovs and four Apache helicopters.

"A conflict, which no one wants and which could be solved by clear recommendations and human rights protection mechanisms, must not be allowed to escalate," said Amnesty International. "The international community must act!"

Amnesty International's delegates visited El Fasher in January 2003 and discussed the situation with representatives of the Sudan Government, people from villages which had suffered attacks and local lawyers. Amnesty International subsequently called on the Sudan Government in February to set up an independent commission of inquiry and implement its recommendations. The call was widely welcomed by people in Darfur and outside. However, this opportunity to clarify the complex factors which have led to the present deteriorating situation and to identify human rights mechanisms to protect the people was lost.

"The people of Sudan should not suffer more war with more human rights abuse and suffering. A speedy and impartial international inquiry into the complex causes of the crisis, which can make authoritative recommendations in line with human rights principles to end it, could bring an immediate cease fire."

An independent international Commission of Inquiry could be set up by the African Union or the United Nations General Assembly or Security Council. The investigation should be properly resourced and members of the commission should be independent with a good knowledge of the region and its problems. All authorities concerned should be obliged to cooperate fully with the investigation, and grant it free access to people, places and documents it wishes to examine. Its findings should be made public and recommendations implemented.

In the context of the peace talks the Sudan Government agreed to allow an independent international Commission of Inquiry to be set up to investigate abductions and accusations of slavery in the context of the civil war. "Serious independent inquiries can find out the complex factors which have caused human rights abuses in the region and suggest human rights mechanisms to solve them," Amnesty International said.

Although at first the Sudan Government seemed to seek a peaceful solution to the situation in Darfur - the Sudan National Assembly set up an emergency committee on Darfur and a consultative assembly of citizens of Darfur made recommendations to solve the conflict peacefully - at the end of March the government said demands by the Sudan Liberation Army (formed by sedentary groups in the region) were too high and it had decided to solve the conflict by military means.

In April, after intense lobbying by the Sudan government, the UN Commission on Human Rights voted against the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the Sudan who reported to the UN on the human rights situation in Sudan and whose reports raised the deteriorating situation in Darfur. The loss of the UN Special Rapporteur further jeopardises outside monitoring of human rights violations in Sudan. Peace negotiations are continuing in Kenya under the auspices of the Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and international mediators. But Darfur, in northern Sudan, is not included in the peace talks, nor in the monitoring which is to accompany the peace.

U.S. Report on Pattern of Global Terrorism Ignores Sudan's Efforts in Combating Terrorism

"The report issued by the State Department today entitles: 'Pattern of Global Terrorism 2002' announces that Sudan remains designated as one of those accused of sponsoring terrorism. It is regrettable that despite the acknowledgement of the senior American official that Sudan has been cooperating with the U.S. authorities in combating international terrorism for the last three years, Sudan remains on the list of countries accused by the U.S. of supporting terrorism for another year.

"The announcement came as a shock and caused disappointment to the Sudanese people as well as to fair minded people who expected that the acknowledgement of U.S. officials of cooperation with Sudan would result in the removal of its name from the list. It was shocking because the report reads as follows in justifying the decision: 'Sudan was cooperating with U.S. counter terrorism efforts before September 11, 2001 which included a close relationship with various U.S. government agencies to investigate and apprehend extremists suspected of involvement in terrorist activities. Sudan is a party to 11 of 12 international conventions and protocols relating to terrorism. Sudan also has participated in regional efforts to end the civil war that has been ongoing since 1983...'.

"We feel that the above-mentioned statement should have been a certification for vindication, not incrimination. A country that cooperates on all fronts should be rewarded and encouraged, not penalized.

"The United Nations Security Council vindicated Sudan in September 2001 and as a result, a limited set of diplomatic sanctions was lifted. This month the U.N. Human Rights Commission has given Sudan a clean bill on Human Rights issues. The President of the United States certified on April 21, 2003 to the U.S. Congress that the Government of Sudan is negotiating in good faith with the SPLM in Southern Sudan to end the civil war. All these positive developments indicate that Sudan is exerting efforts as a responsible member of the international community to rid our world from wars and terrorism and maintain international peace and security.

"Unfortunately, the U.S. Government's decision of today to keep Sudan in the list of countries that sponsor terrorism does not encourage those sincere efforts and suggests that sanctions and censure lists are intended to punish not to promote a better world."