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.

PERSIAN GULF
JIDDAH ATTACKERS SHOUTED ‘WHERE ARE THE AMERICANS?’
The insurgents stormed into the compound’s inner courtyard, firing their guns from behind trees, bursting into offices, and shouting: “Where are the Americans? Where are the Americans?” Lying in hospital beds, wounded American consulate workers provided new details yesterday about an attack that killed nine, injured at least 10, and showed America’s continued vulnerability to terrorist groups capable of conducting sophisticated surveillance on even the most heavily guarded sites. The rebels “clearly understood how cars entered the compound, and they were conducting surveillance,” the American ambassador, James Oberwetter, said yesterday. He contended security measures had largely worked because the attackers’ car could not get past the consulate gate, forcing them to enter the grounds on foot. The attackers also never made it to the main consulate buildings, where most Americans worked. Still, as Mr. Oberwetter offered condolences to the families of five slain consulate workers, he said, “the events of yesterday show the need for improvement. We will examine what additional steps need to be taken.” State Department spokesman Adam Ereli warned that there could be more attacks in Saudi Arabia.
– Associated Press
MIDDLE EAST
PRESIDENT PARDONS 112 PRISONERS IN SYRIA
DAMASCUS, Syria – In the largest single amnesty in three years, the Syrian government released 112 political prisoners yesterday, the official news agency SANA reported. SANA did not give the political affiliation of the prisoners, but it said President Assad granted them an amnesty “within the framework of an open-minded and tolerant policy.” Syrian rights activist Anwar al-Bunni welcomed the move as a “positive response by the president to demands for closing the political prisoners’ files. The head of the Human Rights Association in Syria, Haitham al-Maleh, also praised the release but said all political detainees should be freed. Local human rights groups have long called for the release of political prisoners in Syria, where politics is tightly controlled. The ruling Baath Party has been in power since 1963. A pro-government analyst, Imad Fawzi Shoueibi of Damascus University’s philosophy department, said the release was “a step toward internal tolerance.” Mr. Shoueibi said the move had nothing to do with international pressure. America has imposed limited sanctions on Syria over its support for Palestinian Arab terrorist groups, among other things. In September, the U.N. Security Council called on Syria to withdraw troops from neighboring Lebanon, where they have been stationed since the 1975-90 civil war.
– Associated Press
WEST AFRICA
STRONG TURNOUT IN GHANA’S PRESIDENTIAL VOTE
ACCRA, Ghana – Urged to wield the “power of the thumb,” Ghana’s people exercised it in force yesterday – pressing ink-moistened thumbs to ballots in an presidential election marking the growing steadiness of some older democracies in sub-Saharan Africa. Voters were deciding the re-election bid of President Kufuor, the economic reformer, waiting for hours in lines that built long before dawn in the Atlantic coast capital. “I didn’t mind at all,” said 35-year-old commercial driver David Adu-Sarpong, dismissing a wait that began at 4:20 a.m. “My vote is my power.” Ghanaians hope the “power of the thumb” – a phrase plastered on posters across the West African nation – would prolong more than a decade of peace in a country where coups once were commonplace and democracy was dismissed by the butt of a gun. The mood was buoyant at the 21,000 voting stations, where many people stopped by Monday night to reserve places in line with large stones. At several stations in the bustling capital, lines of up to 1,000 voters spilled onto dusty roads while chickens bobbed and fluttered under the wooden voting booths. Results were expected by Friday. Mr. Kufuor, a lawyer whose win four years ago ended nearly 20 years of coup-installed rule by Jerry Rawlings, was expected to win re-election.
– Associated Press
EASTERN EUROPE
UKRAINE’S PARLIAMENT FAILS TO VOTE ON ELECTORAL REFORMS
Lawmakers fought over and failed to pass legal reforms aimed at ensuring a fair rematch of Ukraine’s fraudulent presidential runoff, accusing each other yesterday of acting in bad faith as several thousand orange-clad protesters besieged Parliament and chanted, “Parasites! Parasites!”
The demonstrators, supporters of opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, have grown impatient over lack of progress in approving the electoral amendments sought for the December 26 repeat vote.
Mr. Yushchenko supporters say the changes will close loopholes for fraud that marred the November 21 runoff and prompted the Supreme Court to cancel the victory of Kremlin-backed Prime Minister Yanukovich.
But a loose coalition of communists, socialists, and pro-government factions in Parliament agreed to pass the electoral changes only together with constitutional changes, which would turn some presidential powers over to Parliament.
Mr. Yushchenko has balked at the changes, saying that allies of outgoing President Kuchma want to weaken his authority should he win.
In Sofia, Bulgaria, Secretary of State Powell rejected Russian charges of Western political manipulation in Ukraine’s electoral process. Mr. Powell addressed the 55-nation Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe after hearing the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, suggest the West was interested in a power grab in Ukraine.
– Associated Press
WESTERN EUROPE
IRA WILLING TO RESUME DISARMAMENT
BELFAST, Northern Ireland – The Irish Republican Army has reopened negotiations with Northern Ireland’s disarmament chief, the outlawed group confirmed yesterday in a brief statement, after signaling its readiness to put more weapons out of commission for the first time in over a year.
The move came with a major dispute over disarmament unresolved: Protestant leaders are demanding the IRA allow officials to photograph the removal of weapons. Gerry Adams, leader of the IRA-linked Sinn Fein party, appeared to rule that out earlier yesterday when he said the IRA was willing to resume disarming after a 13-month hiatus – but would not accept conditions designed to humiliate the group. In its one-line statement, the IRA offered no hint as to whether it intends to disarm fully and disband in support of Northern Ireland’s 6-year-old peace accord, as the governments of Britain and Ireland expect.
“The IRA leadership confirms that our representative has been in contact with and has met” the independent disarmament chief, retired Canadian General John de Chastelain. The British and Irish prime ministers, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, plan to travel today to Belfast to unveil a joint peace package that has taken more than a year of negotiations to produce.
In past rounds of disarmaments, the IRA has refused to let it be known how many weapons it had put “beyond use.”
– Associated Press