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 ASIA
U.S. APPEALS TO TALIBAN TO MAKE PEACE KABUL, Afghanistan – The top American official in Afghanistan called on the Taliban to give up their three-year insurgency, pledging yesterday that most who surrender will be left in peace if they acknowledge the authority of President-elect Hamid Karzai. An estimated 100-150 Taliban leaders, including former head Mullah Omar, commanders of the insurgency, and those associated with Al Qaeda are ineligible for the offer.
American Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said he was working with Mr. Karzai’s government on a reconciliation plan that could be expanded to include Afghans exiled by earlier conflicts. Young Afghans, in particular, should surrender to village elders or American troops as an “interim step” toward reintegration, he said. “There’s no need to fight, to stay in the mountains. Afghanistan has entered a new stage,” Mr. Khalilzad told reporters in the capital, Kabul. “It’s time for this to end.”
– Associated Press
SOUTH AMERICA
COURT VOTES TO STRIP PINOCHET OF IMMUNITY SANTIAGO, Chile – An appeals court ruled yesterday to strip former dictator General Augusto Pinochet of immunity from prosecution for a 1974 car bombing that killed an exiled Chilean general and the man’s wife. It marked the third attempt to try General Pinochet in Chile for abuses from his 17-year dictatorship, none so far successful. The 14-9 decision by justices on Santiago’s Court of Appeals opens the possibility General Pinochet could stand trial for the bombing that killed former army chief General Carlos Prats and his wife, Sofia Cuthbert, in Buenos Aires.
Prats had opposed the 1973 coup that put General Pinochet in power, and was among the first of an estimated several thousand people killed during his rule. General Pinochet’s attorneys are expected to appeal yesterday’s decision to the Supreme Court. Prats’s three daughters said yesterday they hope the high court upholds the appeals court ruling and allows the prosecution to go forward, according to their lawyer, Pamela Pereira.
– Associated Press
PERU’S PRESIDENT: COURT CONFIRMS BERENSON CONVICTION LIMA, Peru – The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has upheld the 20-year-sentence of Lori Berenson, a New York native convicted in Peru for terrorist collaboration with Marxist guerrillas, President Toledo said yesterday. Berenson’s legal team, led by a former American attorney general, Ramsey Clark, had argued that her trial in Peru failed to meet international standards for fairness, and that she faced hostile judges who relied on coerced testimony and tainted evidence.
Peru is bound as a member of the Costa Rica-based court to follow its ruling and a decision to release Berenson could have had explosive repercussions. “It is undoubtedly a great satisfaction and tranquility for Peruvian justice and all Peruvians,” Mr. Toledo told Radioprogramas radio when asked about the ruling. He said the Costa Rica-based court had “ratified the sentence and I once again salute the court members. “The court will not officially notify the two sides of its decision until today, court spokesman Arturo Monge said in Costa Rica.” The court cannot control what people outside the court say,” he said in response to Mr. Toledo’s comments.
– Associated Press
COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT PARDONS JAILED REBELS BOGOTA, Colombia – President Uribe pardoned 23 jailed Marxist rebels yesterday as a goodwill gesture and said he hoped guerrilla leaders will respond by freeing hostages, though the leaders previously have said they would not reciprocate. The government peace commissioner, Luis Carlos Restrepo, said the 23 rebels belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, will be freed today and placed in a government-run program to reincorporate former guerrillas into society.
The guerrillas were accused of minor crimes, Mr. Restrepo said. Those accused of kidnapping, murder, or other crimes will remain in jail, he added. He told reporters at the Presidential Palace in Bogota that he hoped “this act of peace” will help obtain the release soon of those “who are unfairly suffering from kidnapping.” The FARC has expressed interest in a prisoner exchange but says the government must establish two demilitarized zones where the two sides can talk. The government refuses.
– Associated Press
SOUTHEAST ASIA
PHILIPPINES BATTERED BY TYPHOON MARAGUNDON, Philippines – A powerful typhoon sliced through the Philippines today, forcing nearly 170,000 people to flee homes to higher ground even as Filipinos struggled to recover from an earlier storm that killed more than 420 and left possibly hundreds more missing.
Mudslides and flash floods earlier in the week have turned parts of Quezon province and other areas facing the Pacific Ocean into a sea of mud littered with bodies, uprooted trees, collapsed homes, and bridges. “We’re getting reports of bodies still flowing in the rivers,” said air force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel qu Padilla. There were conflicting reports on casualties from the earlier storm with police and civil defense authorities providing a confirmed count of 422 dead and 177 missing. The military said there were 479 dead and 560 missing, but regional commander Major General Pedro Cabuay cautioned that his figures came from local officials that could not be immediately confirmed.
– Associated Press
CENTRAL AFRICA
RWANDAN INCURSION IN CONGO SUSPECTED U.N. air and ground patrols have photographed freshly made encampments and unidentified well-equipped troops in eastern Congo, U.N. officials said yesterday, bolstering suspicions – still unconfirmed – that Rwanda is making good on its threat to send troops into its larger, weaker neighbor. “We have more and more corroborating signs tending to establish the presence of Rwandan troops in Congo,” the U.N. mission in Congo spokesman, Mamadou Bah, said. Those signs include aerial photographs of camps and of troops in new vehicles in eastern Congo.
The U.N. reports of suspicious activity, following U.N. observers’ encounter with what they believed to be 100 Rwandan troops on Tuesday at a town a few miles inside Congo, come after a week of Rwandan warnings it would send forces into Congo in pursuit of Rwandan Hutu rebels hiding in Congo’s lawless east. U.N. officials say they have yet to conclusively determine a Rwandan troop presence in Congo – a finding that would confirm a Rwanda violation of central African peace accords and leave the international community with the difficult decision of how to react.
– Associated Press
SOUTHERN AFRICA
VOTING ENDS IN MOZAMBIQUE Two days of elections that began with a flood of voters ended in a trickle yesterday, leaving officials baffled about the sudden apathy in a hard-fought race for a successor to the man who has led Mozambique for 18 years. Balloting that began with long lines Wednesday dwindled with the advent of the stifling afternoon heat. Heavy rain also affected voting in some areas.
Polling stations were mostly deserted yesterday, the final day of voting for President Chissano’s successor and a new parliament. Election workers who had expected a crush simply rested in the shade. At midday, national TV said turnout was less than half what had been expected. By day’s end, one polling station in the far north with 36,000 registered voters reported only about 6,000 ballots cast. At another in the south, only 27 of about 1,000 voters had turned up. Vote counting began when the polls closed at 6 p.m. Seventeen parties ran for Parliament and five fielded presidential candidates. The presidential race narrowed to a close contest between ruling Frelimo candidate Armando Guebuza and Afonso Dhlakama of the main opposition Renamo party.
– Associated Press