An explosion at a nuclear fuel processing plant in the Soviet republic of Kazakhstan this month may have contaminated 120,000 people, a local environmental official said today. Rishat Adamov, chairman of eastern Kazakhstan's Regional Committee on Environmental Protection, said 60,000 people demonstrated on Thursday in the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk to demand that the plant there be closed. ''It's a bomb in the center of the city,'' Mr. Adamov said in a telephone interview from Ust-Kamenogorsk, 2,000 miles east of Moscow, where the explosion on Sept. 12 released toxic beryllium oxide gas into the atmosphere.
Medical experts in Moscow said exposure to beryllium, a metal widely used in the nuclear and aerospace industries, could lead to lung problems resulting in breathing difficulties, coughing and spitting of blood. There might also be eye and skin problems. While they could be fatal in extreme cases, most symptoms should clear up in six months, said the experts, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ''There is no medicine to treat this effectively,'' one doctor added.
President Nursultan A. Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan called on the Soviet Government to provide compensation for health damage in the region.
Source: New York Times
Saturday, September 29, 1990
Thursday, September 13, 1990
Preventing Genocide in Liberia
Until the 1980's, Liberia's main divide was between indigenous people and the Americo-Liberians, descended from freed U.S. slaves. Mr. Doe's bloody coup ended the old elite's dominance. Power and patronage flowed instead to the Krahn. That favoritism, along with the regime's brutality and incompetence, sparked opposition from other ethnic groups, like the Gio and the Mano. One rebel leader, Prince Johnson, is from the Gio. His rival, Charles Taylor, is an Americo-Liberian.
The U.S. cannot be proud of its own early association with the Doe dictatorship. The Reagan Administration convinced itself that Mr. Doe could provide a strategic bulwark against Communist advance. It ignored abundant evidence of official misdeeds and popular discontent and made Liberia the largest per capita recipient of U.S. aid in sub-Saharan Africa. Congress finally cut back American support after 1985. When Mr. Doe's enemies began closing in on him earlier this year, the Bush Administration rightly resisted his pleas for help.
Instead, a peacekeeping force was raised from the 16-member Economic Community of West African States. With 5,000 Liberian civilians dead and 400,000 refugees streaming over the borders, neighboring states feared chaos. Yet the force's arrival last month touched off reprisals against foreigners and fears of a wider war.
Those concerns remain valid. President Doe's murder has not ended Liberia's ordeal. The prospect of ethnic genocide compels preventive action. From Sri Lanka to the Balkans, political opportunists have exploited ethnic rivalries in the quest for short-term advantage. Too often, their efforts have drowned their countries in blood. For taking risks to prevent the worst, West Africa's peacekeepers deserve the world's appreciation, and support.
Source: New York Times
The U.S. cannot be proud of its own early association with the Doe dictatorship. The Reagan Administration convinced itself that Mr. Doe could provide a strategic bulwark against Communist advance. It ignored abundant evidence of official misdeeds and popular discontent and made Liberia the largest per capita recipient of U.S. aid in sub-Saharan Africa. Congress finally cut back American support after 1985. When Mr. Doe's enemies began closing in on him earlier this year, the Bush Administration rightly resisted his pleas for help.
Instead, a peacekeeping force was raised from the 16-member Economic Community of West African States. With 5,000 Liberian civilians dead and 400,000 refugees streaming over the borders, neighboring states feared chaos. Yet the force's arrival last month touched off reprisals against foreigners and fears of a wider war.
Those concerns remain valid. President Doe's murder has not ended Liberia's ordeal. The prospect of ethnic genocide compels preventive action. From Sri Lanka to the Balkans, political opportunists have exploited ethnic rivalries in the quest for short-term advantage. Too often, their efforts have drowned their countries in blood. For taking risks to prevent the worst, West Africa's peacekeepers deserve the world's appreciation, and support.
Source: New York Times
Monday, September 10, 1990
Police in South Africa Fire on Soweto Crowd
A total of 32 people died in fighting between black factions since Saturday, reports said. Hundreds have died since the violence in black townships near Johannesburg began less than one month ago.
Residents accused supporters of the conservative Zulu movement Inkatha of starting the nighttime attack with police help. They also said masked white men had taken part in the assault on the Tladi squatter camp in Soweto. The head of the South African Council of Churches, the Rev. Frank Chikane, visited the camp and said he had seen enough to know that ''police are involved in killing us.'' The police fought running battles with residents who hurled rocks and firebombs throughout the morning near the camp in the sprawling township southwest of Johannesburg.
Source: New York Times
Residents accused supporters of the conservative Zulu movement Inkatha of starting the nighttime attack with police help. They also said masked white men had taken part in the assault on the Tladi squatter camp in Soweto. The head of the South African Council of Churches, the Rev. Frank Chikane, visited the camp and said he had seen enough to know that ''police are involved in killing us.'' The police fought running battles with residents who hurled rocks and firebombs throughout the morning near the camp in the sprawling township southwest of Johannesburg.
Source: New York Times
Liberian Insurgents Kill President, Diplomats and Broadcasts Report
It is unclear whether the President died from gunshot wounds suffered during his capture or whether he was killed after arriving at rebel headquarters. President Doe was reportedly seen being interrogated by Mr. Johnson shortly before his death.
The State Department in Washington said it had been informed by what it described as various reliable sources that President Doe died after the weekend shootout with rebel forces. Mr. Johnson has declared himself President until an interim government takes over, though he has reportedly not taken possession of the palace in Monrovia that Mr. Doe occupied until Sunday. While Mr. Doe's death has removed a leading figure in the Liberian conflict, the situation remains complicated.
Mr. Johnson's forces control much of downtown Monrovia, while about 6,000 to 10,000 troops loyal to another rebel leader, Charles Taylor, dominate the country outside the capital. Brig. David Nimley, commander of Mr. Doe's military forces, announced Sunday night that he was in charge, indicating that the Doe group may remain a factor.
In addition, 4,000 troops from five West African countries are in Liberia as part of a peacekeeping force dispatched last month by the 16-nation Economic Community of West African States. This intervention, inspired largely by Nigeria, was conceived as an effort to stop hostilities and organize eventual elections. The international force made a naval landing and is now occupiying part of the port area. Late last month, commanders of the West African troops named Amos Sawyer head of an interim Government. Mr. Johnson's faction has welcomed the West African force, while Mr. Taylor's group opposes it and has battled fiercely with the international contingent on the capital's outskirts.
Reports of the death of Mr. Doe seemed to signal the further disintegration of what had remained of his army. Senior officials in the Doe Government were seen today trying to negotiate with the West African peacekeeping force to evacuate Mr. Doe's relatives and close associates. Many of his soldiers were said to be surrendering or stripping off their uniforms and trying to hide. Sporadic bursts of gunfire continued in central Monrovia throughout the day as Mr. Johnson's fighters hunted down the President's men.
Western diplomats and other sources said Mr. Doe was captured after he appeared unexpectedly at the headquarters of the five-nation peacekeeping force, which has been seeking to impose a cease-fire in a war in which more than 5,000 people are believed to have been killed. Tom Woweiyu, a spokesman for the rival rebel group led by Mr. Taylor, said that according to its intelligence reports Mr. Doe intended to leave the country, possibly under the escort of the peacekeeping force. A spokesman for Mr. Johnson's group also said today that the President was seeking refuge at the peacekeeping force headquarters in Monrovia's port area, but neither report could be confirmed. Shortly after Mr. Doe's arrival, Prince Johnson and his supporters arrived and a gunfight erupted. The rebel troops then hunted down the President's soldiers from room to room and slaughtered them. More than 60 people, including dozens of Mr. Doe's bodyguards, were reportedly killed in the battle. The President was reportedly wounded in both legs.
During the hourlong battle, members of the peacekeeing force made repeated appeals to both sides to stop firing, but were unable to stop the fighting. Western and African diplomats here said today that they were dismayed that the incident occurred at the peacekeeing force's heavily guarded headquarters, and some voiced concern that troops there may have acted in collusion with Mr. Johnson's rebels. There were also unconfirmed reports that Mr. Johnson may have lured President Doe into the area by promising to sign a cease-fire agreement with him. Late last month, Mr. Johnson's faction and Mr. Doe's group announced that they had reached a truce, and Mr. Johnson said publicly that Mr. Doe was no longer his main adversary.
According to reports from witnesses at the Johnson forces' base, Mr. Johnson later interrogated Mr. Doe at length about the whereabouts of large amounts of money he was supposed to have embezzled while in power. In an interview with the BBC shortly after Mr. Doe was captured, Mr. Johnson said he was not going to kill the President, but wanted him to stand trial.
The rebellion started last December when some 150 guerrillas, led by both Mr. Johnson and Mr. Taylor, launched sporadic raids on Government outposts in northeast Liberia. But after brutal army reprisals against the population in the area, the rebellion gathered momemtum and fighting eventually engulfed most of the country of about 2.5 million people, which is about the size of Ohio.
Tonight, Mr. Woweiyu, the Taylor spokesman, said his group was willing to hold cease-fire talks with Mr. Johnson, but only if the West African force ended its efforts to set up an interim government.
Source: New York Times
The State Department in Washington said it had been informed by what it described as various reliable sources that President Doe died after the weekend shootout with rebel forces. Mr. Johnson has declared himself President until an interim government takes over, though he has reportedly not taken possession of the palace in Monrovia that Mr. Doe occupied until Sunday. While Mr. Doe's death has removed a leading figure in the Liberian conflict, the situation remains complicated.
Mr. Johnson's forces control much of downtown Monrovia, while about 6,000 to 10,000 troops loyal to another rebel leader, Charles Taylor, dominate the country outside the capital. Brig. David Nimley, commander of Mr. Doe's military forces, announced Sunday night that he was in charge, indicating that the Doe group may remain a factor.
In addition, 4,000 troops from five West African countries are in Liberia as part of a peacekeeping force dispatched last month by the 16-nation Economic Community of West African States. This intervention, inspired largely by Nigeria, was conceived as an effort to stop hostilities and organize eventual elections. The international force made a naval landing and is now occupiying part of the port area. Late last month, commanders of the West African troops named Amos Sawyer head of an interim Government. Mr. Johnson's faction has welcomed the West African force, while Mr. Taylor's group opposes it and has battled fiercely with the international contingent on the capital's outskirts.
Reports of the death of Mr. Doe seemed to signal the further disintegration of what had remained of his army. Senior officials in the Doe Government were seen today trying to negotiate with the West African peacekeeping force to evacuate Mr. Doe's relatives and close associates. Many of his soldiers were said to be surrendering or stripping off their uniforms and trying to hide. Sporadic bursts of gunfire continued in central Monrovia throughout the day as Mr. Johnson's fighters hunted down the President's men.
Western diplomats and other sources said Mr. Doe was captured after he appeared unexpectedly at the headquarters of the five-nation peacekeeping force, which has been seeking to impose a cease-fire in a war in which more than 5,000 people are believed to have been killed. Tom Woweiyu, a spokesman for the rival rebel group led by Mr. Taylor, said that according to its intelligence reports Mr. Doe intended to leave the country, possibly under the escort of the peacekeeping force. A spokesman for Mr. Johnson's group also said today that the President was seeking refuge at the peacekeeping force headquarters in Monrovia's port area, but neither report could be confirmed. Shortly after Mr. Doe's arrival, Prince Johnson and his supporters arrived and a gunfight erupted. The rebel troops then hunted down the President's soldiers from room to room and slaughtered them. More than 60 people, including dozens of Mr. Doe's bodyguards, were reportedly killed in the battle. The President was reportedly wounded in both legs.
During the hourlong battle, members of the peacekeeing force made repeated appeals to both sides to stop firing, but were unable to stop the fighting. Western and African diplomats here said today that they were dismayed that the incident occurred at the peacekeeing force's heavily guarded headquarters, and some voiced concern that troops there may have acted in collusion with Mr. Johnson's rebels. There were also unconfirmed reports that Mr. Johnson may have lured President Doe into the area by promising to sign a cease-fire agreement with him. Late last month, Mr. Johnson's faction and Mr. Doe's group announced that they had reached a truce, and Mr. Johnson said publicly that Mr. Doe was no longer his main adversary.
According to reports from witnesses at the Johnson forces' base, Mr. Johnson later interrogated Mr. Doe at length about the whereabouts of large amounts of money he was supposed to have embezzled while in power. In an interview with the BBC shortly after Mr. Doe was captured, Mr. Johnson said he was not going to kill the President, but wanted him to stand trial.
The rebellion started last December when some 150 guerrillas, led by both Mr. Johnson and Mr. Taylor, launched sporadic raids on Government outposts in northeast Liberia. But after brutal army reprisals against the population in the area, the rebellion gathered momemtum and fighting eventually engulfed most of the country of about 2.5 million people, which is about the size of Ohio.
Tonight, Mr. Woweiyu, the Taylor spokesman, said his group was willing to hold cease-fire talks with Mr. Johnson, but only if the West African force ended its efforts to set up an interim government.
Source: New York Times
Sunday, September 9, 1990
Liberian President Captured by Rebels In a Fierce Gunfight
According to sketchy reports from neighboring Liberia, a skirmish occurred outside the headquarters of the five-nation West African peacekeeping force sent into Liberia in an effort to end the civil war that began in December. More than 60 people, including dozens of Mr. Doe's bodyguards, were reportedly killed in the battle. The President himself was reported to have been shot in both legs before being taken away. By nightfall, there had been no word from a rival rebel faction led by Charles Taylor, which controls much of the country outside the capital. Liberia's civil war began last December when forces of the two rebel leaders invaded from the Ivory Coast, moving into Nimba County, about 300 miles northeast of Monrovia.
The Liberian Government sent troops and provincial policemen to oust the rebels. By most accounts, the soldiers then went on a rampage, indiscriminately killing and maiming hundreds of unarmed civilians - people they apparently believed were sympathetic to the rebels. At least 400,000 Liberians are believed to have fled across the eastern and northern frontiers to escape the bloodshed, most of them settling in the heavily forested hills of the Ivory Coast and Guinea.
In early February, the two rebel leaders split into rival factions, with Mr. Johnson accusing Mr. Taylor of corruption. Mr. Taylor, a former Cabinet member, also had been accused of corruption when he was serving in Mr. Doe's Government; the President charged he embezzled nearly $1 million in Government funds. Mr. Johnson also accused Mr. Taylor of having received arms and money from Libya, an accusation Mr. Taylor has denied.
The war has become increasingly three-sided, with the two rebel factions fighting each other and Mr. Doe trying to hold onto the small fraction of the country - mostly central Monrovia -that his troops still control. The bitter rivalry between Mr. Taylor and Mr. Johnson took an unexpected turn in late August, when Mr. Taylor announced that he had signed a cease-fire agreement with President Doe. Mr. Doe and Mr. Johnson were apparently discussing the agreement today when they began to argue and fighting erupted. It was not known what role the West African peacekeeping force had played in the incident, although it reportedly occurred outside its headquarters in Monrovia's port area. According to a BBC correspondent with the West African peacekeeping force in Monrovia, Mr. Johnson said tonight that he would court-martial Mr. Doe, a former soldier, but that he did not want to kill him.
The incident reportedly began when the President, who had only rarely left his heavily fortified executive mansion since July, appeared unexpectedly at the port headquarters of the peacekeeping force. About 10 minutes later, Mr. Johnson and several of his fighters reportedly arrived and began to quarrel with President Doe's bodyguards. The rebel troops then reportedly hunted down the President's soldiers from room to room and slaughtered them. Eventually, they grabbed the President and carried him off to their base camp outside the city. Members of the peacekeeping force reportedly made repeated appeals to the two sides, but were unable to stop the fighting.
In 1980, President Doe, a 28-year-old master sergeant who dropped out of the 11th grade, came to power after he and other army noncommissioned officers seized power from President William R. Tolbert, who was shot and bayoneted to death. Ten days later, foreign reporters were invited to watch 13 senior Government officials, including most of the former Cabinet, marched nearly naked through the streets of Monrovia, tied to seaside posts and then executed at point-blank range.
President Doe's international reputation never fully recovered from that incident. His image has also suffered from persistent accusations of human rights abuses. The State Department's 1989 human rights report, released shortly after the rebel invasion, said, "Brutality by police and other security officials during the arrest and questioning of individuals is fairly common, and there has been no evidence of Government efforts to halt this practice." Since Mr. Doe came to power, more than 20 senior Government officials and army officers have been executed on charges of plotting coups.
Source: New York Times
The Liberian Government sent troops and provincial policemen to oust the rebels. By most accounts, the soldiers then went on a rampage, indiscriminately killing and maiming hundreds of unarmed civilians - people they apparently believed were sympathetic to the rebels. At least 400,000 Liberians are believed to have fled across the eastern and northern frontiers to escape the bloodshed, most of them settling in the heavily forested hills of the Ivory Coast and Guinea.
In early February, the two rebel leaders split into rival factions, with Mr. Johnson accusing Mr. Taylor of corruption. Mr. Taylor, a former Cabinet member, also had been accused of corruption when he was serving in Mr. Doe's Government; the President charged he embezzled nearly $1 million in Government funds. Mr. Johnson also accused Mr. Taylor of having received arms and money from Libya, an accusation Mr. Taylor has denied.
The war has become increasingly three-sided, with the two rebel factions fighting each other and Mr. Doe trying to hold onto the small fraction of the country - mostly central Monrovia -that his troops still control. The bitter rivalry between Mr. Taylor and Mr. Johnson took an unexpected turn in late August, when Mr. Taylor announced that he had signed a cease-fire agreement with President Doe. Mr. Doe and Mr. Johnson were apparently discussing the agreement today when they began to argue and fighting erupted. It was not known what role the West African peacekeeping force had played in the incident, although it reportedly occurred outside its headquarters in Monrovia's port area. According to a BBC correspondent with the West African peacekeeping force in Monrovia, Mr. Johnson said tonight that he would court-martial Mr. Doe, a former soldier, but that he did not want to kill him.
The incident reportedly began when the President, who had only rarely left his heavily fortified executive mansion since July, appeared unexpectedly at the port headquarters of the peacekeeping force. About 10 minutes later, Mr. Johnson and several of his fighters reportedly arrived and began to quarrel with President Doe's bodyguards. The rebel troops then reportedly hunted down the President's soldiers from room to room and slaughtered them. Eventually, they grabbed the President and carried him off to their base camp outside the city. Members of the peacekeeping force reportedly made repeated appeals to the two sides, but were unable to stop the fighting.
In 1980, President Doe, a 28-year-old master sergeant who dropped out of the 11th grade, came to power after he and other army noncommissioned officers seized power from President William R. Tolbert, who was shot and bayoneted to death. Ten days later, foreign reporters were invited to watch 13 senior Government officials, including most of the former Cabinet, marched nearly naked through the streets of Monrovia, tied to seaside posts and then executed at point-blank range.
President Doe's international reputation never fully recovered from that incident. His image has also suffered from persistent accusations of human rights abuses. The State Department's 1989 human rights report, released shortly after the rebel invasion, said, "Brutality by police and other security officials during the arrest and questioning of individuals is fairly common, and there has been no evidence of Government efforts to halt this practice." Since Mr. Doe came to power, more than 20 senior Government officials and army officers have been executed on charges of plotting coups.
Source: New York Times
Saturday, September 1, 1990
Refugees Report Liberian 'Scorched Earth' Drive on Rebels
Refugees fleeing fighting in northeastern Liberia have told of a "scorched earth" policy by the Liberian Army, sent into Nimba Province to put down an insurgency that started there two weeks ago. The refugees told a reporter for Agence France-Presse that the army had entered villages in the northeastern region with mounted machine guns and opened automatic fire.
Those who managed to escape across the river into the neighboring Ivory Coast said they had seen friends and relatives shot by the soldiers. The villages were then burned and terrified inhabitants chased into the bush, the refugees said. Ivory Coast officials have said up to 10,000 Liberian refugees have arrived in the Ivory Coast, but other reports have put the figures much lower.
Fighting began on Dec. 24, when insurgents opposed to the West African country's leader, Gen. Samuel K. Doe, entered Nimba, the site of previous rebellions against General Doe. The rebellion is apparently led by Charles Taylor, a former minister in the Doe Government who fell into disfavor and fled the country after being charged with corruption. A man claiming to be Mr. Taylor phoned the BBC a week ago and said the rebels were seeking to overthrow General Doe. Mr. Taylor said his forces numbered 1,000. The Doe Government has said there are 200 insurgents.
The Government has said the rebel forces destroyed two towns, Kahntle and Butuo, in the initial incursion. General Doe, who as a master sergeant came to power in a violent coup in 1980, warned a rally in the capital, Monrovia, on Saturday that if anyone was caught harboring rebels, "we will treat you as a rebel. We will carry out a massive search," he said. "Furnish us with information if you want to be on the safe side."
General Doe, who accused the Ivory Coast of harboring the insurgents, warned his neighbor that Liberian forces would pursue the rebels back over the border. Gen. Edward Smith, in charge of crushing the uprising, was quoted by Radio Elwa in Liberia as saying that among the more than 200 men, women and children killed by the rebels were 7 people shot while praying in a mosque.
While Monrovia was apparently unaffected by the fighting in the northeast, there was concern that the killing of the great-grandson of a former Liberian President on Thursday might be connected with the events in Nimba. The victim, Robert Phillipa, found beheaded with his wrists cut at his home, was one of the main defendants in the 1985 treason trial that followed a coup attempt against General Doe.
Liberia, founded by freed American slaves in 1847 and long run by their descendants, has been the closest ally of the United States in West Africa. The relationship grew especially warm during the Reagan Administration, when General Doe received nearly $500 million in aid from Washington, making Liberia the largest per-capita recipient of American aid in sub-Saharan Africa.
A United States military communications station and transmitters for Voice of America broadcasts to Africa are situated in Liberia. It is the only country in West Africa where United States military planes can land with just 24 hours' notice. But Congress has become increasingly disenchanted with the Doe Government, particularly its refusal to clean up a corrupt economy or markedly improve its human rights record. Military aid has been steadily decreased to zero over the last several years, and economic aid was cut to $31.5 million last year.
Source: New York Times
Those who managed to escape across the river into the neighboring Ivory Coast said they had seen friends and relatives shot by the soldiers. The villages were then burned and terrified inhabitants chased into the bush, the refugees said. Ivory Coast officials have said up to 10,000 Liberian refugees have arrived in the Ivory Coast, but other reports have put the figures much lower.
Fighting began on Dec. 24, when insurgents opposed to the West African country's leader, Gen. Samuel K. Doe, entered Nimba, the site of previous rebellions against General Doe. The rebellion is apparently led by Charles Taylor, a former minister in the Doe Government who fell into disfavor and fled the country after being charged with corruption. A man claiming to be Mr. Taylor phoned the BBC a week ago and said the rebels were seeking to overthrow General Doe. Mr. Taylor said his forces numbered 1,000. The Doe Government has said there are 200 insurgents.
The Government has said the rebel forces destroyed two towns, Kahntle and Butuo, in the initial incursion. General Doe, who as a master sergeant came to power in a violent coup in 1980, warned a rally in the capital, Monrovia, on Saturday that if anyone was caught harboring rebels, "we will treat you as a rebel. We will carry out a massive search," he said. "Furnish us with information if you want to be on the safe side."
General Doe, who accused the Ivory Coast of harboring the insurgents, warned his neighbor that Liberian forces would pursue the rebels back over the border. Gen. Edward Smith, in charge of crushing the uprising, was quoted by Radio Elwa in Liberia as saying that among the more than 200 men, women and children killed by the rebels were 7 people shot while praying in a mosque.
While Monrovia was apparently unaffected by the fighting in the northeast, there was concern that the killing of the great-grandson of a former Liberian President on Thursday might be connected with the events in Nimba. The victim, Robert Phillipa, found beheaded with his wrists cut at his home, was one of the main defendants in the 1985 treason trial that followed a coup attempt against General Doe.
Liberia, founded by freed American slaves in 1847 and long run by their descendants, has been the closest ally of the United States in West Africa. The relationship grew especially warm during the Reagan Administration, when General Doe received nearly $500 million in aid from Washington, making Liberia the largest per-capita recipient of American aid in sub-Saharan Africa.
A United States military communications station and transmitters for Voice of America broadcasts to Africa are situated in Liberia. It is the only country in West Africa where United States military planes can land with just 24 hours' notice. But Congress has become increasingly disenchanted with the Doe Government, particularly its refusal to clean up a corrupt economy or markedly improve its human rights record. Military aid has been steadily decreased to zero over the last several years, and economic aid was cut to $31.5 million last year.
Source: New York Times
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)