Runner-Up in Congo Files Suit, Claims Fraud

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Runner-Up in Congo Files Suit, Claims Fraud

KINSHASA, Congo -- The former rebel who lost Congo's presidential election filed a lawsuit Saturday claiming he was cheated of millions of votes -- a potential sign he won't resort to violence and plunge the sprawling Central African country back into chaos.

Jean-Pierre Bemba had vowed to "use all legal avenues to ensure the will of the people is respected," indicating he would not enlist the hundreds of fighters he has in the capital. The pledge was seen as crucial for Congo's fledgling democracy.

Bemba, who ruled a fiefdom in northern Congo during the 1998-2002 civil war and became one of four vice presidents in a transitional government, won overwhelming support in Kinshasa and western Congo but only 42 percent of the overall vote, according to the Electoral Commission. President Joseph Kabila won 58 percent.

AFRICA

· ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- About 2,000 people demonstrated to demand the release of an Ethiopian immigrant sentenced to 10 years in a U.S. prison for mutilating the genitals of his 2-year-old daughter.

Khalid Adem, 30, was convicted on Nov. 1 of aggravated battery and cruelty to children by a court outside Atlanta. It was believed to be the first such criminal case in the United States. During the trial, prosecutors said Khalid used scissors to remove his daughter's clitoris in his family's Atlanta-area apartment in 2001.

Genital mutilation crosses ethnic and cultural lines and is not tied to a religion. Activists say it is intended to deny women sexual pleasure.

· KHARTOUM, Sudan -- The Sudanese army and government-backed militias are committing acts of "inexplicable terror" against civilians, including children, in Darfur, the U.N.'s top humanitarian official said.

Spiraling violence in the conflict-racked region of western Sudan is reaching its worst level since fighting erupted more than three years ago, Jan Egeland said.

· MOGADISHU, Somalia -- The leader of the Islamic group that controls much of southern Somalia has revived the idea of a "Greater Somalia" that would incorporate regions of Kenya and Ethiopia -- a move that could further stoke tensions with the neighboring countries.

Hassan Dahir Aweys, chairman of the Council of Islamic Courts, told Shabelle Radio that his group would work to unite ethnic Somali peoples, but he did not say how it proposed to achieve a "Greater Somalia."

Separately, Somalia's interim government criticized the rival Islamic movement for formally outlawing the popular stimulant leaf khat in Mogadishu and other parts of the country that are under its control.

· ASMARA, Eritrea -- A U.N. report that Eritrea and other nations are sending arms and troops into Somalia during a brewing conflict is a "fairy tale" intended to tarnish the burgeoning Islamic movement, the government said.

The report to the U.N. Security Council said at least seven nations including Eritrea were providing arms and supplies to Islamic forces, who want Somalia ruled by sharia, or Islamic law, while three were arming the interim government.

The Islamic movement took over Mogadishu and a swath of south Somalia in June, challenging the isolated government's aspirations of restoring central rule for the first time since the 1991 ouster of a dictator.

· LUSAKA, Zambia -- A Zambian court has ruled that former president Frederick Chiluba, on trial for corruption, is too ill to attend court and must be allowed to go abroad for treatment, a Chiluba aide said. Chiluba is accused of stealing $488,000 in public funds while president.

THE MIDDLE EAST

· SANAA, Yemen -- An appeals court upheld a sentence for a man suspected of being a senior member of al-Qaeda and convicted of funding militants. A state court in May sentenced Mohammad Hamdi al-Ahdal, who officials say is al-Qaeda's No. 2 in Yemen, to 37 months.

EUROPE

· MOSCOW -- The former head of one of Chechnya's shadowy security forces was fatally shot in Moscow by law enforcement officers who were trying to detain him on suspicion of abductions and killings in the violence-plagued southern region, officials said. Movladi Baisarov headed a force that provided security for Chechnya's first pro-Moscow president, Akhmad Kadyrov, who was assassinated in 2004.

ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

· KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- The NATO-led force in Afghanistan would be more effective if member countries lifted restrictions that prevent their troops from fighting insurgents in the country's restive south, said Brig. Gen. Tim Granta, a senior Canadian officer.

Many of the 37 troop-contributing nations serving with the 31,000-strong force have refused to join the fight against the Taliban and other insurgents in the south, leaving the task to Canadian, American, British and Dutch soldiers.

· BEIJING -- Six students were trampled to death at a middle school in eastern China and 39 were injured when a panic caused them to swarm into a staircase, New China News Agency reported Sunday.

· NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga -- International troops secured the airport in riot-scarred Tonga, and commercial flights began evacuating frightened foreigners from the island, Australia's foreign minister said.

Police and soldiers from Australia and New Zealand arrived on the island Saturday following violence Thursday that killed at least eight people and destroyed most of the capital's business district.

-- From News Services