WESTERN EUROPE

EXPERTS’ REPORT PINS BELFAST BANK ROBBERY TO IRA

LONDON – A panel of international experts said yesterday that a $50 million Belfast bank heist that has shaken Northern Ireland’s peace process to its foundations was sanctioned by senior members of the IRA-linked party Sinn Fein. The Independent Monitoring Commission’s report tallied with the views of the British and Irish governments, who already blamed the outlawed Irish Republican Army for the December 20 raid. The commission, formed by London and Dublin to monitor the activities of the IRA and other illegal Northern Ireland groups, said the Sinn Fein members also held senior positions in the IRA and had given the go-ahead for three other raids last year. It did not name the members. “In our view Sinn Fein must bear its share of responsibility for all of the incidents,” the report said. “Some of its senior members, who are also senior members of the Provisional IRA, were involved in sanctioning the series of robberies.” The report recommended financial penalties against Sinn Fein. The party, however, rejected the report, and questioned the commission’s independence. “The report contains no evidence and it has even less credibility,” said Sinn Fein official Gerry Kelly, who as an IRA activist planted car bombs in London in 1973 and led a prison breakout in 1983. “The IMC slavishly regurgitates unsubstantiated allegations from within the British security system and it recommends sanctions against Sinn Fein on this basis.”

– Associated Press

NATO AGREES TO EXPAND AFGHAN MISSION

NICE, France – NATO defense ministers agreed yesterday on an expansion of the alliance’s peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan and will send troops into the western parts of the country, the alliance’s top official said. The decision was made after Italy, Spain, and Lithuania agreed to send hundreds of troops under NATO command to the city of Herat and three other western Afghan cities. “NATO will now proceed to further expand the International Security Assistance Force into the west,” said NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. “We have the resources we need to expand.” Some 900 troops will be deployed to Herat and three other western cities, including 500 fresh troops and 400 deploying from elsewhere in Afghanistan. NATO currently operates only in Kabul and in the north with a total force of about 8,400 troops. The planned deployment marks a significant step in plans for NATO to extend its operation across the whole of Afghanistan by early 2006, integrating itself with the American force that invaded in the country in 2001 to topple the hardline Taliban regime.

– Associated Press

CENTRAL AMERICA

PRESIDENT OF COSTA RICA HOSPITALIZED

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – President Abel Pacheco was hospitalized in the Costa Rican capital yesterday after suffering chest pains, his office confirmed. His doctor reported he was in “very satisfactory” condition. A spokesman would not elaborate but said more details and test results would be released later in the day. Mr. Pacheco, 71, was brought to the Hospital Calderon Guardia, located in the capital, San Jose. “He had chest pain in the morning accompanied by sweating, and in these cases, it is prudent to conduct a thorough evaluation,” Mr. Pacheco’s personal doctor, cardiologist Eduardo Saenz Madrigal, told Radio Monumental. Mr. Saenz added, however, that the president’s blood pressure and heart rate were normal, and the president’s condition was “very good.” “Everyone can be calm, his initial progress has been very satisfactory,” he told the radio station. Dr. Saenz Madrigal added that he gave Mr. Pacheco anticoagulants to prevent a heart attack, and the president would remain hospitalized for two more days.

– Associated Press

CARIBBEAN

HAITIAN POLICE STORM COMPOUND USED BY FORMER HAITIAN ARMY

Police hunting a rebel leader stormed a compound used by Haiti’s disbanded army yesterday, exchanging gunfire with defenders, officials said. A grade school girl was killed in the crossfire. Nearly 200 U.N. peacekeepers surrounded the compound as police firing assault rifles moved inside to arrest Remissainthe Ravix, a leader of the rebellion that ousted President Aristide last year, said Commander Carlos Chagas Braga, a spokesman for the 7,500-member U.N. peacekeeping mission. He said that the U.N. troops did not fire any shots, said. Police accuse Mr. Ravix of killing four policemen Sunday, while the interim government has said he is wanted for directing attacks on several police stations in December. Mr. Ravix has denied the accusations. Police led two people away in handcuffs, but refused to say who they were. Commander Braga said neither suspect was Mr. Ravix. A young girl was shot and killed in the crossfire, Commander Braga and witnesses said. Residents said she was shot as she left school about a block in front of the camp. Tensions have been building between Haiti’s interim government, the former soldiers who want to keep their weapons until the government formally reinstates the army, and U.N. troops who don’t want the former soldiers patrolling the country armed.

– Associated Press