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.

CENTRAL AMERICA
RUMSFELD TOURS PANAMA CANAL PANAMA CITY, Panama – Defense Secretary Rumsfeld praised Panama yesterday for its stewardship of the Panama Canal, which is marking 90 years as the world’s link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. “They’re tackling the problems and challenges of the 21st century in an orderly and disciplined way,” Mr. Rumsfeld said after touring the U.S.-built canal by helicopter.
The defense secretary, on a trip through several Latin American countries, also briefly operated one of the massive locks of the canal system that raises and lowers ships as they pass through to compensate for sea-level differences between the oceans. America, which had managed the canal since its construction began a century ago, turned over the waterway to the Panamanian government on December 31, 1999, under a treaty negotiated in the late 1970s by President Carter’s administration. Since taking charge, the Panamanians have reduced the number of accidents within the canal zone and sliced more than 6 hours from the average transit time for a ship passing through, from almost 33 hours to 26 hours, according to figures provided by officials.
– Associated Press
MIDDLE EAST
EGYPT FREES HUNDREDS OF ALLEGED TERRORISTS CAIRO, Egypt – Nearly 700 alleged Islamic terrorists have been released from jail during the past two months, Egypt’s Interior Ministry said yesterday.
At least 200 of the detainees were freed Saturday as a gesture to mark the Muslim feast of Eid al-Fitr, which began yesterday in Egypt and ended the holy month of Ramadan, said Montasser el-Zayat, a lawyer who specializes in cases of Islamic radicals.
An Interior Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said none of the detainees had ever been convicted and none were ever charged with a violent crime. Authorities did not give an exact number of detainees released.
The official said most of the former detainees were linked to al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya, or the Islamic Group, which waged an insurrection against the government in the 1990s.The group declared a cease-fire in 1997. Many of its imprisoned leaders subsequently issued statements advocating non-violent policies.
“We have noticed an almost daily release pattern for the past year,” lawyer el-Zayat said. The Interior Ministry has been pursuing a policy of “quietly” releasing selective detainees, trying to keep control of Islamists while rewarding those who renounce violence, Mr. el-Zayat said.
– Associated Press
WESTERN EUROPE
ULSTER DEFENSE SEEKS TO REJOIN PEACE PROCESS IN N. IRELAND Northern Ireland’s largest and most violent outlawed group, the Ulster Defense Association, announced yesterday it will desist from further attacks and wants to rejoin peacemaking efforts.
The statement from the anti-Catholic group – which has killed more than 400 people in a self-proclaimed “war” against Irish Republican Army supporters – represented a potentially significant step forward in the province’s decade-old peace process. The UDA issued its statement two days after Britain said it accepted that the group was observing a credible truce again after years of violations.
At a rally in Rathcoole, a hard-line Protestant district of high-rise apartments north of Belfast, more than 1,000 UDA members and supporters – some disguised in masks, sunglasses, and berets – rallied in memory of their community’s dead from the world wars and from the past 35 years of civil disorder in this British territory. UDA representative Tommy Kirkham told the crowd that the group, which declared a 1994 cease-fire but has repeatedly breached it, plans to rejoin wider negotiations on Northern Ireland’s future.
Britain had banned the group’s representatives from such talks in 2001 after concluding that the UDA truce was a sham. The group also grew alienated from the peace process after its politicians failed to win a single seat during elections for Northern Ireland’s 108-member legislature.
-Associated Press
BOULEVARD YASSER ARAFAT Several French municipalities governed by communist and left-wing majorities are considering naming a street or a square after Yasser Arafat. The French police intelligence service, Renseignements Generaux, reportedly warned the Ministry of Interior that such initiatives might trigger heated polemics and tensions between Jews and Muslims, especially neighborhoods ridden by ethnic violence. In several suburban cities near Paris and Lyons governed by communist mayors, large Muslim and Jewish populations live side by side.
Separately, Slobodan Milosevic, who is on trial at the U.N. war crimes tribunal, has sent a letter of condolence to the Palestinian Arabs over the death of Arafat, the former Yugoslav president’s aides said Friday.
– Jerusalem Post
SOUTH ASIA
CAPTURED QAEDA TELLS U.S. OF ATTACK PLANS An Al Qaeda operative captured in Pakistan has told American authorities of the terror group’s proposed plans to smuggle nuclear materials to Mexico, Time magazine reported in its latest issue released today.
The magazine reported that Egyptian Sharif al-Masri, who was captured in late August, told interrogators of the unproved plot, according to a report circulating among American officials.
Mr. al-Masri said operatives would carry the material into America from Mexico. In his trip to Mexico last week, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge discussed with officials there border security and the prospect of Al Qaeda entering America through smuggling rings, the magazine reported.
Time reported that Mexico is heightening its scrutiny of flight schools and aviation facilities and that American officials are concerned about the theft of a crop-duster aircraft two weeks ago south of San Diego. The plane, which could be used to spread dangerous chemical or biological substances, has not been recovered.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
CARIBBEAN
CUBANS CONVERT DOLLARS BEFORE SURCHARGE TAKES EFFECT Cubans and tourists lined up to change American dollars into local currency yesterday, the last day to do so without paying a 10% surcharge that is part of a government measure to eliminate the dollar from circulation on this Communist-run island.
As of last week, dollars no longer were accepted at Cuban stores, restaurants, hotels, or other businesses. The 10% surcharge taking effect today is meant to further discourage people from bringing currency from Cuba’s No. 1 enemy to the island. President Castro has said the widespread use of the American money was being halted to guarantee Cuba’ economic independence.
– Associated Press