WORLD IN BRIEF

Congo Militia Fighters Disarm Ahead of Vote

KINSHASA, Congo -- Nearly 2,000 militia fighters have laid down their weapons in Congo's lawless Ituri district since disarmament centers reopened two weeks ago after being closed for a year, a disarmament official said Saturday. The vast, mineral-rich African country is to hold historic polls July 30.

Violence remains endemic, however. In Ituri, a remote northeastern district, 60,000 people have been killed in fighting since 1999, and militia fighters are still holding five U.N. Nepali peacekeepers hostage.

Last year, over 15,000 gunmen signed on to U.N.-sponsored disarmament programs before the centers closed with the expiration of the deadline.

But despite the presence of thousands of U.N. peacekeepers and their support of the national army, violence continued, as the militia re-recruited former fighters who were not given fresh starts as civilians.

europe

? SARAJEVO, Bosnia -- Several thousand people, most of them survivors of Europe's worst civilian massacre since the Holocaust, welcomed home Naser Oric, 39, the Muslim commander freed by the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague after a three-year trial.

Judges had found him guilty Friday of failing to prevent murder and torture of Serb captives but gave him a lenient two-year sentence and ordered his immediate release, taking into account his time in custody.

Oric had commanded troops defending the Bosnian Muslim enclave of Srebrenica, where a 1995 Serb assault ended with the slaughter of about 8,000 men and boys in a week.

? LE BOURGET, France -- Thousands rallied near Paris in support of an Iranian exile group, the France-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, calling on Western powers to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb and urging democratic change in Tehran.

? MOSCOW -- Russia's ruling party suggested that President Vladimir Putin become its leader, a move that might allow him to retain control of the nation after stepping down from the presidency in 2008. Putin made no immediate comment on the proposal, which is reminiscent of party control in the old Soviet Union.

? AMSTERDAM -- The Netherlands will hold national elections in November after the collapse of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's center-right coalition government Friday over immigration policy, officials said. Balkenende's government is the third to collapse since 2002.

? THIEPVAL, France -- People wept and church bells tolled across northern France to mark the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, one of history's worst bloodbaths.

Ceremonies around the world honored the soldiers of some 20 nationalities who died and those who survived the British-led push against German forces. Four months of vicious trench warfare ravaged the hills of the Somme region and left more than 1.2 million dead, wounded or taken prisoner.

asia

? KATHMANDU, Nepal -- Nepal will ask the United Nations to monitor weapons held by Maoist rebels and the army ahead of elections for an assembly to map out the country's political future, Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula said, a day after Maoist leaders declared there was no need for outside arms monitors.

-- From News Services