Foreign Desk

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

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SOUTHEAST ASIA


INDONESIAN CLERIC GOES ON TRIAL


JAKARTA, Indonesia – A Muslim cleric accused of heading the terror group blamed for the Bali bombings proclaimed his innocence as his trial opened yesterday, and said the charges were the work of President Bush and “his slave” -Prime Minister Howard. Abu Bakar Bashir is charged with heading the Al Qaeda-linked group Jemaah Islamiyah and with involvement in two attacks – the Bali nightclub bombings and a suicide blast at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta last year. America and Australia also accuse the 66-year-old cleric of being a key Southeast Asian terror leader. “I am innocent. The charges are baseless,” a relaxed-looking Mr. Bashir told reporters before the trial began. “Everybody knows, even school children, that there is pressure from George Bush and his slave John Howard.” The trial is expected to last five months and is considered an early test of President Yudhoyono’s resolve to fight terrorism. Even though the country has arrested scores of terrorists, some critics still see Indonesia as a weak link in the war on terror. It was the second time Mr. Bashir has faced terror charges in two years. He was acquitted last year of heading Jemaah Islamiyah.


– Associated Press


FRESH VIOLENCE IN THAILAND’S SOUTH


PATTANI, Thailand – Fresh violence erupted yesterday with the bombing of a bar in Thailand’s mostly Muslim south, while villagers held a mass burial for some of the 78 protesters who suffocated while in army custody this week. The bomb exploded last night at a bar in the town of Sungai Kolok in Narathiwat province, on the border with Malaysia, killing at least two people and wounding 21 others, police said. No one claimed responsibility for the bombing and police named no suspects. Also, officials in Narathiwat’s provincial capital defused a 22-pound time bomb minutes before it was set to explode at a food stall where residents gather to give offerings to Buddhist monks. Narathiwat is one of three southern Thai provinces hit by violence attributed to Islamic separatists. The violence has killed more than 400 people since January. The three provinces have Muslim majorities, while Thailand overall is about 90% Buddhist. Southern Muslims have long complained of discrimination by the central government.


– Associated Press


EASTERN EUROPE


BELARUS: ARRESTED AMERICAN LACKS DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY


MINSK, Belarus – The United Nations demanded Belarus free an American arrested while working on a United Nations project in the ex-Soviet republic, but the country’s spy service yesterday insisted the man was not protected by diplomatic immunity. Ilya Mafter, who works for philanthropist George Soros’s Open Society Institute but was on contract to the U.N. Development Program, was arrested October15 by agents of the Belarusian State Security Committee – which still goes under its Soviet-era abbreviation KGB. Mark Malloch Brown, administrator of the U.N. program, said yesterday that he had sent an official communication to Belarus’s U.N. ambassador “demanding that under UNDP’s diplomatic immunities and privileges, the Soros expert be released unless criminal charges are pressed against him.” Commenting on Mr. Brown’s move, Belarusian KGB spokesman Alexander Bazanov said yesterday that Mr. Mafter didn’t have diplomatic immunity. “Mafter’s name isn’t on the list of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry’s protocol department, and he hasn’t received a diplomatic visa,” Mr. Bazanov said. Mr. Bazanov said Mr. Mafter had been charged with inflicting material damage on Belarus and being involved in entrepreneurial activities without a license. He said Mr. Mafter had set up an illegal communication facility and earned about $100,000 in illegal revenues in half a year.


– Associated Press


EAST ASIA


POWELL BACKTRACKS ON TAIWAN REMARKS


TAIPEI, Taiwan – Taiwan’s government yesterday applauded Secretary of State Powell’s decision to back away from his earlier controversial claim that both China and Taiwan favor unification. Mr. Powell’s original reference to “a reunification that all parties are seeking” and his comment that self-ruled Taiwan “is not independent” had drawn praise from Beijing and stunned Taipei. The Taiwanese feared that American policy had changed and that Washington was starting to pressure the democratic island to join China. Mr. Powell clarified his remarks in a TV interview Wednesday with the American TV channel CNBC. He said the goal “really is to have a peaceful resolution of the problem” between Taiwan and China, which split amid civil war in 1949. Most Taiwanese believe China is repressive and don’t want to be ruled by the Communist government. But Beijing insists the island, just 100 miles off China’s coast, must eventually unify or face invasion – a conflict that could involve American forces, who have helped defend Taiwan before. For decades, Washington’s policy has been to avoid endorsing a specific resolution to the feud. It has simply urged both sides to work out their differences peacefully. In recent years, it has added that Taiwan’s people should have a say in any outcome.


– Associated Press

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NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.


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