Peace Negotiations Watch
Monday, April 18, 2005
(Volume IV, Number 14)
Contents:
Afghanistan
Afghanistan
seeks US security deal
A long-term military
relationship between the countries could include "training and
equipping" Afghan military forces
Armenia/Azerbaijan
OSCE
group expresses concern about rising tension in Nagorno-Karabakh
The Minsk Groupcalled on
the parties to the conflict to reinforce the cease-fire
Armenia
says OSCE report on Nagorno-Karabakh won't reduce tensions
The OSCE report voiced
concerns about growing tensions and cease-fire violations
Burundi/Rwanda
Burundi's
last rebel group agrees to conditional cease-fire, officials say
Representatives of the
rebel National Liberation Force agreed to the conditional cease-fire
UN
says Burundi's last rebels must meet conditions for peace talks
The FNL has asked for UN
mediation in any eventual talks
Chechnya
EU
mission says more funding for Chechnya but more work on human rights, democracy
needed
Nearly three-quarters of
the Chechen population is out of work
Congo
U.N.
Security Council urges Rwandan rebel group to disarm as promised
Rwanda last year
threatened to invade Congo if the 10,000 Hutu rebels hiding in the forests
there were not disarmed
New
fighting in eastern Congo forces thousands to flee
The fighting lasted only
one night
Democratic Republic of Congo Negotiation Simulation
Click here to access the DR
Congo Negotiation Simulation.
Georgia/Abkhazia
High-level
U.S. delegation arrives in breakaway Georgian region for talks with leadership
Saakashvili has sought to
bring Abkhazia and another renegade region, South Ossetia, under the control of
the central government
Georgian
separatist leader declines meeting with U.S. president
Abkhazia has close ties
with Russia and many of its citizens are Russian
Indonesia
Jakarta,
Aceh rebels agree to keep talking peace
Aceh has been a
battleground for government and armed rebels since 1976
Indonesia,
Aceh Rebels Talks Improving
The talks ended a day
early
Progress
made at Aceh peace talks despite tensions on the ground
The conflict intensified
in May 2003 when a truce collapsed and Aceh was put under temporary martial law
Aceh
Negotiation Simulation
Click
here to access the Aceh
Negotiation Simulation.
Ivory
Coast
Ivory
Coast warring factions agree to begin disarming May 14
Disarmament would las from May 14 to July 31
Ivory
Coast army and rebel leaders to meet amid disputes over disarming, recruiting
foreigners
Ivory Coast has been
divided between a rebel-held north and loyalist south since a failed coup in
September2002
Kashmir
Musharraf
travels to India to talk peace and watch cricket
Musharraf's visit is
likely to produce goodwill, but few concrete results
Top
Kashmir rebel group renews offer for talks with New Delhi
Musharraf will hold talks
with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his April 16-18 visit
Report:
India still waiting for Pakistan solution to Kashmir dispute, Indian minister
says
The two countries last
week resumed a bus service connecting the two parts of Kashmir
Kashmir
Negotiation Simulation
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here to access the Kashmir
Negotiation Simulation
Kosovo
International
envoys set guidelines for Kosovo's future status
The guidelines leave
several options open, including independence or a loose union with Serbia
Austria
offers Vienna as venue for possible Serbia-Kosovo talks
Austria's foreign minister’s
visit to Kosovo comes a day after envoys from the United States, the European
Union, Britain, France, Russia, Italy and Germany laid out three key guidelines
on resolving the province's disputed status
Kosovo Negotiation Simulation
Click here to access the Kosovo
Negotiation Simulation.
Macedonia
Macedonia
rejects compromise over name dispute with Greece
Greece argues its
neighbor's name could imply territorial claims toward its own province of
Macedonia
Nepal
Nepal
army claims another big victory over Maoist rebels
Gyanendra has been under
heavy international pressure to re-establish democracy
Nepal Negotiation Simulation
Click here to access the Nepal
Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public International Law &
Policy Group.
Philippines
Philippines
rejects US warning that Mindanao a haven for Islamic militants
Mussomeli denied that
Washington was trying to derail the peace talks
Serbia &
Montenegro
Serbia
Moves a Step Closer to the European Union
A European Commission
study released yesterday said Serbia had greatly improved its co-operation with
the war crimes tribunal in The Hague
Somalia
Somalia's
Cabinet appoints army chief, constitution commission, other key officials
The transitional
government, however, has no functioning army, central bank or justice services
Sri Lanka
Norway's
peace envoy arrives in Sri Lanka amid hopes for crucial tsunami aid deal
He was scheduled to travel
for talks with the Sri Lankan military, the Tigers and European cease-fire
monitors
Over
1,000 Tamils protest in northern Sri Lanka demanding relief to civil war
victims
The war between the Tamil
Tiger rebels and government security forces ended in 2002 with a truce
Sri Lanka Negotiation Simulation
Click here to access the Sri
Lanka Negotiation Simulation
Sudan
U.S.
Official Ties Sudan Aid to Darfur; Support for North-South Accord Conditional
on Progress in West
As a condition of aid, it
will request evidence that the Khartoum government is responding to
international pressure on Darfur
U.S.
State Department official meets with Sudan rebel leader, urges action on peace
accord
Zoellick was to visit the
Abu-Shouk refugee camp
Afghanistan
Afghanistan
seeks US security deal
Edward
Alden and Victoria Burnett, Financial Times, 4/14/2005
Afghanistan
will request a long-term strategic security relationship with the US so it can
better defend itself, Hamid Karzai, the president, said yesterday. But senior
US officials remained noncommittal on whether Washington would establish a
permanent military base in Afghanistan. Mr Karzai, who spoke to reporters
during a brief visit by Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary, said the
question of such a relationship had been raised in past meetings with President
George W. Bush, but would be made formally.
"(The Afghan people) want this relationship to be a sustained economic and
political relationship and, most importantly of all, a strategic security
relationship to enable Afghanistan (to) defend itself, to continue to
prosper," said Mr Karzai. He said discussions included the possibility of
permanent military bases. Mr Rumsfeld refused to be drawn on the question of
establishing permanent bases in Afghanistan, a subject discussed for several
months by US and Afghan officials, saying it was a topic for talks between the
nations' presidents.
A long-term military relationship between the countries could include
"training and equipping" Afghan military forces, Mr Rumsfeld said,
adding: "It is more a question of what we are doing than of permanent
military bases." Yesterday Scott McLellan, White House spokesman, would
not comment specifically on whether the US would offer such permanent
guarantees. "We've been working very closely with the government in
Afghanistan to help the Afghans be able to defend their country from terrorists
and others who seek to derail the progress to democracy," he said.
Discussions about future security arrangements were "ongoing and we'll
continue to discuss those matters with the government in Afghanistan", he
said. The US military has about 17,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan and
focused on fighting remnants of the Taliban regime and al-Qaeda. It is leading
the training of the new national army, which has grown to about 20,000.
The prospect of a long-term US military presence appeals to Afghan officials,
who worry the US will abandon the country once the imminent threat of al-Qaeda
fades. The government remains distrustful of its neighbours after decades of
civil war in which Afghan militias often acted as proxies for bordering
countries.
General
Rahim Wardak, Afghan defence minister, said last week that a military
partnership could include air bases or pre-positioned US military equipment
that could be quickly deployed. Asked if he would consider sending troops from
the new, US-trained Afghan National Army to Iraq, Mr Karzai said Afghanistan
would be "happy to help", but had not yet received any such request.
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______________________________________________________________________________________
Armenia/Azerbaijan
OSCE
group expresses concern about rising tension in Nagorno-Karabakh
Associated
Press, 4/15/2005
An
OSCE group said Friday it is concerned about growing tension between Armenia
and Azerbaijan in the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. The group trying to
settle the dispute, which comprises representatives from Russia, the United
States and France, said it was concerned by cease-fire violations along the
enclave's front lines and "by public statements about the possibility of
war."
"These violations are causing needless loss of life and jeopardizing the
cease-fire," the Minsk Group said in a statement. Nagorno-Karabakh is a
mountainous region inside Azerbaijan that has been under the control of ethnic
Armenians since the early 1990s, following fighting that killed an estimated
30,000 people. A cease-fire was signed in 1994, but the enclave's final
political status has not been determined and shooting breaks out frequently
between the two sides, which face off across a demilitarized buffer zone.
The Minsk Group, a part of the Vienna-based Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, called on the parties to the conflict to reinforce the
cease-fire and refrain from inflammatory public statements. The group called on
the sides in a statement "to recognize that a renewal of hostilities
cannot provide a lasting solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict but would be
disastrous for the population of both countries" and to "prepare
their populations for a balanced negotiated agreement that will require
compromise on both sides."
The group last month issued a report calling on Armenia and authorities in
Nagorno-Karabakh to discourage Armenians from settling in territories it seized
in the war.
Armenia
says OSCE report on Nagorno-Karabakh won't reduce tensions
Associated
Press, 4/17/2005
Armenia
reacted negatively to an OSCE report on the tense situation in the disputed
enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, saying didn't take enough notice of cease-fire
violations by Azerbaijan. Foreign Ministry spokesman Gamlet Gasparyan on
Saturday repeated his country's assertions that Azerbaijan was responsible for
continued violations along the enclave's front lines. He said the OSCE report,
released Friday by the organization's so-called Minsk Group, should have done
more to underscore that.
The OSCE report voiced concerns about growing tensions and cease-fire
violations and called on all sides to refrain from inflammatory public
statements. "The noticeable caution by the co-chairmen (in the report) ...
will not promote the preservation of the cease-fire regime," Gasparyan
said. "We expect that the co-chairmen and those interested in preserving
stability in the region will take more decisive steps."
Azerbaijan, which has not reacted publicly to the report, blames Armenia and
Karabakh Armenians for stoking tensions. Nagorno-Karabakh is a mountainous
region inside Azerbaijan that has been under the control of ethnic Armenians
since the early 1990s, following fighting that killed an estimated 30,000
people. A cease-fire was signed in 1994, but the enclave's final political
status has not been determined and shooting breaks out frequently between the
two sides, which face off across a demilitarized buffer zone.
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Burundi's
last rebel group agrees to conditional cease-fire, officials say
Aloys
Niyoyita, Associated Press, 4/13/2005
Burundi's
last active rebel group has agreed to stop fighting the transitional government
once the two sides begin negotiating a political settlement to the civil war,
officials said Wednesday. The development brightens prospects for Burundi to
end a 12-year conflict that began when paratroopers from the Tutsi ethnic minority
assassinated the country's first democratically elected president, from the
Hutu Majority, said Communication Minister Onesime Nduwimana.
Representatives of the rebel National Liberation Force agreed to the
conditional cease-fire in talks that began last week with Tanzanian officials. The rebels dropped earlier demands that
President Domitien Ndayizeye, Tutsi military chiefs and Tutsi political leaders
personally negotiate a political settlement to the conflict with the group.
Rebels have now agreed to talk with representatives of Burundi's government,
Nduwimana told The Associated Press. "We have no reason to doubt their
sincerity and the Tanzanian government has no objection to facilitating the
talks with the Burundi government," Tanzania's Foreign Minister Jakaya
Kikwete told The Associated Press in the country's commercial capital, Dar es
Salaam.
Regional leaders, who declared the rebel group a terrorist organization last
August, must now meet to decide when and how rebel and government representatives
would negotiate an end to the conflict, Nduwimana said. "We think that it
is a good thing that the war will come to an end in Burundi now that the FNL
has agreed to political negotiations," Nduwimana said.
More than 250,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the fighting
between Hutu rebels and the former Tutsi-dominated government. A new government
was formed in 2003 after a power-sharing deal was struck with the largest Hutu
rebel group, but the National Liberation Force has so far refused to lay down
its arms. Since Christmas, however, the group has been pressing regional
leaders, Burundi's government and the United Nations to open talks to end the
conflict.
UN
says Burundi's last rebels must meet conditions for peace talks
Agence
France Presse, 4/13/2005
The
United Nations has welcomed a pledge by Burundi's lone remaining rebel group to
enter peace talks with the government but said they must meet certain
conditions first. Just hours after the National Liberation Front (FNL) renewed
an offer for talks with Bujumbura, the chief of the UN Operation in Burundi
(ONUB), Carolyn McAskie, said the group must first renounce terrorism and stop
fighting.
The FNL has asked for UN mediation in any eventual talks and in the past
McAskie has said she would be willing to contribute. "We are pleased to see the FNL
demonstrate its willingness to negotiate publicly and in writing, but this
movement must fulfill certain conditions before negotiating," she said
late Tuesday. "The FNL was declared a terrorist group by the states of the
region," McAskie said. "They have to say what role they played in the
Gatumba massacre and they must definitively renounce terrorist acts."
Last August, Great Lakes regional states declared the FNL a terrorist group
after it claimed responsibility for the massacre of some 160 people in
Burundi's western Gatumba locality. But a preliminary UN report published
shortly after the killings said they may have been the work of the Democratic
Republic of Congo's Mai Mai rebels or Rwandan Hutu extremists.
On Tuesday, after meeting with senior Tanzanian officials in Dar es Salaam, a
senior FNL official said the group was ready for talks with Bujumbura on a
"sustainable peace" and would stop fighting as soon as they began. The
FNL is the only one of Burundi's seven rebel groups not to have signed a peace
deal with the government of the country still emerging from 11 years of civil
war that claimed 300,000 lives.
In recent weeks, it has stepped up attacks in and around the capital in what
analysts believe may be an attempt to strengthen its bargaining position ahead
of any peace talks. The FNL said for the first time on February 1 that it would
hold unconditional talks with the government, but Bujumbura has been wary of
entering such negotiations.
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EU
mission says more funding for Chechnya but more work on human rights, democracy
needed
Musa
Sadulayev, Associated Press, 4/13/2005
The
European Union is prepared to give more aid to war-battered Chechnya but
authorities must deal with rampant human rights abuses and guarantee that
upcoming legislative elections are democratic, an EU official said Wednesday. Chechnya's
Kremlin-backed president, meanwhile, said Europe must prosecute Chechens and
others who have fled after committing crimes in the southern Russian region - a
pointed reference to several top Chechen rebel leaders who have sought asylum
in Britain and other countries.
"These people must be punished in accordance with Russian law and answer
for violence against their own people," Chechen President Alu Alkhanov
said. Hugues Mingarelli, who is heading
a European Commission delegation on a two-day trip to Chechnya and other
volatile neighboring provinces, said the EU has given nearly [euro]170 million
(US$219 million) in aid to Chechnya since 1999 and is prepared to give more for
rebuilding work.
"But for this to happen, it's necessary to resolve several questions on
preserving human rights, prosecuting those guilty of violating human rights and
conducting free democratic elections for parliament," said Mingarelli,
speaking in the Chechen capital Grozny. Alkhanov said authorities were taking
all necessary measures to halt human rights abuses.
The delegation is also scheduled to visit schools, hospitals and refugee
centers to assess the region's aid needs. Russian forces left Chechnya in 1996
after a disastrous, 20-month war with separatists. Fighting resumed in 1999,
when Chechnya-based insurgents made raids into a neighboring region and after a
series of deadly apartment-house bombings in Russian cities that officials
blamed on the rebels.
Nearly three-quarters of the Chechen population is out of work and electricity
and telephone services are largely nonexistent. Tens of thousands of people
have fled, mostly to neighboring regions and violence has spread to other
Caucasus regions. Rampant abductions of civilians - committed by separatist
fighters, Russian forces and Kremlin-allied paramilitaries - have destabilized
the region, leaving the populace fearful.
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U.N.
Security Council urges Rwandan rebel group to disarm as promised
Nick
Wadhams, Associated Press, 4/12/2005
The
U.N. Security Council on Tuesday urged Rwandan rebels operating in eastern
Congo to make good on their promises and hand over their weapons to United
Nations peacekeepers. The council welcomed a March 31 statement in which the
Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, the main Hutu militia group,
vowed to stop fighting in the region and condemned the Hutu-led 1994 genocide
in Rwanda.
Rwanda last year threatened to invade Congo if the 10,000 Hutu rebels hiding in
the forests there were not disarmed. Rwanda says the fighters include Hutu
extremists who fled into Congo in 1994 to escape retribution for their roles in
Rwanda's genocide - in which more than 500,000 people were killed, mostly from
the Tutsi minority.
The rebel group has said it wants to become a legitimate political party. The
council, in a statement, called the rebels' promise "a significant
opportunity to move toward the return of peace" in Congo. The rebels'
pledge could also help foster reconciliation in Rwanda and restore relations
between the two countries, it said.
It also urged the group to return to Rwanda as soon as possible and cooperate
as promised with a U.N. tribunal prosecuting suspects in the Rwandan genocide. Rwanda
invaded Congo to hunt down the rebels twice, in 1996 and 1998, sparking a
devastating five-year war in Congo that sucked in six African nations and
killed nearly 4 million people, aid groups say. In December, Rwanda threatened
to invade a third time, and Congo sent thousands of soldiers to the border in a
tense face-off.
It is not clear how many of the Hutu rebels remaining in Congo fall under any
central command. The demand that the rebels disarm is separate from a U.N.
deadline that expired April 1 for about 15,000 militiamen in the same area to
hand over their weapons. U.N. officials say about 8,300 have given up their weapons
so far.
New
fighting in eastern Congo forces thousands to flee
Bryan
Mealer, Associated Press, 4/14/2005
Fresh
fighting in eastern Congo has driven another 7,500 residents from their homes,
a U.N. official said Thursday. The clashes between two brigades of government
troops took place April 3 near Kanyabayonga, located about 150 kilometers (93
miles) north of Goma, said Patrick Lavand'Homme, head of the United Nations
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Goma.
The fighting - which began over a misunderstanding - lasted only one night, but
was enough to empty six surrounding villages, he said, declining to give
further details. "Most aren't
fleeing the fighting itself, but simply the presence of more military near
their villages, which could lead to more problems," said Lavand'Homme.
Many of the soldiers involved were former militiamen who have been integrated
into Congo's army, part of a power-sharing deal that ended its devastating
1998-2002 war. Residents of the Kanyabayonga region have grown accustomed to
fleeing at the sound of gunfire. Fighting in December between government and
renegade soldiers sent hundreds of thousands of people running into the dense
forests. Many succumbed to sickness and starvation while living in the wild,
while the rest returned to find their homes looted and destroyed.
U.N. officials estimate between 600,000 to 800,000 displaced people still
remain in the area from clashes over the past year. Many of the displaced -
including those from last week - have found shelter with friends or relatives,
said Lavand'Homme. Law and order has been slow to take hold in eastern Congo,
which is still reeling from years of war. The first sign came last month, when
Rwandan Hutu rebels living in the region vowed to give up fighting and return
to Rwanda.
The Hutu rebels fled to Congo after being suspected of killing over 500,000
ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda's 1994 genocide. Rwanda invaded
Congo twice, in 1996 and 1998, under the auspices of rooting out the rebels,
who they claimed were plotting another slaughter in Rwanda. The United Nations
estimates about 10,000 rebels still remain in Congo.
The last invasion kicked off a war that sucked in six African nations and
killed nearly 4 million people, mostly from war-induced starvation and
sickness. Other signs of hope are coming further north from the hill-swept
Ituri province, where about 10,000 ethnic Hema and Lendu militia have recently
surrendered their weapons to U.N. peacekeepers.
Clashes between the militias has killed over 50,000 people since 1999, and
displaced 100,000 since December. Since March, peacekeepers have launched
operations to disarm the militia, staging two assaults on renegade groups and
killing nearly 75 fighters.
Democratic Republic of Congo Negotiation Simulation
Click here to access the DR
Congo Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public International Law &
Policy Group.
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High-level
U.S. delegation arrives in breakaway Georgian region for talks with leadership
Associated
Press, 4/11/2005
The
leader of Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia asserted the region's independence in
meetings with a high-level U.S. delegation Monday, saying he told the Americans
there can be no discussion of the province's status with the central
government. "Abkhazia's independence is provided by its constitution and
has been affirmed in a pupular referendum," said Sergei Bagapsh, the
president of the region, which is not internationally recognized said after
talks with a U.S. delegation.
Bagapsh said Abkhazia will discuss economic issues with the Georgian
authorities, but not political issues. Abkhazia has had de-facto independence
since breaking away from Georgia following a war in the early 1990s. No
government recognizes its self-proclaimed sovereignty, but it has close ties
with Russia. Many of its residents have Russian citizenship, and Georgian authorities
accuse Russia of supporting its separatist leadership.
Since his election last year, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has sought
to bring Abkhazia and another renegade region, South Ossetia, under the control
of the central government, but his offers of broad autonomy within Georgia have
been rejected. The U.S. delegation, which included Stephen Mann, the U.S. State
Department envoy for Eurasian conflicts, and the U.S. ambassador to Georgia,
Richard Miles, also met with the legislature in the Black Sea province.
Georgy Volsky, deputy Georgian minister for conflict resolution, noted that the
delegation was visiting Abkhazia in the runup to U.S. President George W.
Bush's planned visit to Tbilisi next month. "The makeup of the delegation
speaks for itself. This is a very serious visit," Volsky said. "The
United States is interested in stability in our region. ... It's possible that
this will enable constructive dialogue."
Georgian
separatist leader declines meeting with U.S. president
Associated
Press, 4/14/2005
The
leader of Georgia's renegade Abkhazia region is refusing to meet with U.S.
President George W. Bush when he visits the former Soviet republic next month
because the session would not recognize him as the president of an independent
state, his press service said Thursday. Sergei Bagapsh, the president of the
breakaway region, won't attend a meeting with Bush and Georgian President
Mikhail Saakashvili, who has sought to bring Abkhazia and another breakaway
region, South Ossetia, under the control of the central government, the press
service said.
A senior Georgian lawmaker said Tuesday that Bush may hold meetings with
Georgia's two separatist leaders during his visit to the country in early May
as part of U.S efforts to assist in resolving the territorial dispute. The U.S.
Embassy in Tbilisi said that it had no information about plans for such
meetings. The Black Sea region has had de-facto independence since breaking
away from Georgia following a conflict in the 1990s, but it is not recognized
internationally. Saakashvili's offers of broad autonomy for the region have
been rejected.
Abkhazia has close ties with Russia and many of its citizens are Russian.
Tbilisi accuses Russia of supporting the separatists. A U.S. delegation met
with Abkhazia's leadership earlier this week as it planned Bush's visit next
month to Tbilisi. Bagapsh insisted afterward that Abkhazia is independent and
that there can be no discussion of the province's status with the central
government. He said Abkhazia would discuss economic issues with the Georgian
authorities, but not political ones.
Return to Index
Jakarta,
Aceh rebels agree to keep talking peace
Agence
France Presse, 4/16/2005
The
Indonesian government and separatists from its resource-rich Aceh province on
Saturday agreed to hold a fourth round of peace talks next month after wrapping
up a third round of "positive and constructive" negotiations, despite
continued tensions on the ground. "The parties have decided to continue
the dialogue," said former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari who mediated
the talks, adding that the next round of talks would take place from May 26 to
31.
The negotiations, which were wrapped up a day ahead of schedule, aimed at
ending a nearly 30-year conflict in Aceh that has left more than 12,000 people
dead. "The negotiations have been held in a positive and constructive
atmosphere," Ahtisaari told reporters, adding that both sides had agreed
to continue seeking "a permanent and comprehensive solution with dignity
for all" to the conflict.
Aceh has been a battleground for government and armed rebels since 1976 when
The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) launched its campaign for independence, angered by
what it said was Jakarta's exploitation of the province's resources. When
government and GAM delegations met for a first round of Helsinki talks in
January it was the first time they had stood face-to-face since May 2003, when
Jakarta declared martial law and launched a major military offensive in the
province.
The renewed efforts to reach a peaceful solution were prompted by a need for
international aid to reach the province worst hit by the December 26 tsunamis. More
than 126,000 people died in Aceh alone. Perhaps the most significant progress
made during the latest Helsinki talks, which followed negotiations in January
and February, was that "the principle of outside monitoring has been
approved", Ahtisaari said, emphasizing however that "no one has been
approached so far" to take on the job.
The European Union, which has put up a lot of funding for the negotiations, and
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have been discussed as
possible monitors, he said, adding that the United Nations would not be
involved. Monitoring is especially important in light of the continued fighting
on the ground in Aceh that has cast a shadow over the otherwise optimistic
talks in Helsinki this week.
"There are open statements from the military that they are continuing
operations and for example sending troops, more troops, so there is a
contradiction for the government in Jakarta," GAM delegate Nur Djuli said
after the talks ended, hinting that the military might be trying to sabotage
the peace process. "Each time we get close to an agreement violence rises,"
he told AFP.
On Saturday the Indonesian military, which has admitted to killing more than
260 rebels since the tsunamis, said it had seized a large cache of ammunition
and shot dead a guerrilla in the Aceh Besar district, after announcing on
Thursday that it would send another 3,000 troops into the province. After the
talks concluded on Saturday however, head of the Indonesian delegation,
Communication and Information Minister Sofyan Djalil, insisted that those
troops were just relieving soldiers already deployed in Aceh.
At this week's talks, the delegations also agreed to try to define a framework
for the local administrative structure of the war-torn province, explore the
possibility for reform involving local elections as well as a possible amnesty
for the rebels, Ahtisaari said. Going forward the two parties will also attempt
to combat corruption in Aceh and review the allocation of revenues between the
central government in the region.
"The only outstanding question is security arrangements and we believe
this could be done in the next round," GAM spokesman Bakhtiar Abdullah
said, adding that the rebels hoped something concrete on security would be
signed in the next negotiations. "We share the same optimism,"
Indonesian Justice and Human Rights Minister Hamid Awaluddin said at a separate
press conference on Saturday.
Indonesia,
Aceh Rebels Talks Improving
Matti
Huuhtanen, Associated Press, 4/16/2005
Aceh
rebels and Indonesian government delegates made a "breakthrough" at
peace talks aimed at ending a three-decade insurgency in the tsunami-ravaged
province, the Finnish mediator said. Both sides said they made progress toward
ending the conflict, but rebels said they were concerned about Indonesian troop
deployments in the region.
"I would like to describe this as a breakthrough," said former
President Martti Ahtisaari, who mediated the third round of negotiations. "We have moved to a very substantive
discussion on the issues," he said Saturday, adding that the next round of
talks would begin on May 26 in Finland. Aceh rebels have been struggling for 27
years for a separate homeland in the oil- and gas-rich region where more than
12,000 people have been killed.
The talks, which ranged from issues of local administration and elections to
security and amnesty for rebels, ended a day early, but both members of the
Indonesian government and the rebels reported progress. They pledged to
restrain their forces in the province, which was devastated by the Dec. 26
tsunami. "I believe all the problems will be solved. There is an intention
to find a peaceful solution (to the question of Aceh)," said Justice
Minister Hamid Awaluddin, the head of the Indonesian government negotiating
team.
Leaders of the Free Aceh movement, also known as GAM, who are based in exile in
Sweden, said they were satisfied with the outcome of the third round of talks,
but expressed reservations about government forces in the area. "We can
see from their statements that the military is continuing to send more troops
into the region." said Bakhtiar Abdullah, a GAM spokesman.
Awaluddin denied the government had sent more troops to Aceh, saying they were
"replacements." The talks have centered on limited self-government
for the province and the integration of the rebel movement into society. Indonesian
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said Jakarta would never allow Aceh to
separate from the rest of Indonesia, but added that a government plan to give
the region a greater say in running its affairs must be implemented.
An undersea earthquake of at least magnitude-9.0 off Indonesia triggered a
tsunami that traveled across the Indian Ocean, killing at least 126,000 people
in Indonesia, almost all of them in Aceh, and another 48,000 in 10 other
countries.
Progress
made at Aceh peace talks despite tensions on the ground
Agence
France Presse, 4/15/2005
Indonesian
officials and Aceh separatists said progress had been made after a fourth day
of peace talks in Helsinki on Friday, despite continued tension on the ground
in the war-torn Aceh province. "We are making progress... The talks have
been very constructive," the Free Aceh Movement's (GAM) Stockholm-based
spokesman Bakhtiar Abdullah told AFP.
"All
in all (the talks are) going well," agreed Indonesian Information and
Communications Minister Sofyan Jalil. More than 12,000 people have been killed
in Aceh since GAM launched its campaign for independence in 1976, accusing
Jakarta of plundering its resources. The
conflict intensified in May 2003 when a truce collapsed and Aceh was put under
temporary martial law, but the December tsunami, which killed more than 126,000
people in Aceh, forced Jakarta and the rebels to return to the negotiating
table.
The
ongoing peace talks are scheduled to last until Sunday and like two previous
rounds of negotiations here in January and February are being mediated by
former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari. "Today we touched on political
participation and also amnesty" for GAM, Abdullah told AFP, adding that
the separatists had presented Jakarta with a proposal for how limited autonomy
in Aceh could be implemented.
Jalil meanwhile told Indonesian reporters on Friday that the government had no
problem with at least some of GAM's suggestions, including issues related to
management of the region's rich natural resources. "Some of their demands
can be met, some can be met but with some adjustment," he said, adding
however that "there are also things that we can't fulfill because these
are against the constitution."
These include a rebel demand that members of parliament from Aceh be given veto
rights on matters related to the province, he said, emphasizing that the
government has yet to officially respond to the GAM proposals. Despite some
disagreements in the meeting rooms, the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI)
foundation organizing the talks was optimistic that concrete progress would be
made by the time the negotiations conclude on Sunday.
"We're pleased that there's this constructive atmosphere... The main
progress is that the parties have really started talking about the substantive
issues," CMI director of state-building and democracy Meeri-Maria Jaarva
told AFP. The high spirits in Helsinki were however clouded by continued
fighting on the ground in Aceh and by the Indonesian military's decision on Thursday
to send another 3,000 troops into the province.
"This will create more tension for the victims of the tsunami,"
Abdullah insisted. "The problem is that when the troops come they never
leave," he said, adding that he was also worried about reports on Thursday
that nine women in the village of Nisam had been gang-raped by Indonesian
troops. Colonel Edi Sulistiadie, a military spokesman in North Aceh district
where Nisam is located, meanwhile insisted that he had not received reports of
rapes carried out by Indonesian soldiers in the district.
"We accept this information and we will perform further investigation on
it but for now, I deny that rapes have taken place," he told AFP, pointing
out that the military had in recent months received "many stories" of
alleged rapes by Indonesian soldiers, but that they all turned out to be hoax
reports. "If we later find that there our men had indeed carried out
rapes, then they would be severely punished," he said.
Such reports "are never a good thing for the talks", Jaarva
acknowledged, but added that "fortunately it hasn't prevented the
talks". During the first day of negotiations in Helsinki on Tuesday GAM
asked Jakarta to call a ceasefire, but Indonesian officials merely shrugged off
the suggestion. "Our view is that the termination of the conflict should
really be permanent. A ceasefire is not permanent," Security Minister
Widodo Adisucipto told journalists in Jakarta.
Abdullah however said he still hoped the question could be discussed before the
negotiations wrap up on Sunday.
Aceh
Negotiation Simulation
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here to access the Aceh
Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public International Law &
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Ivory
Coast warring factions agree to begin disarming May 14
Serme
Lassina, Associated Press, 4/16/2005
Warring
factions in Ivory Coast have agreed to begin a long-delayed disarmament
campaign on May 14, the latest bid to stave off a resumption of hostilities in
this war-divided nation. Both sides agreed Saturday to begin pulling heavy arms
away from front lines that divide the nation beginning April 21, according to a
joint statement signed by Army Chief Col. Philippe Mangou and rebel forces
chief of staff Col. Soumaila Bakayoko.
Disarmament would start afterward, lasting from May 14 to July 31, the
statement said. Rebels have controlled the northern half of Ivory Coast since a
failed coup attempt in September 2002 sparked a civil war in the world's top
cocoa producer. Deep differences between
the two sides have simmered ever since, delaying the start of disarmament
several times.
"The war is finished," Mangou declared confidently after Saturday's
meeting. His words were echoed by Bakayoko. The talks in rebel-held Bouake
followed an earlier round on Thursday - the first such meeting in more than two
years - that ended without agreement. Prime Minister Seydou Diarra attended
along with officials from France and the United Nations, which both have
peacekeepers deployed in the country.
Ble Goude, the fiery leader of the sometimes-violent pro-government Young
Patriots militia who has rallied supporters to march on rebel zones in the
past, told The Associated Press he was optimistic. "We're waiting for that
to become a reality, because its not the first time that we've talked about
disarmament," Goude said. "We'll do all we can to support this
process. We're optimistic."
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a rebel official said earlier the talks had
run into problems over laying out a calendar for disarmament. Rebels wanted
government forces to first repair buildings they destroyed during air raids in
November, he said. It was not clear whether the issue was resolved. The rebels
rejoined Ivory Coast's power-sharing government Friday, ending a five-month
boycott launched after government forces broke a cease-fire with a bombing raid
on rebel positions.
Two rebel ministers attended the Cabinet meeting in the commercial capital,
Abidjan, on Friday. Several others, including main rebel leader Guillaume Soro,
stayed behind in Bouake for Saturday's talks. "We are coming back with
great hopes and to show that we are committed to peace," said Issa
Diakite, a rebel minister in charge of territorial administration. The sports
minister also attended Friday afternoon's Cabinet session.
Rebels have controlled the northern half of Ivory Coast since a failed coup
attempt in September 2002 sparked a civil war in the world's top cocoa
producer. Fighting eased with a French-brokered peace deal in January 2003 that
established a unity government and handed nine rebels Cabinet posts. Rebel
ministers withdrew from the government in November after army forces broke a
long-standing cease-fire with a bombing raid on the rebel-held north that
killed nine French peacekeepers and an American aid worker.
French troops retaliated by wiping out Ivory Coast's small air force, sparking
anti-foreigner riots that prompted thousands to flee the country. In an attempt
to resolve one of the most contentious issues in the conflict, South African
President Thabo Mbeki addressed a letter to all parties Wednesday calling on
all candidates to be allowed to contest elections slated for October.
This would include President Laurent Gbagbo's most serious rival, former Prime
Minister Alassane Ouattara, who was barred from the 2000 presidential race by a
constitutional nationality clause. Ouattara denies government claims that his
mother, whose family was from neighboring Burkina Faso, is not Ivorian. Opposition
leaders welcomed Mbeki's proposals, but the ruling party's Notre Voie newspaper
called the decision "a disruption of all social norms."
Gbagbo has made no public comment, but he had previously argued that the
constitution can be changed only by a national referendum. A buffer zone,
separating warring factions, is patrolled by 6,000 U.N. troops and 4,000 French
peacekeepers, whom Gbagbo's party and pro-government militias have been
demanding quit the country, charging they are partisan.
Ivory
Coast army and rebel leaders to meet amid disputes over disarming, recruiting
foreigners
Serme
Lassina, Associated Press, 4/13/2005
Ivory
Coast's army chief is making his first foray behind rebel lines, pursuing a new
peace accord already challenged by disputes over disarming and charges his
forces are recruiting foreign fighters to renew conflict in the West African
nation. Hours before Thursday's meeting, the wife of an army commander said he
had been detained in an alleged coup plot.
A military prosecutor said Commander Marcellin Kofi Mbahia was only being
interrogated. Solange Mbahia told The Associated Press that troops surrounded
his house Tuesday night at Akouedo military barracks in Abidjan, the commercial
capital, and accused him of plotting to overthrow President Laurent Gbagbo's
government.
Ivory Coast has been divided between a rebel-held north and loyalist south
since a failed coup in September 2002 erupted into civil war. A 2003 peace
agreement signed in France and another in Ghana last year failed to take hold. "Will
the Pretoria Accord be just words, or action?" the U.N. Information
Network asked in an analysis reflecting general skepticism.
On April 6, all parties agreed to end hostilities and immediately start
disarming, at a meeting mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki. They
also agreed to allow Mbeki to decide the most contentious issue, a
constitutional nationality clause that effectively barred Gbagbo's most potent
rival from the presidential race, exiled former Prime Minister Alassane
Ouattara.
On Wednesday, Mbeki sent a letter saying all signatories to the French
agreement must be allowed to contest elections scheduled October - effectively
giving Ouattara the green light. Ouattara's Republican Rally party, which
disputes government claims that his mother is not Ivorian, welcomed the
announcement, saying "We hope that this will put and end to the
misunderstandings that have led to this war."
No immediate comment was available from other players. On Tuesday, Ivory
Coast's U.N. Ambassador Philippe Djangone-Bi refused to say whether the
government would abide by Mbeki's decision. Speaking in New York, he chided
skeptics, and said: "We in Ivory Coast believe that it is necessary to
give peace a chance."
Back home, anxiety mounted with a confrontation between pro-government militia
fighters preventing French troops from patrolling in western Ivory Coast, and
gunmen firing up to 20 shots at a U.N. outpost in the government-held south. No
one was injured, but the incidents were seen as indicators that militant
government supporters are not willing to end hostilities.
Guinean
officials this week denied reports of a gunbattle with Ivorians on the border,
saying there was a shootout on the Ivorian side that did not involved Guinean
troops. There are growing fears that
tensions will explode into renewed war and spread to neighboring countries if
peace is not enforced. "Extremists on both sides would probably take up
arms again," France's Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said in an
interview published Wednesday in Le Figaro newspaper.
"If the partition of Ivory Coast was confirmed, violence would without
doubt spread to neighboring countries and provoke a destabilization of West Africa,"
she said. "By capillary action, all of Africa, which is very fragile at
the moment, would be overtaken by the questioning of frontiers and interethnic
clashes." Fighters loyal to Gbagbo are ignoring his commitment to
dismantle and disarm pro-government militias.
"We do not trust these (rebel) guys and it is out of the question to lay
down our weapons and let them slaughter our parents," the leader of the
Liberation Front of the Great West militia, Denis Maho Glofiehi, told the AP
Wednesday from his base in western Guiglo. "For security reasons, the
disarmament will have to be done simultaneously, but not before the
rebels," Glofiehi said.
He spoke shortly after about 200 of his fighters laid down their weapons in
Abidjan at a ceremony chaired by Maj. Gen. Philippe Mangou, the hard-liner
recently appointed head of security forces. The main New Forces rebel group
says it is willing to disarm, but: "First of all, the militias must be
dismantled and disarmed," according to spokesman Sindou Cisse.
He spoke in the northern rebel stronghold of Bouake, where Mangou, Prime
Minister Seydou Diarra and rebel leader Guillaume Soro are to meet Thursday. On
Tuesday, the rebels accused Gbagbo of recruiting 3,000 Liberian mercenaries and
planning to use them to conduct attacks he would blame on the rebels. New
York-based Human Rights Watch said last week it had interviewed Liberian
fighters recruited by Ivorian soldiers, and U.N. peacekeepers have confirmed a
buildup of forces in government-held western towns, near the border with
Liberia.
Critics say more pressure must be brought on Gbagbo, who in November sent his
newly built-up air force on bombing runs in rebel territory, violating a
cease-fire and killing nine French peacekeepers and an American aid worker.
French troops retaliated by destroying the air force, sparking anti-foreigner
riots that sent thousands fleeing.
France's
defense minister said she would ask for reinforcements for 6,000 U.N. troops in
Ivory Coast. Similar past requests have been ignored, as has a U.N. plea for
humanitarian aid. Donors have pledged just 0.5 percent of US$39 million. Oil
companies in Sierra Leone raised fuel prices last week, saying Ivory Coast was
refining only half what it used to since foreign technicians fled. Landlocked
countries long ago stopped shipping goods through the port at Abidjan.
Still, Ivory Coast remains the world's leader producer of cocoa. Associated
Press writers Nafi Diouf in Dakar, Senegal, and Parfait Kouassi and Pauline Bax
in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, contributed to this report.
Return to Index
Musharraf
travels to India to talk peace and watch cricket
Neelesh
Misra, Associated Press, 4/15/2005
The
India-Pakistan family picture hasn't looked this rosy in years. As Pakistan's
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf visits India this weekend to meet Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh and watch their national teams play cricket, a
feel-good factor prevails between the South Asian nuclear powers, rivals in
three wars.
The two countries ignored militant threats to start a bus service to reunite
families divided for sixty years. Militant attacks are down. Two-way trade is
soaring. Pakistani children are being treated in Indian hospitals. Indians and
Pakistanis are playing cricket and making films together. But those are frills in a relationship soured
by a complex and deep-rooted dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir.
"I am going to India on April 16 to watch the cricket match,"
Musharraf said recently in Islamabad, adding he would also discuss Kashmir.
"It is more important," he said. Analysts say showing flexibility is
key to resolving the bitter six-decade-old territorial dispute, on which the
two countries have made only small concessions.
While both India and Pakistan appear committed to their dialogue on Kashmir
"thus far, neither side is ready for major policy changes," said
Teresita Schaeffer, a former U.S. State Department expert on South Asia now
with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. Musharraf's
will meet Singh up to three times during the Saturday-Sunday visit, including
at Sunday's game. But critics say such high profile summits are often
unproductive - including Musharraf's last visit to India in 2001 for the failed
Agra summit.
"The kind of hype that has accompanied the ... visit ... encourages
political posturing, encourages both sides to play to domestic audiences,"
said Ajai Sahni, head of New Delhi's Institute of Conflict Management.
Musharraf's visit is likely to produce goodwill, but few concrete results, on
Kashmir. However, officials are hopeful progress will be made on resolving
differences over the Baglihar dam, which India is building in its portion of
Kashmir despite Islamabad's fears it dam will choke off water to Pakistan's
main agricultural region.
"The atmospherics are better this time but I doubt if the substance of the
relationship has changed," Hussain Haqqani, a Pakistani scholar at Boston
University, said via an e-mail. For now, there are only goodwill gestures. The
biggest and most popular of those came this month when buses rolled from
opposite sides of divided Kashmir to allow families to visit relatives they
hadn't seen in decades. The bus service was inaugurated despite a militants
attack and threats from rebels who warned passengers not to board "the
coffins."
Kashmiris danced in the streets to celebrate the service, rare jubilation in a
land where 66,000 people have been killed since 1989 in an insurgency by
Pakistan-based militants who want a separate homeland or to merge
Indian-controlled Kashmir into Pakistan. Pakistan supports their cause but
declared after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States that it will not allow
terrorism in the name of Kashmir. Since then, infiltration by rebels has
reduced sharply and attacks are fewer.
But India says the "terrorism infrastructure" still exists. Indian
Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee this week accused Pakistan of having
"double standards on terrorism." For its part, Pakistan accuses
Indian security forces fighting the rebels of widespread rights violations
against Kashmiris. India insists it punishes all such offenses.
In Kashmir, the recent thaw between India and Pakistan has generated new hope
for peace. "After the bus, Kashmiris are feeling that they have achieved
something. A floodgate, so to speak, was opened," said Kashmiri columnist
Shamim Meraj. "It would be suicidal for India and Pakistan if they fail to
carry forward this momentum."
Top
Kashmir rebel group renews offer for talks with New Delhi
Agence
France Presse, 4/16/2005
Muslim
rebels renewed an offer Saturday to hold talks with New Delhi to resolve the
festering row over Kashmir as India prepared to welcome Pakistan President
Pervez Musharraf for a three-day visit. "If India invites us for talks,
we'll come to the table," Syed Salahudin, head of the Hizbul Mujahedin,
said in an interview carried by India's Zee News television channel.
But the dialogue "should be serious and sincere and involve no political
maneuvering," said Salahudin, who operates from the Pakistani zone of the
divided Kashmir and heads the list of most wanted militants in the Indian part.
His comments came as India geared up for
a visit by Musharraf in which the issue of Kashmir was set to be central to his
discussions with Indian leaders.
Musharraf will hold talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his
April 16-18 visit, and take time off in between official engagements to watch a
cricket match between Pakistan and India in the Indian capital. In 2000,
Hizbul, which favours Indian Kashmir becoming part of Pakistan, declared a
unilateral ceasefire in Kashmir. But it ended it within a fortnight after India
rejected Hizbul's demand for trilateral talks involving Pakistan.
India still opposes trilateral talks. Salahudin said the rebels do not oppose
the 14-month peace process between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan which have
fought two of their wars over Kashmir. "We want India and Pakistan to come
closer because it augurs well for all India, Pakistan and the Kashmiris"
and reduces chances of war, he said.
But he said New Delhi cannot only offer confidence-building measures such as
increased people-to-people contacts. "As long as the core issue of Kashmir
is not addressed there will be no progress" toward a lasting settlement,
he said. Salahudin said the rebels would consider laying down arms if India
"stopped military operations against the rebels, separatists are released
from jails and an atmosphere of goodwill is created."
"If the two governments (of India and Pakistan) move towards a resolution
according to the aspirations of Kashmiris, we would not use the gun."
Report:
India still waiting for Pakistan solution to Kashmir dispute, Indian minister
says
Associated
Press, 4/14/2005
Pakistan
has not yet officially proposed a viable solution to the decades-old Kashmir
dispute and it would be unwise to set a deadline for its resolution, India's
external affairs minister told a weekly magazine. Natwar Singh's comments, to
be published Friday by the English-language Outlook magazine, came ahead of
Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's weekend visit to New Delhi to
discuss Kashmir and watch a cricket match.
India has offered "to look at all options, short of redrawing the
boundaries and another partition of the country," Singh said in the
interview, extracts of which were made available to The Associated Press on
Thursday. India and Pakistan have fought
two wars over control of Kashmir since they won independence from Britain in
1947. The Himalayan territory is divided between the two along a cease-fire
line - or Line of Control - but they both claim it in its entirety.
As part of a rapprochement started in 2004, the two countries last week resumed
a bus service connecting the two parts of Kashmir. The bus link was snapped in
1948 when their dispute over Kashmir intensified. In October, Musharraf
suggested that the dispute in Kashmir could be resolved if parts of the
territory became independent, were placed under joint Indian-Pakistani control
or put under U.N. administration. However, he didn't officially propose the
ideas to India.
"The Pakistan government hasn't given us any formal or informal options on
Jammu and Kashmir," Singh said in the interview. Singh also lamented the
longevity of the territorial dispute and warned it would not be over soon. "It
would not be prudent to impose a timeframe or deadline for resolution of the
Jammu and Kashmir issue, an issue which has defied solution for so long, and
which, by all accounts, is complicated," he said.
Discussions with Pakistan will focus "first on the need to end
cross-border terrorism and dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism across the
Line of Control," but also on "Pakistan's illegal occupation of a
portion of Jammu-Kashmir," Singh told the magazine. India accuses Pakistan
of arming and training more than a dozen Islamic rebel groups fighting for
Kashmir's independence or its merger with Pakistan. Pakistan denies this and
maintains it provides only ideological support to the rebels. More than 65,000
people have died in the fighting.
"There is no question of taking Pakistan off the hook on the issue of
cross-border infiltration and terrorism in the (Kashmir) Valley," Singh
said. On Thursday, India's Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee accused Pakistan
of adopting double standards on terrorism in the region. "Pakistan can't
play the double role of fighting terrorism jointly with the United States on
one hand and abetting terrorism in the name of freedom fighting in
Jammu-Kashmir on the other. The terrorism infrastructure in Pakistan is still
intact despite the thaw in India-Pakistan ties," Mukherjee said in the
northern Indian city of Chandigarh.
Kashmir
Negotiation Simulation
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Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public International Law &
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International
envoys set guidelines for Kosovo's future status
Fisnik
Abrashi, Associated Press, 4/13/2005
A
group of senior international envoys on Wednesday discussed Kosovo's future
status for the first time with the disputed U.N.-run province's leaders, laying
out three key guidelines. Michael Scheffer, a senior German diplomat, said the
province could not return to the situation before 1999, when it was under
direct Serb rule. He ruled out the province being partitioned along ethnic
Albanian and Serbian lines. He also ruled out the creation of any new union
between predominantly ethnic Albanian Kosovo and other countries in the region,
such as Albania.
The guidelines leave several options open, including independence or a loose
union with Serbia. "It is paramount that the solution of Kosovo's status
strengthens in the first place regional security and stability," Scheffer
said after the meeting. He added that no unilateral solution or those arrived
to by the use of force will be acceptable.
Scheffer spoke on behalf of the so-called Contact Group that includes
representatives from United States, the European Union, Britain, France,
Russia, Italy and Germany after a series of talks held over the last three days
with leaders from Kosovo and Serbia as well as the province's U.N.
administrators. Kosovo has been an international protectorate administered by
the United Nations and a NATO-led peacekeeping force since 1999, when a NATO
air war ended a Serb crackdown on ethnic-Albanian separatists.
Serbs consider Kosovo an integral part of their state, but the province's
ethnic Albanian majority want complete independence. "Finding a permanent
solution can only be the result of dialogue and negotiations," Scheffer
said. Talks to decide the province's future will be held later this year, if
Kosovo reaches internationally set standards for protecting minority rights,
democratization and the reform of local governance, which would give Serbs and
other minorities more say in areas where they live.
Scheffer also added that the diplomats urged the start of the dialogue between
ethnic Albanians and Serbs as a first step in the attempts to bridge the great
divide between the two sides on Kosovo's future status. Serbia's President
Boris Tadic said Tuesday he would invite Kosovo's President Ibrahim Rugova for
direct talks on the future of the province. But in a sign of deep distrust,
Rugova promptly refused the invitation, saying the meeting could only happen
"after Kosovo's independence is recognized."
Austria
offers Vienna as venue for possible Serbia-Kosovo talks
Garentina
Kraja, Associated Press, 4/14/2005
Austria's
foreign minister said Thursday that her country was prepared to host a meeting
between the leaders from Serbia and Kosovo if the two former foes choose to do
so. Ursula Plassnik, who is on a two-day regional tour, arrived in Kosovo as
international efforts intensify to shape the province's future status. "Austria
has the advantage of being a credible, a good partner for discussions, and
Vienna and other places in Austria are, of course, good venues for any
dialogue, for any contact," Plassnik said. "We stand ready; we are
prepared."
Her visit to Kosovo comes a day after envoys from the United States, the
European Union, Britain, France, Russia, Italy and Germany laid out three key
guidelines on resolving the province's disputed status.
The envoys said the province could not return to its pre-1999 status, when it
was under direct Serb rule. They ruled out the province being partitioned along
ethnic Albanian and Serbian lines, and also ruled out the creation of any new
union between predominantly ethnic Albanian Kosovo and other countries in the
region, such as Albania.
The
guidelines leave several options open, including independence or a loose union
with Serbia. The diplomats also urged the restart of the dialogue between
ethnic Albanians and Serbs as a first step in the attempts to bridge the great
divide between the two sides on Kosovo's future status. Austria was the venue
of the first official meeting between the sides two years ago.
Plassnik visited Belgrade on Wednesday as part of her tour in the region, ahead
of Austria taking over the rotating EU chairmanship in 2006. Kosovo, formally a
province of the Serbia-Montenegro union that replaced the disintegrated
Yugoslavia, is being run by a U.N. mission. Ethnic Albanians are demanding an independent
state, and the Serbs insist it should remain within their borders.
Kosovo Negotiation Simulation
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Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public International Law &
Policy Group.
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Macedonia
rejects compromise over name dispute with Greece
Associated
Press, 4/12/2005
Macedonia's
Foreign Minister on Tuesday rejected a UN-backed compromise proposal over the
tiny republic's name which remains disputed by neighbor Greece. "The only
acceptable name for us in international communication, and within the United
Nations, is our constitutional name - Republic of Macedonia," Ilinka
Mitreva said.
Greece argues its neighbor's name could imply territorial claims toward its own
province of Macedonia, and is a potential threat to regional stability. The
dispute started when the former Yugoslav republic gained independence in 1991. Last
week, Greece said it was willing to negotiate on the basis of a new U.N.
proposal to refer to the republic as "Republika Makedonija-Skopje" at
the United Nations and other international bodies. The country is currently
referred to under the provisional name, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Return to Index
Nepal
army claims another big victory over Maoist rebels
Agence
France Presse, 4/14/2005
At
least 65 Maoist rebels have been killed in the latest fighting in Nepal, the
army said on Thursday, taking their unconfirmed death toll to more than 200 in
the past week. Most of the reported deaths were in the western district of
Rukum, scene of the heaviest fighting last week since King Gyanendra seized
power on February 1.
"Sixty Maoist rebels were killed in a fresh clash with the security forces
at Dalphing in Rukum district on Wednesday," the Nepal Royal Army said in
a statement, adding the Maoists had suffered "yet another heavy"
defeat. The fighting came less than a
week after almost 150 rebels were reported killed and another 300 wounded when
they attacked an army base in the village of Khara in the same district, about
400 kilometres (250 miles) west of Kathmandu.
It was the heaviest clash since King Gyanendra dismissed the government and
imposed emergency rule in the poverty-stricken Himalayan kingdom, saying the
move was necessary to tackle the revolt. The Maoists, who control large swathes
of Nepal, are fighting to topple the monarchy and install a communist republic
in an insurgency which has claimed 11,000 lives since 1996.
Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the Maoist high command confirmed the rebels' heavy
losses in the Khara clash without giving the number of casualties, but claimed
the Maoists had learned good fighting experience from the incident. The latest
fighting was reported as King Gyanendra, under international pressure over his
power-seizure, announced municipal polls to "reactivate the democratic
process".The king said law and order had improved since he imposed
emergency rule and suspended civil liberties.
"In view of the improving law-and-order situation, there should not be any
delay in activating the democratic process," Gyanendra said in a speech
marking the Nepali New Year. "We have, therefore, commanded the election
commission to conduct municipal elections," he said on state radio. The
king, who has pledged to restore democracy within three years, said he had
ordered municipal elections to be held in Nepal's 58 municipalities before
mid-April next year. The Nepali calendar year runs from mid-April to mid-April.
Gyanendra has been under heavy international pressure to re-establish
democracy. India and Britain have suspended military aid and the United States
has threatened to follow suit. While Maoist violence and anti-monarchy protests
have fallen sharply in the Kathmandu valley since the royal takeover, bombings
and battles with rebels have been reported in other areas. The Maoists have
also held nationwide general strikes and blockades to protest the king's power
grab.
An army official told AFP at least three security personnel were killed and
seven others were injured in the Khara fighting that lasted more than 18 hours
between Thursday night and Friday morning last week. In a separate incident, a military
statement said five more rebels were killed in an armed clash on Wednesday at
Sabukhal area of Arghakhanchi distict, 300 kilometres (188 miles) southwest of
Kathmandu.
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Philippines
rejects US warning that Mindanao a haven for Islamic militants
Agence
France Presse, 4/11/2005
President
Gloria Arroyo on Monday rejected a US warning that the southern Philippines was
becoming a "mecca" for Islamic militants and could become the next
Afghanistan. Joseph Mussomeli, the number-two official of the US embassy here
has cited training activity of Muslim militants on Mindanao, apparently with
the cooperation of certain factions of a separatist guerrilla group that is set
to hold peace talks with Manila next weekend.
These groups trained in bomb-making in Mindanao and had conducted bombing
campaigns in the country, he said in comments to SBS television of Australia.
The transcripts were posted at the US embassy website Monday. "We are making gains against terrorism
and poverty every single day and week that passes," Arroyo spokesman
Ignacio Bunye retorted.
"Such negative hyperbole to describe the Mindanao situation is out of tune
with what is happening on the ground," Bunye added. Mussomeli said the
militants' training activities are a long-term threat. "I'm worried that
we're not worried enough." He said certain portions of Mindanao were
"so lawless, so porous the borders that you run the risk of it becoming
like an Afghanistan situation."
Mussomeli said both governments are aware that certain individuals or factions
within the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is set to begin peace
talks with Manila on Saturday, have links with both local and foreign militant
groups. He said Washington was concerned because "it seems that the links
are stronger, that Mindanao is almost, forgive the poor religious pun, the new
Mecca for terrorism."
Manila officials concede militant factions within the 12,000-member MILF have
in the past given sanctuary and even training facilities to the Jemaah
Islamiyah (JI), the alleged Southeast Asian proxy of the Al-Qaeda militant
Islamic network, as well as the Mindanao-based Abu Sayyaf group (ASG). But
Mussomeli said Washington has "firm" information that these camps
were still up and running on Mindanao. He refused to elaborate.
Mussomeli denied that Washington was trying to derail the peace talks, saying:
"We certainly do not believe or at least we don't have clear evidence yet
that the MILF as an institution, as an organization, have links with the JI or
ASG." However, "it has to be a genuine peace process, and not a
farce. There can't be real peace unless the links with JI and ASG are severed.
That's the reality."
Mussomeli said the Philippines military "needs a lot of re-work,
rebuilding from the roots up" after the country suffered a long economic
crisis over the past decade. With President Gloria Arroyo's government
preoccupied with a looming fiscal crisis, Mussomeli believes Manila is not
"devoting enough time to the fight on terrorism."
Small groups of US military advisers are training Filipino military units on
Mindanao. One such training activity began Monday on the southern island of
Basilan.
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Serbia
Moves a Step Closer to the European Union
Nicholas
Wood, NY Times, 4/13/2005
After
two years of sanctions and criticism of the Serbian government's failure to
arrest war-crime suspects, the European Union indicated yesterday that it
considered the federation of Serbia and Montenegro ready to start negotiations
on closer ties with the 25-nation union. A European Commission study released yesterday
said Serbia had greatly improved its co-operation with the war crimes tribunal
in The Hague.