SOMALIA

Monday, June 23, 2008

SOMALIA

U.N. Official Abducted

The head of the U.N. refugee agency in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, was abducted from his home Saturday night, the agency said Sunday. It was the latest in a string of kidnappings in the chaotic African nation.

Relatives identified the man, a Somali who works for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, as Hassan Mohamed Ali. "Six gunmen broke into his home last night and took him," said Khilif Aden, a relative who spoke to Ali's wife.

Also Sunday, gunmen killed a peace activist in the central town of Belet Weyne, his family said. Mohamed Hassan Kulmiye, head of Somalia's Center for Research and Dialogue, was shot outside his home, said his cousin Nuur Hassan Qole, who witnessed the killing.

THAILAND

Premier Answers Critics

Thailand's embattled prime minister, Samak Sundaravej, vowed Sunday to hold on to his job, defying thousands of protesters who have besieged his offices, demanding that he and his coalition government resign.

Samak, a veteran conservative, and his four-month-old government have been accused of protecting the interests of Thaksin Shinawatra, the ousted prime minister, and failing to address economic woes, including rising prices.

But in a nationally televised address, Samak defended his administration's record and said he would step down only if he loses a no-confidence motion filed by the opposition and due to be debated in parliament this week. "I will not bow to pressure," he declared.

Samak was plucked from semi-retirement by Thaksin, who was banned from politics for five years in the wake of the September 2006 coup that drove his government from power.

-- Amy Kazmin

BOLIVIA

Vote for Autonomy

Bolivia's energy-rich Tarija province voted overwhelmingly Sunday for greater autonomy from the central government, the fourth region to defy President Evo Morales, early results showed.

The referendum in Tarija, the smallest of Bolivia's nine provinces but home to more than 80 percent of its vast natural gas reserves, followed similar ballots in the Amazon regions of Pando and Beni, and wealthy Santa Cruz.

Morales, the country's first indigenous president, says the votes are illegal and separatist. His supporters called for a boycott, and more than a third of Tarija's 173,000 registered voters did not cast ballots, early results showed.

LEBANON

Four Dead in Fighting

Fighting broke out in northern Lebanon on Sunday between pro- and anti-government factions, leaving at least four people dead and 29 wounded, security and medical officials said. Killed in Tripoli were three civilians and a policeman on his way to work, officials said.

From Staff Reports

and News Services