Kenya

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Kenya

Rivals Suspend Talks on Power Sharing

Kenya's opposition party suspended talks with the government Tuesday, and hundreds of angry young opposition supporters in Nairobi set fires to protest delays in reaching a power-sharing deal. Late in the day, however, it appeared that the talks might soon resume.

President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga both claim to have won the December election and are trying to form a joint government to resolve the crisis. More than 1,000 people were killed in weeks of clashes that followed the disputed vote, and 300,000 people were displaced.

Kibaki and Odinga agreed in February to share power, but they have not worked out exactly how.

PERU

Four Convicted in 1992 University Massacre

A Peruvian court on Tuesday convicted a general and three members of a death squad of kidnapping and murder and sentenced them to prison terms ranging from 15 to 35 years in connection with a 1992 massacre.

Prosecutors said the ruling could set a precedent in the trial of former president Alberto Fujimori, who is accused of allegedly authorizing the death squad to fight rebel guerrillas.

The kidnapping and murder of nine students and a professor from La Cantuta University, who were suspected of being rebel collaborators, became a landmark human rights case in Peru.

EGYPT

Monitors Detained During Local Elections

Egyptian police detained independent monitors and barred rights groups from voting stations Tuesday during local elections that generated little public enthusiasm, the groups said.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the country's most powerful opposition group, pulled out of the elections Monday and called on Egyptians to boycott the polls to protest the disqualification of most of its candidates by the authorities.

The local councils have little power, but the Brotherhood, which advocates turning Egypt into an Islamist state through the ballot box, would need to have seats on such councils if it wanted to field an independent candidate in the next presidential election, set to take place by 2011.

AFGHANISTAN

Insurgents Kill 17 Road Workers in South

Insurgents killed 17 road workers in Afghanistan's lawless south Tuesday, part of a spike in violence that left 40 people dead over two days.

Sixteen other construction workers were wounded in the attack in Zabol province, an Interior Ministry spokesman said. Afghan and international security forces responding to the ambush killed seven fighters and wounded 12, he said.

Road-building is a key part of Afghan reconstruction and many projects are in remote, insurgency-plagued areas. Fighters have targeted work crews in roadside bomb attacks, ambushes and kidnappings. In January, four workers in eastern Nurestan province were beheaded.

NORTH KOREA

Progress Cited Toward Ending Impasse With U.S.

The United States and North Korea said they made good progress in talks in Singapore on Tuesday about resolving a deadlock over a disputed inventory of the communist nation's nuclear programs.

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher R. Hill, the top U.S. negotiator with North Korea, said he and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan had "a full discussion on all issues," and South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted Kim as saying: "Differences have been narrowed a lot. I would say the talks were successful."

The two sides are trying to break an impasse over North Korea's pledge to provide a full inventory of its nuclear activities and facilities. It says it provided a list in November, but the United States says it was incomplete.

From News Services