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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CENTRAL AFRICA


CONGO SENDING REINFORCEMENTS TO RWANDA BORDER KINSHASA, Congo – Congo intends to send 10,000 reinforcements toward its eastern border with Rwanda, a presidential spokesman said yesterday, after credible reports that thousands of Rwandan troops crossed into its territory, raising fears that the devastating recent five-year regional war may be reignited.


A Western diplomat said yesterday that thousands of Rwandan troops moved into the remote forested hills of east Congo – an account supported by park rangers and local chiefs near the border of the two neighbors and wartime enemies.


Rwanda refused to confirm or deny the reported incursion, and the U.N. mission in Congo said U.N. helicopter patrols and other sorties had failed to turn up any immediate sign of Rwandan troops.


The reports of a Rwandan incursion come just days after Rwanda threatened to send its forces into eastern Congo to hunt down Rwandan Hutu rebels. Rwanda argued that a 5-month-old U.N.-led disarmament campaign there had failed to act aggressively enough.


In Kinshasa, Congo’s capital, President Kabila told international diplomats he would send reinforcements toward the border to “assure the security of the civilian population and to contain the Rwandan aggression,” presidential spokesman Kudura Kasango said.


– Associated Press


EASTERN EUROPE


RULING PARTY AHEAD IN ROMANIAN ELECTIONS BUCHAREST, Romania – Romania’s opposition yesterday accused the government of busing its supporters around the country to vote several times in weekend parliamentary and presidential elections.


Results released by the Central Electoral Bureau based on two-thirds of the total count gave the ruling Social Democratic Party more than 36% of the vote in Sunday’s election, followed by the centrist Justice and Truth Alliance’s 32%.


The figures leave both parties without a majority in Parliament and in need of a partner for a coalition government. Candidates include the nationalist Greater Romania Party, with about 13% of the vote, and the ethnic Hungarian Party, which had 8%.


The presidential race also was close, requiring a runoff vote December 12 between Prime Minister Nastase, with 40%, and his main challenger Traian Basescu, with about 34%.Twelve candidates ran for president.


Romania’s new president will lead the Balkan country at a time of economic and judicial reforms aimed at gaining membership in the European Union. The current president, Ion Iliescu, is stepping down after leading Romania for 11 of the 15 years since the communist dictatorship was overthrown.


– Associated Press


REPORT: MOSCOW SUCCESSFULLY TESTS MISSILE SYSTEM MOSCOW – Russia has successfully tested a modernized anti-ballistic missile system, the defense minister, Sergei Ivanov, told President Putin yesterday, according to the Interfax news agency. Mr. Ivanov told Mr. Putin that his ministry would “further perfect and modernize the anti-ballistic missile system,” the news agency reported. He said the missile system had passed its test early yesterday at the Sary-Shagaz testing range in the former Soviet republic of Kazakstan.


– Associated Press


SOUTH AMERICA


TORTURED CHILEANS WILL GET COMPENSATION SANTIAGO, Chile – Three decades after being imprisoned and tortured during the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, Mireya Garcia is among 27,000 Chileans who will finally get government compensation.


“It’s very special for us, who were kept anonymous for almost 31 years, that the state admits that we were tortured,” Ms. Garcia said yesterday. “Telling the nation that we were tortured is the first act of reparation. Little by little, this begins to be a healing process.”


While the payments are small – about $190 a month – they will double the pensions of many former victims. In addition, victims and their relatives will receive free education, housing, and health benefits. The program, which still must be approved by Congress, will cost the government some $70 million a year. Still, Mr. Garcia and other victims said monetary compensation was not enough, and the accused torturers should be punished.


President Lagos announced the plan Sunday following the release of a gruesome report on torture during Mr. Pinochet’s 1973-90 regime prepared by a commission that heard testimony from more than 35,000 people.


– Associated Press


ALLEGATION THAT COLOMBIAN REBELS WANTED TO KILL BUSH CRUMBLES Colombia’s government yesterday back-pedaled on a sensational claim made by the defense minister that Marxist rebels wanted to assassinate President Bush during a recent state visit.


The defense minister, Jorge Uribe, told reporters Friday that informants said the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, instructed followers to “assassinate President Bush” during his visit in the seaside city of Cartagena November 22, where he met with the president, Alvaro Uribe.


The defense minister, who is no relation to the president, did not say where the information came from, and there was no indication Mr. Bush’s life was ever in any danger: He was protected by 15,000 Colombian troops and police, American troops, and Secret Service agents during his 3 1 /2-hour visit to Colombia.


The interior and justice minister, Sabas Pretelt, played down the comments yesterday, saying he had no information about any assassination plot against Mr. Bush.


“There is nothing specific,” Mr. Pretelt said. “What these terrorists organizations normally try to do is disturb the visits of any head of state…like President Bush. But we took all measures, and there was no disturbance.”


– Associated Press

NY Sun
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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