WEST AFRICA

SECTARIAN VIOLENCE IN NIGERIA KILLS AT LEAST 120

ONITSHA, Nigeria – Christians in this southern Nigerian city burned Muslim corpses and defaced wrecked mosques yesterday after days of sectarian strife that has killed more than 120 people across the country. With 80 people killed, Onitsha has borne the brunt of the violence that followed weekend protests over the publication of cartoons of the Muslim prophet Muhammad. A Muslim district of about 100 homes was burned to the ground, and crumpled corrugated tin roofs lay on top of the remains of smoldering houses yesterday. Ifeanyi Ese, a 34-year-old Christian, stood amid the concrete rubble of a mosque. “We don’t want these mosques here anymore. These people are causing all the problems all over the world because they don’t fear God,” he said. He angrily scrawled “Mohammed is a man, but Jesus is from above” with a burned stick on a shattered wall. At least nine charred bodies lay in dirt streets as passers-by hurried past, holding cloths to their noses against the stench. Three other bodies burned on a pyre of flaming tires.

– Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS

WORLD FOOD PROGRAM RESTARTS DELIVERIES TO NORTH KOREA

UNITED NATIONS – The World Food Program decided yesterday to restart delivering food to North Korea.The consignments were stopped in December after the communist regime insisted it should be “self-reliant.” The two-year, $102 million plan that was approved yesterday by the Romebased, U.N.-affiliated WFP is much smaller than the original $6.5 billion plan in place until last year. That ended when the dictatorial regime imposed conditions that made monitoring the distribution of food to 1.9 million North Koreans all but impossible.Yesterday’s decision is conditional upon Pyongyang’s approving the return of 50 WFP monitors. “We now look to [Pyongyang] to agree to conditions that will allow us to do our work properly, for the sake of the people who need our help,” said the food program’s executive director, James Morris, said yesterday. Critics called on the World Food Program not to renew the deliveries they said serve only to strengthen the oppressive regime. Defectors from North Korea have testified that after television cameras recording the delivery of food left the scene, rations were confiscated by armed cronies of the regime and never reached the hungry Koreans it was intended for.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

SOUTHEAST ASIA

PHILIPPINES SECURITY TIGHT AMID COUP TALK

MANILA, Philippines – The military stepped up security early Friday amid concerns of a possible coup attempt against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Army chief Lieutenant General Hermogenes Esperon claimed the coup was unraveling. His chief of staff, General Generoso Senga, reported army Brigadier General Danilo Lim, head of the elite scout rangers, had been arrested and marine Colonel Ariel Querubin was being sought. “The chain of command is working,” General Esperon said in a television interview, appealing to the public to report any unusual troop movements in Manila. General Senga said a majority in the military will remain loyal to the constitution and the democratically elected government.

– Associated Press

WESTERN EUROPE

MLADIC REPORTEDLY SICK AND ENGAGED IN UNSPECIFIED NEGOTIATIONS

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The Dutch foreign minister told Parliament on yesterday that he heard in Serbia that war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic is sick and engaged in unspecified negotiations. Ben Bot, briefing lawmakers about a Monday trip to Belgrade, said top Serbian leaders had told him the former Bosnian Serb wartime commander was ailing and “speaking with associates,” a foreign ministry spokeswoman said. Spokeswoman Hannah Tijmes described the briefing to the Associated Press but did not describe the topic of the negotiations or provide other details. Ministry spokesman Dirk Jan Vermeij said Dutch media reports yesterday that Mladic was negotiating his surrender to Serbian authorities were inaccurate. “The rumor Bot picked up was that Mladic was negotiating with his entourage,” Mr. Vermeij said. “The minister said that he heard during meetings in Belgrade that Mladic is sick, but that the Serbs don’t know where he is.”

– Associated Press