U.N. Tribunal on Former Yugoslavia Issues Last War Crimes Indictment
THE HAGUE -- The U.N. tribunal here said Tuesday that it had issued its last indictment after more than a decade of investigating war crimes committed in connection with the disintegration of Yugoslavia, and it vowed to bring all suspects to justice.
An indictment made public on Tuesday against Macedonia's former interior minister, Ljube Boskovski, and a former senior police officer would be the last from the tribunal, which was established in 1993, according to a spokeswoman for the chief prosecutor, Carla del Ponte.
The court has brought charges relating to all the conflicts that erupted during the collapse of the old Yugoslav federation, except the brief dispute in Slovenia. Individuals from Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia have been charged.
The Americas
• LA PAZ, Bolivia -- President Carlos Mesa, besieged by street protests that have paralyzed the country, said he would ask Congress to call early elections in August to replace him.
"This is the only way to prevent a bloodbath," Mesa said. "They have tied my hands in every way to keep me from going forward. We've done everything we can."
Bolivia has been plagued for weeks by highway blockades set up by Indian protesters opposed to Mesa's economic policies. The roadblocks have caused food shortages in major cities and cost businesses millions of dollars a day.
Elections had previously been scheduled for June 2007. Mesa is prohibited by law from running, legal analysts say.
• QUITO, Ecuador -- Thousands of opponents of Ecuador's president, in a protest march that brought the country's third-largest city to a halt, called for the firing of the Supreme Court.
Protests in the Andean nation have increased since December, when supporters of President Lucio Gutierrez in Congress voted to fire the nation's top court and replace its 31 members with judges who the opposition says favor the president.
EUROPE
• MOSCOW -- Russia's security service announced that it had paid an unprecedented $10 million to informers who helped track down a Chechen rebel leader, Aslan Maskhadov, who was killed last week.
The announcement appeared to be part of a stepped-up effort to eliminate separatist leaders whose fight against the Kremlin has dragged on for most of the past decade and destabilized much of Russia's southern flank. The Kremlin also has offered a $10 million reward to anyone who helps track down the Kremlin's top foe, the warlord Shamil Basayev.
Asia
• JALAL-ABAD, Kyrgyzstan -- Protesters held regional and district governors captive for a second day in western Kyrgyzstan as thousands rallied in the south to protest alleged election fraud and demand that President Askar Akayev resign.
The opposition accuses authorities of widespread abuses in Sunday's parliamentary runoff elections, in which Akayev secured an overwhelmingly loyal parliament. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the vote had significant problems.
The Middle East
• JERICHO, West Bank -- Israeli officials expressed outrage when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said he planned to free a militant jailed in the assassination of an Israeli government minister.
Abbas, trying to win the support of armed groups he hopes to persuade to formalize the cease-fire that was reached at talks in Egypt, said militant leader Ahmed Saadat would go free when Israeli troops left Jericho. Israel says Saadat ordered the killing of Rehavam Zeevi, the tourism minister, in 2001.
Despite the announcement, Israeli security sources said Israel was sticking to plans to pull back troops on Wednesday from Jericho, the West Bank city where Saadat is jailed.
-- From News Services
