China accuses South Koreans of smuggling migrants

BEIJING, Jan 28: China suspects two South Koreans arrested earlier this month with dozens of North Koreans are the organisers of an illegal migrant-smuggling operation, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said today.

The South Koreans are "suspected of organizing the smuggling case", spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told reporters.

Refugee support groups say the two South Koreans, who were arrested in the eastern port of Yantai on January 17, were helping a group of North Korean asylum seekers to leave China for Japan and South Korea.

They named them as Seok Jae Hyun, said to be a freelance photographer for the New York Times, and long-term Yantai resident and businessman Choi Young Hoon.

China has not confirmed the identity of the South Koreans. It says some 30 people were arrested, including two South Koreans and one Chinese-Korean.

But refugee support groups say police arrested up to 58 North Koreans who were planning to board boats in Yantai and other ports in Northeastern China. French aid group medecins sans frontiers said 48 North Korean refugees were arrested in Yantai.

The group said Chinese authorities, in co-operation with North Korea security forces, had searched border areas for refugees since early December.

By mid-January, China had repatriated some 3,200 refugees to North Korea. More than 1,300 others were in camps in China’s tumen and Longjing areas, it said.

An estimated 150,000 North Koreans have fled to China to escape hunger and persecution. Beijing does not recognize them as refugees and if caught they are returned to north korea, where they face detention and torture.

More than 200 North Koreans who took refuge in foreign diplomatic premises in China last year were allowed to travel to South Korea via a third country. (DPA)

Lankan rebels reject Indian de-commissioning proposal

COLOMBO, Jan 28: Tamil rebels have rejected a de-commissioning proposal put forward by an Indian military expert which would have seen rebels in northern Sri Lanka give up their weapons in return for an Army pledge to reduce its high security zones in the region, a pro-rebel website said today.

Chief rebel negotiator, Anton Balasingham in an interview with the Tamil guardian, a pro-rebel newspaper published in London, said he did not want humanitarian issues linked with de-commissioning and said that the call for the military to reduce its security zones was a "critical humanitarian issue", the Tamilnet website said.

The rebels claim that over 100,000 civilians in northern Sri Lanka have been unable to return home as the military has earmarked vast areas of land as high security zones.

The Sri Lankan Government consulted retired Indian chief of staff, Sathis Nambiar on the matter. The rebels said they wanted the issue resolved before peace talks between them and the Government, which Norway is facilitating, progressed.

Nambiar, in his report, said that rebel weapons should be placed under neutral supervision and measures should be taken to withdraw from frontline positions into nominated areas before reviewing the issue about high security zones. Balasingham was quoted as saying that the rebels "will fiercely oppose and reject any proposal that makes resettlement of refugees conditional upon de-commissioning of ltte weapons".

Nambiar’s report has not been officially made public, but local newspapers have carried excerpts from it, and it has not been denied by the Government.

"What we are asking the Government of Sri Lanka is to allow our people to return to their homes," Balasingham was quoted as saying.

The conflict over the high security zones turned out to be one of the controversial issues ahead of peace talks held early this month and rebels have already withdrawn from one of the committees which was discussing the issue.

But, the Government has denied that it could hamper the year-old peace process with the rebels, who have upheld a ceasefire since February last year. (DPA)

Moscow warns to toughen stance against Iraq

MOSCOW, Jan 28 : While stressing on the continuation of diplomatic efforts to resolve Iraq issue, Russian President Vladimir Putin today for the first time warned Baghdad that Moscow could toughen its stance against Iraq if it did not improve cooperation with the UN Disarmament Mission.

"The international weapons inspectors don’t say that they are facing complications or problems in their work in Iraq. If it is so, the inspectors should be given opportunity to continue work in Iraq," Putin was quoted as saying by Ria Novosti.

"By the way, Moscow can change its stand and agree with the US on evolving other UNSC actions, tougher ones, if Iraq would create problems for the work of weapons inspectors," Putin said in neighbouring Ukraine’s Kiev University today.

He, however, underscored the need to resolve all disputes on the basis of international law and UN decisions were more important then Iraq as such.

"The humanity is not more secure after the bi-polar world order ceased to exist, how we would construct the building of international security in new conditions, this question is more important than Iraq," Putin said.

While Putin stressed that diplomatic means must still continue, his comment stood out against the repeated Russian statements emphasising Moscow’s opposition to the use of force against Iraq.

Russia believes that reports by Hans Blix, head of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), and Mohammed el-Baradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), yesterday at the UN Security Council suggest that conditions are favourable for continuing inspection missions in Iraq.

"Inspections are proceeding with Iraq’s assistance and readiness to guarantee inspectors’ prompt access to all facilities," Russia’s West Asia Pointman, Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov was quoted as saying Interfax.

"However, there are issues on which UNMOVIC and IAEA would like to obtain more information," Fedotov added.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov in an interview to the American NBC TV said that UNSC should draft "concrete questions" to be asked by weapons from Iraq. Ivanov also ruled out use of veto in UNSC on Iraq, saying it would not serve the purpose of peace.

In another interview to Interfax, IVANOV urged Iraq to heed the recommendations delivered by the top UN Weapons Inspector Hans Blix if it wanted to avert a war.

"We think that the work of inspectors must continue, while the leadership of Iraq must listen very seriously to the recommendations that were voiced Monday" at the UN during the arms inspectors’ report.

Meanwhile, a delegation of the organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) led by Secretary General Abdelouahed Belkeziz is holding talks with the Russian officials in Moscow to avert a military scenario in Iraq. (PTI)

US, India plan to conduct joint air combat exercise

WASHINGTON, Jan 28: In a sign of intensifying defence cooperation, US and Indian Air Forces are planning to conduct their first joint exercise with fighter aircraft later this year or in early 2004, American officials have said.

"We are still in the early planning stages of this exercise," said Major James Law, a spokesman for the US Air Force’s headquarters for pacific operations.

The US has asked that India fly its top-of-the-line warplanes rather than the older MIG-29s that India also owns, because the US Air Force has never had the opportunity to exercise against the SU-30 or its variant, the SU-27, he said.

"We requested those aircraft because the USAF already participates in exercises with countries that have the Jaguar, Mirage and MIGs, other aircraft the Indian Air Force flies," he said.

Major Law said that it has not been decided what US aircraft would be used for the exercise, but another Air Force official said he expected that the F-15 squadron based on the Japanese island of Okinawa would be tapped.

The exercise would be the first time that the highest performing fighters built in the United States and Russia would be pitted against each other, the Washington Post newspaper said.

During the training, the top air-to-air fighter in US Air Force inventory, the F-15c, is expected to fly against the Russian SU-30s that India started acquiring in 1997, it said.

The Pentagon is interested in practising dogfighting the F-15c — which was introduced in the US Air Force in 1979 —with the newer Russian aircraft, it said.

Over the past two years, the Post said, the US-Indian military relationship has thawed and led to a series of exercises, most of them less combat-oriented than the planned air superiority exercise.

Indian paratroopers last year practised parachute jumps in Alaska; US Air Force C-130 cargo aircraft flew to the big Indian Air Base near Agra for an exercise in military airlift operations; and the inucted a four-day exercise that included anti-submarine training.

In addition, Indian experts participated last June in a US missile defence exercise in Colorado, and Indian defence officials followed up with a visit to the United States to discuss participating in a US missile defence programme. The defence intelligence agency also instituted a formal relationship with India’s military intelligence service.

The Post noted that some senior Pentagon officials in recent years have advocated developing a new strategic relationship with India, which since achieving Independence in 1947 was usually seen by the US Government either as neutral or as leaning towards the Soviet Union.

Pentagon officials told the paper they believe that India, with its democratic capitalist system, huge population and burgeoning Information Technology industries, can help offset the growing influence of China in South and East Asia. (PTI)

India for sharing audio, visual archives
among SAARC nations

ISLAMABAD, Jan 28: India today proposed to saarc member countries to share audio and visual archives being preserved by their respective official media organisations.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Prasar Bharathi K S Sarma made the proposal at the two-day meeting of state-run heads of TV and radio organisations of SAARC countries here.

Sarma, making a detailed presentation at the media conference about Prasar Bharathi and All India Radio, said sound archives of the air has a collection of about 47,000 tapes of different formats. These include 1200 tapes of music - vocal and instrumental in Hindustani, Karnatic styles -folk as well as light.

The CEO, who attended the meeting along with Director General of Doordarshan Saeed Yacub Qureshi, said some of the valuable collections include Mahatma Gandhi’s first and last prayer meetings. Other important voices include Rabindranath Tagore and Subhash Chandra Bose, he added.

Air has also undertaken a massive work for digitalising its recordings, Sarma said.

Pakistan Information Secretary Anwar Mahmood, who inaugurated the media conference, in a veiled reference to the prevailing India-Pakistan tensions said, there is an urgent need to remove "thorns of mistrust and misunderstanding" and replace them with "flowers of understanding and tolerance".

US, Afghan forces battle 80 gunmen
near Afghan-Pak border

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Jan 28: At least 18 people have been killed in a major battle between US-led coalition forces and some 80 armed extremists near Afghanistan’s south-eastern border with Pakistan, the US military said today.

US and Norwegian warplanes have been bombarding the Barren Adi Ghar Mountain North of the border town of spin Boldak since yesterday, in what US military spokesman Colonel Roger King said was the biggest US confrontation in Afghanistan for 10 months.

King said between 250 and 300 US troops, accompanied by a small contingent of Afghan soldiers were today continuing to fight intermittently with the group. There were no coalition injuries. The gunmen were suspected to be supporters of renegade former Afghan premier Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s anti-Government Hezb-i-Islami Party, he told reporters at Bagram, a US base north of Kabul.

Hekmatyar, who is in hiding and is being sought by US forces, has issued several calls for Jihad against US troops, whom he calls "occupying forces."

Fighting broke out when US and Afghan troops came under small arms fire at noon yesterday north of Spin Boldak, 450 kms south-west of the capital Kabul, and 100 kms south-east of the main southern city of Kandahar, a former Taliban stronghold.

One Afghan was killed and another wounded in the initial exchange. A third man was captured and revealed 80 armed men were holed-up in nearby caves in the rugged, unpopulated terrain, king said. (AFP)

18 killed in battle between US forces and extremists

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Jan 28: At least 18 people have been killed in a major battle between US-led coalition forces and some 80 armed extremists near Afghanistan’s south-eastern border with Pakistan, the US military said today.

US and Norwegian warplanes have been bombarding the Barren Adi Ghar mountain north of the border town of Spin Boldak since yesterday, in what US military spokesman Colonel Roger King said was the biggest US confrontation in Afghanistan for 10 months.

King said between 250 and 300 us troops, accompanied by a small contingent of Afghan soldiers were today continuing to fight intermittently with the group. There were no coalition injuries. The gunmen were suspected to be supporters of renegade former Afghan Premier Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s anti-Government Hezb-i-Islami Party, he told reporters at Bagram, a US base north of Kabul.

Hekmatyar, who is in hiding and is being sought by US forces, has issued several calls for Jihad against US troops, whom he calls "occupying forces."

Fighting broke out when US and Afghan troops came under small arms fire at noon yesterday north of Spin Boldak, 450 kms south-west of the capital Kabul, and 100 kms south-east of the main southern city of Kandahar, a former Taliban stronghold.

One Afghan was killed and another wounded in the initial exchange. A third man was captured and revealed 80 armed men were holed-up in nearby caves in the rugged, unpopulated terrain, King said. (AFP)

War against Iraq likely in early March

WASHINGTON, Jan 28: With the momentum for war looking irreversible, the US is set to launch its offensive against Iraq in early march, a media report said today.

The hawks in the Bush administration received a major boost yesterday after chief UN Weapons Inspector Hans Blix rapped Iraq for gaps in its 12,000 page report and absence of information about its chemical and biological stockpiles, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Bush administration officials had been suspicious of Blix and had privately attempted to nudge into a harder line.

He revealed in the private meeting that Iraq made an extraordinary demand for allowing U-2 flights to help the inspectors - that the UN help Baghdad acquire radar for two airports so that its forces could monitor the flights.

The likely date for war against Iraq is now early March, the paper said quoting officials.

The early march date for the world’s first preemptive war allows time for a full supplement of US troops and equipment to get to the Gulf region and giving President George W Bush another month and a half to try to persuade allies to join the fight.

A strong argument for war which President Bush is likely to advance, if he decides on military action, will be Iraq’s "missing" chemical and biological warfare materials, it said. (AGENCIES)

EU sees "window of opportunity" for Iraq peace

BRUSSELS, Jan 28: The European Union today said that there was a "window of opportunity" for peace in the Iraq crisis as UN inspectors continue their work, but declined to set a time frame.

The comments came as the United States maintained the threat of war, despite widespread European reservations and calls for UN inspectors to be given more time.

"It won’t be helpful for us to make an arbitrary judgement on a deadline," said Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, after EU Foreign Ministers discussed chief arms inspector Hans Blix’s report to the UN Security Council.

But he said: "We have a window of opportunity. Let’s use it."

Papandreou, whose country took over the rotating six-month EU presidency on January 1, said the ministers held "informal" talks on Blix’s report, exchanging "our first impressions and possible steps that europe could take, the initiatives that Europe could possibly take."

The EU wants to "help the situation move forward and have the full implementation of (UN Security Council resolution) 1441, and of course a peaceful solution," he added.

President George W Bush, due to make a crucial state of the union address later today, is ratchetting up the pressure for war against Iraq, as its key ally Britain backed charges that Baghdad was in "material breach" of UN obligations.

Eu members are clearly deeply divided on the threat of war. (AFP)

Diplomatic measures on Iraq not exhausted: Putin

MOSCOW, Jan 28: Urging more time for UN inspectors in Iraq, Russian President Vladimir Putin today said diplomatic measures to settle the crisis in that country have not yet been exhausted.

In a remark at Kiev State University during his visit to Ukraine, Putin said international inspectors did not complain of difficulties and obstacles while conducting inspections in Iraq.

If it is true then inspectors must be given an opportunity to continue their mission in Iraq, Ria Novosti news agency quoted the Russian President as saying.

Moscow can review its stance and reach an agreement with the United States on working out other "tougher" resolutions in the UN Security Council "if Iraq poses obstacles to the inspections," Putin pointed out.

However, he made it clear that he was sure the key thing is to resolve all the disputes on the basis of the international law and UN resolutions. "This issue is of greater importance than the Iraqi problem itself," Putin said. (UNI)

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