WORLD COURT SUPPORTS NICARAGUA AFTER U.S. REJECTED JUDGES' ROLE

The International Court of Justice ruled today that the Reagan Administration had broken international law and violated Nicaraguan sovereignty by aiding the anti-Government rebels.

The Court, the judicial arm of the United Nations, ordered Washington to halt the ''arming and training'' of the insurgents and to pay Nicaragua for damages caused by military attacks, some of which it said had been carried out by the United States itself.

The judgment, which was widely expected, came after 26 months of litigation on Nicaragua's complaint. U.S. Rejects the Verdict

In Washington, a State Department spokesman said the United States rejected the Court's verdict, and said the body was ''not equipped'' to judge complex international military issues. The American spokesman added that ''we consider our policy in Central America to be entirely consistent with international law.'' [ Page 4. ] In January 1985 the Administration said it would defy the Court and ignore further proceedings in the case because of its view that the World Court, as it is commonly called, has no jurisdiction to decide cases involving ongoing armed conflicts. The Court rejected this position last November.

Throughout the case, the argument that the United States was giving military aid to the contras was never in serious dispute. However, before Washington formally withdrew from the case, it argued that United States actions against Nicaragua were ''collective self-defense'' against Nicaraguan support of leftist guerrillas in El Salvador and elsewhere.

The Court's findings were announced two days after the House of Representatives endorsed President Reagan's plan to provide $100 million in new aid to the rebels, with $70 million earmarked for military assistance. Three Dissenters

The World Court consists of 15 judges: one, the chief judge, from India; two from France, and one each from Poland, Argentina, Nigeria, Italy, Brazil, Senegal, Algeria, China, Norway, Japan, the United States and Britain. The American, British and Japanese judges dissented on the most important issues in the case.

The Court deferred a ruling on Nicaragua's petition for $370 million in damages from the United States, saying it wished to give the two countries a chance to negotiate a settlement themselves. However, the Court said it would step in if no accord materialized.

Abram Chayes, a counsel for the Managua Government, said in Washington today that as a result of the ruling, Nicaragua intends to sue the United States for more than $1 billion in damages in United States courts. In New York, Nora Astorga, Nicaragua's chief envoy to the United Nations, said her Government had asked for a Security Council meeting to discuss how to make the United States comply with the ruling.

The Court has no enforcement powers. It depends on voluntary compliance with its rulings by nations coming before it. #15 Counts Against U.S.

The Court ruled against the United States on 15 counts.

The Court found the United States violated customary international law and Nicaragua's sovereignty by ''training, arming, equipping, financing and supplying the contra forces.'' It also found the United States guilty of direct attacks on Nicaraguan oil installations, ports and shipping in 1983 and 1984.

It held that the United States broke international law by authorizing overflights of Nicaraguan territory and by mining Nicaraguan ports and harbors in 1984. The Court also ruled that the United States trade embargo against Nicaragua, decreed in May 1985, violates a 1956 treaty of friendship between the two countries.

The Court also condemned the United States for allowing distribution of a Central Intelligence Agency manual on guerrilla warfare techniques to the contras, saying it encourages ''acts contrary to the general principles of humanitarian law.''

A majority of judges rejected the American claim that it was acting in the ''collective self-defense'' of El Salvador, Costa Rica and Honduras because Nicaragua was supporting rebel movements in these countries.

The Court said Nicaraguan aid to rebels in El Salvador was mainly in 1980 and 1981, before the United States stepped up its assistance to the contras, and did not constitute an ''armed attack'' on these countries under international law. As a result, the United States' response was judged disproportionate and unnecessary.

The Court said the United States was responsible in a general way for damage caused by the contras but not for specific acts by the rebels since it does not control them.

It also said the United States has no right to seek the overthrow of the Nicaraguan Government because of its political ideology. But to the surprise of some lawyers, it then added that this doctrine does not apply to ''the process of decolonization,'' suggesting that wars of national liberation may be justified in international law. Nicaraguan Leader Comments

The Nicaraguan Foreign Minister, the Rev. Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, said he hoped the United States Congress would now agree to stop new aid going to the contras. ''We want the U.S. to comply with the ruling so that there will be no more killing of our people,'' he told a news conference here.

If the United States fails to respect the judgment, Father D'Escoto said, its ''reputation as a member of the international community will be tarnished, perhaps irreparably.''

The Foreign Minister said he would discuss the verdict with the United Nations Secretary General, Javier Perez de Cuellar, in New York next week before returning to Nicaragua for talks with the other leaders of the Government on their next move in the dispute.

Although the World Court lacks the means to enforce its judgments, diplomats here say Nicaragua can still use today's ruling to cause the United States some diplomatic embarrassment. This could first occur in a demand that the Security Council authorize sanctions against the United States if it fails to comply. The United States would then be forced to exercise its Security Council veto to block the Nicaraguan resolution. Charges of Bias in Court

The United States walked out of the Court proceedings last year, saying they were biased in favor of Nicaragua.

In announcing that it did not recognize the Court's jurisdiction in January 1985, the Reagan Administration noted that the Soviet Union and most other nations had never assented to the World Court's jurisdiction, as the United States did in 1946.

But the World Court proceeded with the Nicaragua case, in accordance with its rules, as it did when Iran refused to recognize its jurisdiction in the United States' suit over the seizure in 1979 of American diplomats in Teheran as hostages. The Court ruled for the United States in that case.

The Nicaraguan case is widely seen by legal scholars as the most politically sensitive the World Court has ever adjudicated as well as representing its first involvement in an international conflict that is still under way.

The Court's verdict on most key issues was challenged by Judge Stephen M. Schwebel of the United States, Sir Robert Jennings, the British judge, and Judge Shigeru Oda of Japan. A Jurisdictional Challenge

The dissenting judges first challenged the Court's competence to hear the case. The issue was whether the Court could hear the case since the United States specifically refused it authority in 1946 over cases brought under international treaties. Nicaragua claims the United States violated its international obligations under the United Nations and Organization of American States charters.

A majority of judges said this restriction applies but argued that the principles of noninterference in other countries' affairs and respect for national sovereignty, which are enshrined in the United Nations charter, have now become part of the wider body of customary international law.

The Court, the majority ruled, is therefore competent to judge.

Judge Oda argued that the dispute was not ''legal'' but ''political'' and is ''more suitable for resolution by other organs and procedures.'' Lawyers said this suggested that Judge Oda believed the dispute should be judged by the Security Council.

Judge Schwebel's dissent emphasized that the Court had underestimated the gravity of the Nicaraguan Government's involvement in El Salvador.

''Nicaragua has not come to court with clean hands,'' Judge Schwebel said. ''On the contrary, as an aggressor, indirectly responsible - but ultimately responsible - for large numbers of deaths and widespread destruction in El Salvador, apparently much exceeding that which Nicaragua has sustained, Nicaragua's hands are odiously unclean. Nicaragua has compounded its sins by misrepresenting them in court.''

Source: New York Times

US dismisses World Court ruling on contras

The International Court of Justice yesterday ruled that US support to the contras in Nicaragua is illegal, and demanded that the US pay reparations to the Sandinistas.

Nicaragua intends to sue the US for more than dollars 1 billion in damages in US domestic courts as a result of yesterday's World Court ruling, a legal counsel for the Managua Government said yesterday in Washington.

In a 16-point ruling on a complaint lodged by Nicaragua , the judges rejected American claims of collective self-defence and found the US guilty of breaches of international law and the 1956 treaty of friendship between the two countries.

Three judges submitted dissenting opinions: Judge Oda (Japan), Judge Schwebel (US) and Sir Robert Jennings (Britain).
The US rejected the judgment, claiming that the Managua regime is a Soviet puppet.

A Soviet judge did not take part in the case. One judge was withdrawn last August and was only replaced in December - too late to join his 14 colleagues, plus the ad hoc judge added to the court to represent Nicaragua .

The Sandinistas had appealed to the World Court in April, 1984, to condemn American intervention, but the US has always maintained that the court's jurisdiction did not extend to ruling on this issue. The US does recognise the jurisdiction of the court in many other cases, such as the 1984 ruling on the Bay of Maine dispute with Canada.
In its verdict, the court stated that US acts and actions in training and financing the contras, the attack on Puerto Sandino and interference with maritime commerce constituted breaches of international law and the obligation not to violate national sovereignty.

The court argued that the two parties should negotiate on the level and type of reparations, but that if agreement could not be reached, the court would determine compensation at a later date.
The US benches were empty when the court announced its decision. Among the Nicaraguan delegates was the Foreign Minister, Father Miguel d'Escoto, who said he hoped that the verdict would help the Americans to re-evaluate their position and stop defying the law and the court.
Dutch legal experts argue that the decision is legally binding on the US, despite the American refusal to recognise the court's jurisdiction. One said: 'The USA has always recognised the ICJ. It should have changed its position earlier if it wanted to duck the court in this case. 'It is a well-known principle of international law that, if a country submits to the jurisdiction of a court, it cannot sidestep the court after the judges have started their work,' a professor of international law at Amsterdam University said.

WASHINGTON - In an initial reaction - the 400 pages of the ruling have yet to be digested - the State Department spokesman, Mr Charles Redman, said that the court's decision demonstrated that it was not equipped to deal with a case of such a complex nature.

Mr Redman said that the US and Nicaragua agreed that international law was not the issue but the facts of-the case, whether one accepted the US or Nicaraguan version of events. Both the Administration and Congress - on the basis of intelligence information not made available to the court - concluded that Nicaragua had launched unprovoked and unlawful attacks on its neighbours, he said.

At the same time, the US said that the latest crackdown in Nicaragua against the opposition was not unexpected and condemned the measures announced by President Daniel Ortega. 'We are deeply concerned at the welfare of the civilian opposition,' Mr Redman said.

Congressional sources opposed to Mr Reagan's policy said the Nicaraguan crackdown demonstrated that the Administration policy of trying to open up the political system had failed.

Source: The Guardian

US guilty of backing Contras

The United States has been found guilty of violating international law by supporting armed Contra rebels in Nicaragua. The International Court of Justice ruled that the US should compensate the country, although it has not yet fixed an amount.

But the Reagan administration has boycotted the case and says it will ignore the verdict of the United Nations court. In the US there have been demonstrations against a vote by Congress in favour of aid to the Contras. About 40 people were arrested during a protest in Minneapolis, and in Cleveland a group of demonstrators lay on the pavement to block the entrance to the federal building.

The UN court found the US guilty of contravening law by training, arming and financing paramilitary activities in and against Nicaragua. These activities included the laying of mines in Nicaraguan waters in early 1984, as well as attacking a naval base and patrol boats.

The court held, by 12 votes to three, that the US was "in breach of its obligations under customary international law not to use force against another State, not to intervene in its affairs, not to violate its sovereignty and not to interrupt peaceful maritime commerce". It ruled the US was under an obligation "to make reparation to the Republic of Nicaragua for all injury caused" by the breaches.

Source BBC

Magoo’s Bar Bombed

The gruesome scene outside Magoo's Bar in Durban after the bomb went off killing three women pedestrians and wounding many bar patrons.

Source: IoL

Liberian Leader Pardons 34 Accused in Plot

Liberia's President, Gen. Samuel K. Doe, announced today that he had pardoned 34 people accused of conspiring to overthrow the Government. The Liberian Information Ministry said General Doe granted "a complete and unconditional pardon to all persons implicated and detained after the failed coup of Nov. 12, 1985."

Among those pardoned was Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, a prominent opposition politician and former Citibank vice president whose case drew substantial attention in the United States. In a broadcast, General Doe said the pardon was an "act of mercy" to show "that we harbor no evil intention against any of our citizens, including those who may wish us ill."

Source: New York Times

SOVIET ANNOUNCES NUCLEAR ACCIDENT AT ELECTRIC PLANT

The Soviet Union announced today that there had been an accident at a nuclear power plant in the Ukraine and that ''aid is being given to those affected.'' The severity of the accident, which spread discernable radioactive material over Scandinavia, was not immediately clear. But the terse statement, distributed by the Tass press agency and read on the evening television news, suggested a major accident.

The phrasing also suggested that the problem had not been brought under full control at the nuclear plant, which the Soviet announcement identified as the Chernobyl station. It is situated at the new town of Pripyat, near Chernobyl and 60 miles north of Kiev. The announcement, the first official disclosure of a nuclear accident ever by the Soviet Union, came hours after Sweden, Finland and Denmark reported abnormally high radioactivity levels in their skies. The readings initially led those countries to think radioactive material had been leaking from one of their own reactors.

The Soviet announcement, made on behalf of the Council of Ministers, after Sweden had demanded information, said in its entirety: ''An accident has occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant as one of the reactors was damaged. Measures are being taken to eliminate the consequences of the accident. Aid is being given to those affected. A Government commission has been set up.'' The mention of a commission of inquiry reinforced indications that the accident was a serious one. United States experts said the accident probably posed no danger outside the Soviet Union. But in the absence of detailed information, they said it would be difficult to determine the gravity, and they said environmental damage might conceivably be disastrous. The Chernobyl plant, with four 1,000-megawatt reactors in operation, is one of the largest and oldest of the 15 or so Soviet civilian nuclear stations. Nuclear power has been a matter of high priority in the Soviet Union, and capacity has been going into service as fast as reactors can be built. Pripyat, where the Chernobyl plant is situated, is a settlement of 25,000 to 30,000 people that was built in the 1970's along with the station. It is home to construction workers, service personnel and their families. A British reporter returning from Kiev reported seeing no activity in the Ukrainian capital that would suggest any alarm. No other information was immediately available from the area. But reports from across Scandinavia, areas more than 800 miles to the north, spoke of increases in radioactivity over the last 24 hours.

Scandinavian authorities said the radioactivity levels did not pose any danger, and it appeared that only tiny amounts of radioactive material had drifted over Scandinavia. All of it was believed to be in the form of two relatively innocuous gases, xenon and krypton. Scandinavian officials said the evidence pointed to an accident in the Ukraine. In Sweden, an official at the Institute for Protection Against Radiation said gamma radiation levels were 30 to 40 percent higher than normal. He said that the levels had been abnormally high for 24 hours and that the release seemed to be continuing. In Finland, officials were reported to have said readings in the central and northern areas showed levels six times higher than normal. The Norwegian radio quoted pollution control officials as having said that radioactivity in the Oslo area was 50 percent higher. Since morning, Swedish officials had focused on the Soviet Union as the probable source of the radioactive material, but Swedish Embassy officials here said the Soviet authorities had denied knowledge of any problem until the Government announcement was read on television at 9 P.M.

The first alarm was raised in Sweden when workers arriving at the Forsmark nuclear power station, 60 miles north of Stockholm, set off warnings during a routine radioactivity check. The plant was evacuated, Swedish officials said. When other nuclear power plants reported similar happenings, the authorities turned their attention to the Soviet Union, from which the winds were coming. A Swedish diplomat here said he had telephoned three Soviet Government agencies - the State Committee for Utilization of Atomic Energy, the Ministry of Electric Power and the three-year-old State Committee for Safety in the Atomic Power Industry -asking them to explain the high readings over Scandinavia. All said they had no explanation, the diplomat said. Before the Soviet acknowledgment, the Swedish Minister of Energy, Birgitta Dahl, said that whoever was responsible for the spread of radioactive material was not observing international agreements requiring warnings and exchanges of information about accidents.

Tass, the Soviet Government press agency, said the Chernobyl accident was the first ever in a Soviet nuclear power plant. It was the first ever acknowledged by the Russians, but Western experts have reported at least two previous mishaps. In 1957, a nuclear waste dump believed related to weapons production was reported to have resulted in a chemical reaction in the Kasli areas of the Urals, causing damage to the environment and possibly fatalities. In 1974, a steam line exploded in the Shevchenko nuclear breeder plant in Kazakhstan, but no radioactive material is believed to have been released in that accident. Soviet authorities, in giving the development of nuclear electricity generation a high priority, have said that nuclear power is safe. In the absence of citizens' opposition to nuclear power, there has been virtually no questioning of the program. The terse Soviet announcement of the Chernobyl accident was followed by a Tass dispatch noting that there had been many mishaps in the United States, ranging from Three Mile Island outside Harrisburg, Pa., to the Ginna plant near Rochester. Tass said an American antinuclear group registered 2,300 accidents, breakdowns and other faults in 1979. The practice of focusing on disasters elsewhere when one occurs in the Soviet Union is so common that after watching a report on Soviet television about a catastrophe abroad, Russians often call Western friends to find out whether something has happened in the Soviet Union.

Construction of the Chernobyl plant began in the early 1970's and the first reactor was commissioned in 1977. Work has been lagging behind plans. In April 1983, the Ukrainian Central Committee chastised the Chernobyl plant, along with the Rovno nuclear power station at Kuznetsovsk, for ''inferior quality of construction and installation work and low operating levels.'' Donald T. Regan, the White House chief of staff, said today that the United States was willing to provide medical and scientific assistance to the Soviet Union in connection with the nuclear accident but so far there had been no such request.

Source: New York Times

LIBERIA GOVERNMENT FOE IS INDICTED FOR TREASON

A grand jury indicted Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, a leading opposition figure, on treason charges today for her reported involvement in an attempt to overthrow the President, Gen. Samuel K. Doe, last year.

The indictment was made public after a 42-day session. It means that Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf - Finance Minister in the former William Tolbert Government as well as a Harvard-educated economist and former Citibank representative in Nairobi, Kenya - will be tried by a criminal court.

She could receive the death penalty if found guilty. No date has been set yet for the trial.

Source: New York Times

YOWERI MUSEVENI SWORN IN AS UGANDA PRESIDENT

Yoweri Museveni, whose National Resistance Army descended on this battered capital city last week and overthrew the military Government of Gen. Tito Okello, was sworn in today as the new President of Uganda. The ceremony, witnessed by thousands of jubilant Ugandans, was held on the steps of the Parliament building, where some of the fiercest fighting erupted in the battle for Kampala.

The installation of Mr. Museveni, who arrived in a gleaming black Mercedes-Benz and wore jungle-green military fatigues and polished combat boots, came five years after he took his followers into the bush in his quest to overthrow the Government of President Milton Obote. ''Nobody is to think that what is happening today, what has been happening in the last few days is a mere change of guards,'' said Mr. Museveni, 40 years old, who is the ninth head of state since this East African nation gained independence from Britain in 1962. ''This is not a mere change of guards. I think this is a fundamental change in the politics of our government. Any individual, any group or person who threatens the security of our people must be smashed without mercy,'' Mr. Museveni said. ''The people of Uganda should only die from natural causes which are not under our control,'' he said, ''but not from fellow human beings.''

Source: New York Times

AFFIRMATIVE ACTIONS FREED IN LIBERIA

Liberia's vainglorious President, Gen. Samuel K. Doe, may not care a whit about American protests over his five-year record of repression. But he plainly cares about the Reagan Administration's suspension of $25 million in economic aid, which those protests triggered.

To placate Washington, he has now ordered the release of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and 16 jailed students, evidence that financial pressure works.

Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf had returned recently to Liberia to challenge General Doe in a presidential vote next month. She was clapped in jail, charged with sedition and drew a 10-year sentence from a military tribunal. Her case attracted attention because she is a Harvard-trained economist and vice president of Citibank, unusual credentials for a seditionist.

But her plight also drew attention to General Doe's erratic despotism. Having promised elections, he eliminated rival parties, altered his birthday so that he will be 35, the required age, and jailed opposition journalists. Still in custody are Momolu Sirleaf, a relative of Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf, and Klon Hinneh, both on the staff of Footprints Today, Liberia's only remaining independent daily.

Until all such prisoners are freed, and newspapers are unmuzzled, why free that suspended aid money?

Source: New York Times

Marshals Seeking Ex-Official Of Liberia After His Escape

Federal marshals today joined a search for a man awaiting extradition to Liberia who escaped from jail with four other inmates by sawing off a bar on a window and sliding down sheets. The man, Charles Taylor, 37 years old, is the former director of the Liberian General Service Agency, according to Bill Steely, chief deputy of the United States Marshal Service in Boston.

Chief Steely said Mr. Taylor was arrested May 24, 1984, in a Somerville apartment on a warrant charging him with embezzling about $1 million while he served as director of the agency. The other escapees were identified as Anthony C. Rodriques Jr., 18, of Fall River, Mass.; Thomas Devoll, 21, of New Bedford, Mass.; Carlos Guilbe, 22, and Frederick O'Connor, 23, both of Brockton, Mass.

Source: New York Times

FORMER LIBERIAN OFFICIAL IS SENTENCED TO PRISON

A former Liberian Finance Minister was sentenced to 10 years in prison Friday night after a military court found her guilty of sedition. The former official, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, 46 years old, an international banker who at one time represented Citibank in Nairobi, Kenya, was quoted by the Liberian press agency as thanking the military court for the manner in which the trial was conducted. She also pleaded to the military leader, Gen. Samuel K. Doe, for mercy, saying Liberia needed all its resources to tackle the many problems it faced.

Miss Johnson-Sirleaf, who served as Finance Minister under President William Tolbert in the late 1970's, called members of the present military-led administration "idiots" while on a speaking tour of the United States last July. She told the tribunal Friday night that she had spoken out of frustration because her political party at the time faced problems in getting legal recognition.

Source: New York Times

Less Liberty in Liberia

Unhappy Liberia has its own version of one man, one vote. There, only one man's vote matters. The man is Samuel K. Doe, the former sergeant who at age 28 ensconced himself as president in 1980 after his soldiers bayoneted a civilian predecessor. Mr. Doe is now a five-star general whose most conspicuous victory is over the calendar. He has added two years to his age so that, officially, he will be 35, as required by the Constitution, when the people of his West Africa country choose him as president in November's election.

To assure that result, all serious opposition parties have been ruled ineligible, their leaders jailed, their newspapers silenced. His most formidable challenger is Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, candidate of the Liberal Action Party. Harvard-educated and a former Minister of Finance, Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf has been Citibank's representative in Nairobi. In a speech she gave recently on a visit to Philadelphia, she faulted Liberia's lavish public spending. For this, she was arrested on her return to Monrovia, accused of endangering stability. Last week, incredibly, she was put on trial for sedition.

All this cries out for more than a routine response from Washington. Americans have special historic ties to Liberia's two million people. Liberia was established in 1822 with American help as a haven for freed black slaves. Its use of English, its Constitution and even its flag reflect this history. But the promise of liberty has never been realized. Liberians have endured poverty and corrupt misgovernment, and General Doe's erratic despotism now outdoes his predecessors'.

Nonetheless, since his coup, U.S. foreign aid to Liberia has quadrupled, to $83 million this year, the highest per capita figure in Africa. To induce him to hold the elections he promised, $250,000 of this aid was earmarked to help pay the costs. General Doe denounced Washington for interfering and vowed to return the money. Wholly in character, he hasn't.

The general seemingly assumes that the Reagan Administration will put up with anything so long as he makes anti-Communist noises and causes no trouble about a vital Voice of America transmitter. But jailing a Citibank representative for preaching fiscal conservatism shows neither scruple nor sense. If Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf and other challengers are barred from Liberia's elections, a healthy cut in Liberian aid - especially $13 million in military aid - is one vote that America can cast.

Source: New York Times

LIBERIAN CITIBANK AIDE ON TRIAL

A international banking executive for Citibank, who is a leader of an opposition party in Liberia, went on trial yesterday on sedition charges in Monrovia, the Liberia capital, according to United Nations and State Department officials. The trial by military tribunal of the executive, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, as well as that of two journalists, comes two months before scheduled elections, which are to mark a return to civilian rule in Liberia.

Gen. Samuel K. Doe, Liberia's leader, has charged that a speech given by Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf in Philadelphia last month was "detrimental to the peace and stability of the country."

Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf, a 46-year-old Harvard-educated economist, was Minister of Finance in Liberia at the time of the 1980 military coup. She later worked at the World Bank before becoming Citibank's African representative. She was placed under house arrest on July 31 after arriving in Liberia and was taken to a military stockade on Aug. 9.

United States Embassy officials in Monrovia have '"expressed concern" to the Liberian Government over the case, according to Robert Bruce, a spokesman for the State Department. "We're urging prompt due process," he said. In addition, Edward Derwinski, a State Department counselor, went to Monrovia last month to review election procedures and to voice concern about the impending trials, said Mr. Bruce.

Despite the proliferation of political parties that sprang up when elections were called, only one party besides General Doe's ruling National Democratic Party of Liberia has successfully registered for the election. The other parties - including Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf's Liberal Action Party, which she helped found -have been blocked by the courts or special election panels, or the parties' leaders have been jailed or banned from political activity. In her speech in Philadelphia to the Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas, Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf criticized Liberia's program of constructing large public buildings to the detriment of the rest of the economy. "While agricultural and rural development programs are on the verge of closure for lack of funding, a wide range of buildings - Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Health and scores of buildings - are being constructed," she said, adding that this activity "represents a nonproductive investment."

In New York City yesterday, Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf's sister, Jennie Bernard, said she was deeply worried about her sister's fate. "My family members have tried to get permission to see her but that hasn't been granted," Mrs. Bernard said.

Source: New York Times

Victoria Mxenge and the 'act of cowardice'

Three weeks ago, Victoria Mxenge commented on the murders of four Cradock leaders at their funeral. “A dastardly act of cowardices” she said.

Two weeks later she became the next victim in a series of mysterious killings of outspoken opponents of apartheid. This Durban civil rights lawyer will be buried in King William’s Town on Sunday next to her husband Griffiths Mxenge. He was found butchered with 45 stab wounds and his throat slit in the Umlazi cycle stadium on November 19, 1981. His murderers have never been found.

Victoria vowed to bring his killers to justice. But last Thursday night her mission was thwarted when four attackers gunned her down and bludgeoned her to death outside her Umlazi home. While her death makes her a martyr of her political struggle, during her life she was looked up to as a formidable example of courage and energy.

A nurse by profession, she later studied law and joined her husband’s practice as an attorney in 1981. After his murder, she took over the reigns and became one of the most popular civil right lawyers in Natal. She plunged into the fight against injustice and apartheid in the courts, instructing some of the country’s top advocates in treason trials.

Mxenge represented families of victims of the Matolo raid and Lesotho raid—cases from which most attorneys would have shied away. She was elevated from political obscurity to the forefront in Natal when she became the widow of Griffiths Mxenge. From being virtually unknown in political organisations, she sat on the executive of the Natal Organisation of Women, the United Democratic Front and the Release Mandela Committee after her husband was killed.

However, her real influence was among the youth who loved her as their adopted mother. Two years ago, she successfully defended students against the confiscation of their results by the Department of Education. Her death was felt so strongly by the students that the day after her death they took to the streets in their thousands in protest.

They also immediately called for a week—long boycott of classes in mourning. They expressed the fear of UDF leaders that a sinister campaign of assassinations that had claimed the lives of political activists in the Eastern Cape was now spreading to Natal.

A UDF spokesman speculated that the recent explosion at the home of Amichand Rajbansi, Cabinet Minister and leader of the National People’s Party, was not intended to harm him, but was a tactic to justify “revenge attacks”. “Some people have looked closely at the whole event and believe some device used was of such a nature that it could not harm Rajbansi seriously,” he said.

The motive could be similar to attacks in the Eastern Cape where assaults on pro-government targets were followed by retributive attacks on opposition activists. Police still have not come up with any leads on Victoria Mxenge’s murder.

The Port Natal divisional commissioner has been assigned to the case—in contrast to her husband’s murder where numerous allegations were made during the inquest about inadequacies in the police investigation.

Another unusual response came from Natal’s Judge President, Mr Justice Milne, who opened the UDF treason trial this week by deploring Mxenge’s killing. She was killed four days before she was due to appear on behalf of the treason trialists in the Pietermaritzburg Supreme Court.

“It grieves me to have to record that one of the most recent of the tragic ‘and deplorable acts of violence that are afflicting this country is Mrs Mxenge’s death,” Justice Milne said.

Source: Mail & Guardian

UN Consumer protection: A/RES/39/248

Recalling Economic and Social Council resolution 1981/62 of 23 July 1981, in
which the Council requested the Secretary-General to continue consultations on
consumer protection with a view to elaborating a set of general guidelines for
consumer protection, taking particularly into account the needs of the
developing countries, Recalling further General Assembly resolution 38/147 of 19 December 1983, Noting Economic and Social Council resolution 1984/63 of 26 July 1984,

1. Decides to adopt the guidelines for consumer protection annexed to the
present resolution;

2. Requests the Secretary-General to disseminate the guidelines to
Governments and other interested parties;

3. Requests all organizations of the United Nations system that elaborate
guidelines and related documents on specific areas relevant to consumer
protection to distribute them to the appropriate bodies of individual States.

Annex
GUIDELINES FOR CONSUMER PROTECTION
I. Objectives

1. Taking into account the interests and needs of consumers in all
countries, particularly those in developing countries; recognizing that
consumers often face imbalances in economic terms, educational levels, and
bargaining power; and bearing in mind that consumers should have the right of
access to non-hazardous products, as well as the right to promote just,
equitable and sustainable economic and social development, these guidelines
for consumer protection have the following objectives:

(a) To assist countries in achieving or maintaining adequate protection for
their population as consumers;

(b) To facilitate production and distribution patterns responsive to the
needs and desires of consumers;

(c) To encourage high levels of ethical conduct for those engaged in the
production and distribution of goods and services to consumers;

(d) To assist countries in curbing abusive business practices by all
enterprises at the national and international levels which adversely affect
consumers;

(e) To facilitate the development of independent consumer groups;

(f) To further international co-operation in the field of consumer
protection;

(g) To encourage the development of market conditions which provide consumers
with greater choice at lower prices.

II. General principles

2. Governments should develop, strengthen or maintain a strong consumer
protection policy, taking into account the guidelines set out below. In so
doing, each Government must set its own priorities for the protection of
consumers in accordance with the economic and social circumstances of the
country, and the needs of its population, and bearing in mind the costs and
benefits of proposed measures.

3. The legitimate needs which the guidelines are intended to meet are the
following:

(a) The protection of consumers from hazards to their health and safety;

(b) The promotion and protection of the economic interests of consumers;

(c) Access of consumers to adequate information to enable them to make
informed choices according to individual wishes and needs;

(d) Consumer education;

(e) Availability of effective consumer redress;

(f) Freedom to form consumer and other relevant groups or organizations and
the opportunity of such organizations to present their views in
decision-making processes affecting them.

4. Governments should provide or maintain adequate infrastructure to
develop, implement and monitor consumer protection policies. Special care
should be taken to ensure that measures for consumer protection are
implemented for the benefit of all sectors of the population, particularly the
rural population.

5. All enterprises should obey the relevant laws and regulations of the
countries in which they do business. They should also conform to the
appropriate provisions of international standards for consumer protection to
which the competent authorities of the country in question have agreed.
(Hereinafter references to international standards in the guidelines should be
viewed in the context of this paragraph.)

6. The potential positive role of universities and public and private
enterprises in research should be considered when developing consumer
protection policies.

III. Guidelines

7. The following guidelines should apply both to home-produced goods and
services and to imports.

8. In applying any procedures or regulations for consumer protection, due
regard should be given to ensuring that they do not become barriers to
international trade and that they are consistent with international trade
obligations.

A. Physical safety

9. Governments should adopt or encourage the adoption of appropriate
measures, including legal systems, safety regulations, national or
international standards, voluntary standards and the maintenance of safety
records to ensure that products are safe for either intended or normally
foreseeable use.

10. Appropriate policies should ensure that goods produced by manufacturers
are safe for either intended or normally foreseeable use. Those responsible
for bringing goods to the market, in particular suppliers, exporters,
importers, retailers and the like (hereinafter referred to as "distributors"),
should ensure that while in their care these goods are not rendered unsafe
through improper handling or storage and that while in their care they do not
become hazardous through improper handling or storage. Consumers should be
instructed in the proper use of goods and should be informed of the risks
involved in intended or normally foreseeable use. Vital safety information
should be conveyed to consumers by internationally understandable symbols
wherever possible.

11. Appropriate policies should ensure that if manufacturers or distributors
become aware of unforeseen hazards after products are placed on the market,
they should notify the relevant authorities and, as appropriate, the public
without delay. Governments should also consider ways of ensuring that
consumers are properly informed of such hazards.

12. Governments should, where appropriate, adopt policies under which, if a
product is found to be seriously defective and/or to constitute a substantial
and severe hazard even when properly used, manufacturers and/or distributors
should recall it and replace or modify it, or substitute another product for
it; if it is not possible to do this within a reasonable period of time, the
consumer should be adequately compensated.

B. Promotion and protection of consumers' economic interests

13. Government policies should seek to enable consumers to obtain optimum
benefit from their economic resources. They should also seek to achieve the
goals of satisfactory production and performance standards, adequate
distribution methods, fair business practices, informative marketing and
effective protection against practices which could adversely affect the
economic interests of consumers and the exercise of choice in the
market-place.

14. Governments should intensify their efforts to prevent practices which are
damaging to the economic interests of consumers through ensuring that
manufacturers, distributors and others involved in the provision of goods and
services adhere to established laws and mandatory standards. Consumer
organizations should be encouraged to monitor adverse practices, such as the
adulteration of foods, false or misleading claims in marketing and service
frauds.

15. Governments should develop, strengthen or maintain, as the case may be,
measures relating to the control of restrictive and other abusive business
practices which may be harmful to consumers, including means for the
enforcement of such measures. In this connection, Governments should be
guided by their commitment to the Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable
Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices adopted
by the General Assembly in resolution 35/63 of 5 December 1980.

16. Governments should adopt or maintain policies that make clear the
responsibility of the producer to ensure that goods meet reasonable demands of
durability, utility and reliability, and are suited to the purpose for which
they are intended, and that the seller should see that these requirements are
met. Similar policies should apply to the provision of services.

17. Governments should encourage fair and effective competition in order to
provide consumers with the greatest range of choice among products and
services at the lowest cost.

18. Governments should, where appropriate, see to it that manufacturers
and/or retailers ensure adequate availability of reliable after-sales service
and spare parts.

19. Consumers should be protected from such contractual abuses as one-sided
standard contracts, exclusion of essential rights in contracts, and
unconscionable conditions of credit by sellers.

20. Promotional marketing and sales practices should be guided by the
principle of fair treatment of consumers and should meet legal requirements.
This requires the provision of the information necessary to enable consumers
to take informed and independent decisions, as well as measures to ensure that
the information provided is accurate.

21. Governments should encourage all concerned to participate in the free
flow of accurate information on all aspects of consumer products.

22. Governments should, within their own national context, encourage the
formulation and implementation by business, in co-operation with consumer
organizations, of codes of marketing and other business practices to ensure
adequate consumer protection. Voluntary agreements may also be established
jointly by business, consumer organizations and other interested parties.
These codes should receive adequate publicity.

23. Governments should regularly review legislation pertaining to weights and
measures and assess the adequacy of the machinery for its enforcement.

C. Standards for the safety and quality of consumer goods
and services

24. Governments should, as appropriate, formulate or promote the elaboration
and implementation of standards, voluntary and other, at the national and
international levels for the safety and quality of goods and services and give
them appropriate publicity. National standards and regulations for product
safety and quality should be reviewed from time to time, in order to ensure
that they conform, where possible, to generally accepted international
standards.

25. Where a standard lower than the generally accepted international standard
is being applied because of local economic conditions, every effort should be
made to raise that standard as soon as possible.

26. Governments should encourage and ensure the availability of facilities to
test and certify the safety, quality and performance of essential consumer
goods and services.

D. Distribution facilities for essential consumer goods
and services

27. Governments should, where appropriate, consider:

(a) Adopting or maintaining policies to ensure the efficient distribution of
goods and services to consumers; where appropriate, specific policies should
be considered to ensure the distribution of essential goods and services where
this distribution is endangered, as could be the case particularly in rural
areas. Such policies could include assistance for the creation of adequate
storage and retail facilities in rural centres, incentives for consumer
self-help and better control of the conditions under which essential goods and
services are provided in rural areas;

(b) Encouraging the establishment of consumer co-operatives and related
trading activities, as well as information about them, especially in rural
areas.

E. Measures enabling consumers to obtain redress

28. Governments should establish or maintain legal and/or administrative
measures to enable consumers or, as appropriate, relevant organizations to
obtain redress through formal or informal procedures that are expeditious,
fair, inexpensive and accessible. Such procedures should take particular
account of the needs of low-income consumers.

29. Governments should encourage all enterprises to resolve consumer disputes
in a fair, expeditious and informal manner, and to establish voluntary
mechanisms, including advisory services and informal complaints procedures,
which can provide assistance to consumers.

30. Information on available redress and other dispute-resolving procedures
should be made available to consumers.

F. Education and information programmes

31. Governments should develop or encourage the development of general
consumer education and information programmes, bearing in mind the cultural
traditions of the people concerned. The aim of such programmes should be to
enable people to act as discriminating consumers, capable of making an
informed choice of goods and services, and conscious of their rights and
responsibilities. In developing such programmes, special attention should be
given to the needs of disadvantaged consumers, in both rural and urban areas,
including low-income consumers and those with low or non-existent literacy
levels.

32. Consumer education should, where appropriate, become an integral part of
the basic curriculum of the educational system, preferably as a component of
existing subjects.

33. Consumer education and information programmes should cover such important
aspects of consumer protection as the following:

(a) Health, nutrition, prevention of food-borne diseases and food
adulteration;

(b) Product hazards;

(c) Product labelling;

(d) Relevant legislation, how to obtain redress, and agencies and
organizations for consumer protection;

(e) Information on weights and measures, prices, quality, credit conditions
and availability of basic necessities; and

(f) As appropriate, pollution and environment.

34. Governments should encourage consumer organizations and other interested
groups, including the media, to undertake education and information
programmes, particularly for the benefit of low-income consumer groups in
rural and urban areas.

35. Business should, where appropriate, undertake or participate in factual
and relevant consumer education and information programmes.

36. Bearing in mind the need to reach rural consumers and illiterate
consumers, Governments should, as appropriate, develop or encourage the
development of consumer information programmes in the mass media.

37. Governments should organize or encourage training programmes for
educators, mass media professionals and consumer advisers, to enable them to
participate in carrying out consumer information and education programmes.

G. Measures relating to specific areas

38. In advancing consumer interests, particularly in developing countries,
Governments should, where appropriate, give priority to areas of essential
concern for the health of the consumer, such as food, water and
pharmaceuticals. Policies should be adopted or maintained for product quality
control, adequate and secure distribution facilities, standardized
international labelling and information, as well as education and research
programmes in these areas. Government guidelines in regard to specific areas
should be developed in the context of the provisions of this document.

39. Food. When formulating national policies and plans with regard to food,
Governments should take into account the need of all consumers for food
security and should support and, as far as possible, adopt standards from the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health
Organization Codex Alimentarius or, in their absence, other generally accepted
international food standards. Governments should maintain, develop or improve
food safety measures, including, inter alia, safety criteria, food standards
and dietary requirements and effective monitoring, inspection and evaluation
mechanisms.

40. Water. Governments should, within the goals and targets set for the
International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade, formulate, maintain
or strengthen national policies to improve the supply, distribution and
quality of water for drinking. Due regard should be paid to the choice of
appropriate levels of service, quality and technology, the need for education
programmes and the importance of community participation.

41. Pharmaceuticals. Governments should develop or maintain adequate
standards, provisions and appropriate regulatory systems for ensuring the
quality and appropriate use of pharmaceuticals through integrated national
drug policies which could address, inter alia, procurement, distribution,
production, licensing arrangements, registration systems and the availability
of reliable information on pharmaceuticals. In so doing, Governments should
take special account of the work and recommendations of the World Health
Organization on pharmaceuticals. For relevant products, the use of that
organization's Certification Scheme on the Quality of Pharmaceutical Products
Moving in International Commerce and other international information systems
on pharmaceuticals should be encouraged. Measures should also be taken, as
appropriate, to promote the use of international non-proprietary names (INNs)
for drugs, drawing on the work done by the World Health Organization.

42. In addition to the priority areas indicated above, Governments should
adopt appropriate measures in other areas, such as pesticides and chemicals in
regard, where relevant, to their use, production and storage, taking into
account such relevant health and environmental information as Governments may
require producers to provide and include in the labelling of products.

IV. International co-operation

43. Governments should, especially in a regional or subregional context:

(a) Develop, review, maintain or strengthen, as appropriate, mechanisms for
the exchange of information on national policies and measures in the field of
consumer protection;

(b) Co-operate or encourage co-operation in the implementation of consumer
protection policies to achieve greater results within existing resources.
Examples of such co-operation could be collaboration in the setting up or
joint use of testing facilities, common testing procedures, exchange of
consumer information and education programmes, joint training programmes and
joint elaboration of regulations;

(c) Co-operate to improve the conditions under which essential goods are
offered to consumers, giving due regard to both price and quality. Such
co-operation could include joint procurement of essential goods, exchange of
information on different procurement possibilities and agreements on regional
product specifications.

44. Governments should develop or strengthen information links regarding
products which have been banned, withdrawn or severely restricted in order to
enable other importing countries to protect themselves adequately against the
harmful effects of such products.

45. Governments should work to ensure that the quality of products, and
information relating to such products, does not vary from country to country
in a way that would have detrimental effects on consumers.

46. Governments should work to ensure that policies and measures for consumer
protection are implemented with due regard to their not becoming barriers to
international trade, and that they are consistent with international trade
obligations.

Source: United Nations

60 killed by Beirut car bomb

A car bomb killed about 60 people and injured more than 200 at dusk yesterday near the home of a prominent Shi'ite clergyman in a southern Beirut suburb. The booby-trapped vehicle exploded 10 yards from the home of Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah. It pulled down the outer walls of an apartment block which is being built, set fire to cars and gouged a crater in the road. Beirut radio said Fadlallah was unharmed.

Security sources estimated that the blast was the equivalent of 440lbs of dynamite. After the explosion, gunmen of the Muslim fundamentalist Hezbollah (Party of God) and the Shi'ite Amal movement fired automatic weapons into the air to clear roads for ambulances taking the victims to hospitals in mainly-Muslim West Beirut . The blast was the worst such explosion in Beirut since the truck bombing of American and French peacekeeping headquarters here in October, 1983, which killed 241 US servicemen and 55 French soldiers.

The US aircraft carrier, Eisenhower, left Majorca hurriedly last night, apparently to be in position if a decision is made to evacuate Americans from Lebanon. The State Department spokesman, Mr Edward Djerejian, said: 'Embassy personnel are not being evacuated from Lebanon. Obviously we continue to be concerned about the security of US government personnel and have their safety and their status continually under review.' The Eisenhower left Majorca three days ahead of schedule, so fast that 110 of its crewmen were left behind.

Rescuers were still searching for survivors buried under the rubble of the eight-storey building more than an hour after the blast, and firemen were fighting blazes in dozens of cars set on fire in a parking area between the cinema and the mosque.

Mr Fadlallah accused Israel and its 'internal allies' of being behind the explosion. He warned 'all those who are playing with fire that their hands will be burned by the flames.' The Shi'ite Amal movement, which has been fighting Israeli occupation troops in southern Lebanon, also blamed Israel for the blast, and said in a statement: 'We shall have a reply appropriate in size which will reach those who committed it.'

The blast brought pandemonium to the streets of West Beirut , as fleets of ambulances rushed to hospitals, truckloads of gunmen fired wildly into the air, and passers-by fled for cover. Hospitals quickly filled up, and staff worked late into the night to treat the wounded, many of them in serious condition. Beirut 's crowded southern suburbs are inhabited mainly by poor Shi'ite Muslim families, many of them refugees from the south. Unemployment is high, and street fighting between rival militias is an almost daily occurrence. A car bomb in the southern suburbs on February 18 killed six people and wounded 35.

The US State Department refused to say how many US embassy personnel it had in Beirut , but estimated that there were 1,400 US citizens in Lebanon. It said that many of them were dual citizens. Other sources said that the Eisenihower, accompanied by the US guided-missile destroyer, Mississippi, headed for the eastern Mediterranean. The CBS television network said that two US C-130 Hercules transports, which could be used for an evacuation, arrived in Cyprus yesterday.

Source: The Guardian

ALL 108 ON HIJACKED JET ARE FREED IN ETHIOPIA

The hijackers of a Somali airliner seized on Saturday released their 108 hostages unharmed today and were given the choice of political asylum or safe passage to a country of their choice by Ethiopia. The hijackers, led by a Somali military officer, had been threatening to blow up the plane and kill the people on board, including one American, identified today as Lieut. James Dell, 30 years old, of Orangeburg, N.Y., if their demands for the release of 21 political prisoners in Somalia were not met. Seven of those prisoners are students who, the hijackers said, were to have been executed in Somalia the day after the hijacking.

The hijackers told reporters today that they had agreed to free their hostages after being told that the Italian Government, which has been acting as an intermediary, had received assurances from Somalia that the seven students would not be executed. There has been no public statement to that effect from the Somali authorities. The freed hostages moved slowly and stiffly down the stairs to the runway and to a waiting bus. Most appeared dazed and bewildered, and several shielded their eyes against the bright morning light.

Lieutenant Dell, identified as a naval engineer working on port construction in Berbera, Somalia, said he was ''feeling a lot better'' now. He said the hijackers ''treated us very well.'' The three hijackers met with reporters in a lounge at the airport and defended their action. ''We are not terrorists,'' the leader of the hijackers, Capt. Awil Adan Bourhan, who was wearing a still fresh-looking khaki uniform and green beret, said several times. ''Just, we are trying to save our brothers.'' Another of the hijackers added: ''We had no choice but to act as we have done. If the international community does not come to the aid of the struggling Somali masses, more actions will be forthcoming.''

Captain Bourhan and his two compatriots, identified as Bashe Muse Mohammed and Ahmed Haji Mohammed Adan, both wearing civilian clothes, appeared drawn and groggy as they read from a prepared statement and answered questions. A member of the Somali Airlines crew said later that none of the hijackers had slept at all in the last three days and nights. The hijackers stressed that they had not wanted to kill anyone and that they had spared the lives of 20 Somali Government officials who were aboard.

The hijackers said they had ''already succeeded'' because Somalia had guaranteed the safety of the students. ''It is an international guarantee,'' one said. But he said the Somali President, Mohammed Siad Barre, had ''refused to give freedom'' to any of the political prisoners, including a former Somali Vice President, five former Cabinet members and two army colonels. Passengers Describe Hijacking

After the passengers and crew left the blue and white Boeing 707, which was guarded by armored vehicles and more than two dozen Ethiopian paratroopers, they described the hijacking, which occurred Saturday morning on a flight from Mogadishu to Jidda, Saudi Arabia. According to the accounts of several passengers and crew members, Captain Bourhan rose calmly from his seat and walked toward the cockpit carrying a briefcase from which he took a pistol. He then approached the cockpit door. ''I tried to stop him,'' said Suad Mohammed, 26 years old, who was the chief flight attendant. ''I grabbed him. But he was too heavy, too strong.''

A man in the crew also struggled with Captain Bourhan and was shot in the hip. A second shot was fired to force the pilot to open the door. The pilot, too, struggled briefly with Captain Bourhan and the two other hijackers, who had joined him, but he was beaten and quickly overcome. The wounded crew member, the slightly injured pilot and the co-pilot, who had fallen ill, were released on Saturday, as were 19 women and children.

Source: New York Times

3 SOMALI SOLDIERS SAID TO HIJACK A JET TO ETHIOPIA

A Somali jetliner carrying 130 people was hijacked Saturday by three armed Somali soldiers who beat the pilot and wounded a crew member in a midair shootout, Ethiopian officials said. After arriving at the airport here, the hijackers released 22 people, the Ethiopian press agency and Western diplomats said. Ethiopian officials said the hijackers threatened to blow up the plane unless Somali authorities released a number of political prisoners and canceled the execution of seven Somali youths who were convicted of anti-Government activities. The execution was scheduled for today.

Ethiopian officials said the hijackers, who seized the Boeing 707 on a flight from Mogadishu, the Somali capital, to Jidda, Saudi Arabia, had told them that they planned to blow up the plane at midnight Saturday. That deadline passed and the hijackers threatened early this morning to blow up the plane by noon if their demands were not met by then. One American on Board According to a senior Western diplomat, one American, whose identity was not known, was among the 118 passengers and 12 crew members on the plane when it was seized.

The official Mogadishu radio broadcast a statement early today saying that the Somali Government had discussed the issue with ''various embassies about this action of banditry and terrorism against the civilian passengers, since this terrorist action is in breach of international agreements covering civilians,'' The Associated Press said. It added that the statement did not say what the Somali Government would do about the hijackers' demands.

Pro-Western Somalia and pro-Soviet Ethiopia fought a war in 1977 over the disputed Ogaden region and relations between the two nations remain strained. Relief Pilots Hear Messages Pilots of Britain's Royal Air Force who were flying relief missions to Ethiopian famine victims learned of the hijacking Saturday morning when they picked up radio messages from the Somali plane. The Britons said they heard the pilot identify the hijackers as members of a Somali political resistance group. But the official Ethiopian press agency said the hijackers were three heavily armed Somali Army officers who had demanded that the execution of the seven youths in Somalia be called off and that international guarantees be given for the youths' safety. The agency said the hijackers were also demanding that a number of political prisoners in Somalia be released and sent to neighboring Djibouti, and that their arrival there be confirmed.

According to a British Broadcasting Corporation report, the hijackers freed 15 women and 4 children Saturday. Also freed, the BBC said, were three crew members - the wounded Somali crew member, who was assumed to have been a security guard, the injured captain, and the first officer, who was reported to have become ill. Food and other provisions were delivered to the passengers still on board Saturday. The Somali plane landed at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa after being refused permission to land in Aden, in Southern Yemen, the official Saudi press agency said.

Ethiopian officials negotiated with the hijackers throughout most of Saturday and early today. Late Saturday evening, spotlights illuminated the Somali aircraft, which was parked just off the main runway and was being guarded by armored vehicles. A delegation of eight United States Congressmen arrived at the airport here Saturday night as scheduled on a trip to assess famine relief efforts in various parts of the country.

Source: New York Times

Sandinistas claim election victory

Nicaragua's ruling Sandinista Front (FSLN) has claimed a decisive victory in the country's first elections since the revolution five years ago.

Within hours of the count beginning, the leader of the country's left-wing junta, Daniel Ortega, said he had gained nearly 70% of the vote in the presidential election. Mr Ortega said his party won a similar share of the vote in the parliamentary election. Mr Ortega said: "We can already say that the FSLN is the clear winner of these elections by an ample majority."

The Sandinistas' nearest rivals have so far polled just 11% of the vote but Nicaragua's leading right-wing parties boycotted the ballots. Turnout was high with an estimated 83% of the country's 1.5 million-strong electorate casting a vote. The Sandinistas have been at pains to convince the outside world, especially the US, that the elections were free and fair.

Approximately 400 independent foreign observers, including a number of Americans, were in Nicaragua to monitor proceedings. The unofficial British election observer, Lord Chitnis, said proceedings were not perfect but he had no doubt the elections were fair.

In 1979 the Sandinistas - named after an assassinated former leader of Nicaragua - ousted long-time dictator Anastasio Somoza. The Sandinistas have been at odds with the US ever since, especially since the superpower began assisting the party's main opponents, the Contras. The Contras, based in neighbouring Honduras, are engaged in a guerrilla war aimed at ousting the Sandinista Front.

Source: BBC

GANDHI, SLAIN, IS SUCCEEDED BY SON

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was shot and killed at her home Wednesday by two gunmen identified by police officials as Sikh members of her personal bodyguard. Mrs. Gandhi's only surviving son, Rajiv, was sworn in Wednesday night as her successor. Mrs. Gandhi was killed by at least eight bullets fired at close range from a submachine gun and a pistol by two men, according to police officials. One of the men was said to have been killed by other guards on the scene. The other was reported captured.

Last June Mrs. Gandhi tried to break the back of the terrorist movement by raiding the Sikhs' holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab. The Sikhs broke away from the Hindus around A.D. 1500 to form a separate religion based on a belief in one God and the rejection of the caste system. When Government troops attacked the Golden Temple this spring, the shrine was being used by the Sikh terrorists to launch a campaign of violence in the Punjab and as a fortress and headquarters. At least 600 people, including the terrorist leaders, died in the temple fight on June 5 and 6.

On Wednesday, the Hindu attacks on Sikhs began as word of the assassination spread. In scenes reminiscent of earlier sectarian violence, Sikhs were stopped at random on the streets and beaten, and sometimes their beards were set afire.

Mr. Gandhi became the sixth Prime Minister of India since it became independent in 1947. His succession perpetuated the rule that began with his grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, the nation's first Prime Minister.

Source: New York Times

308 PEOLPLE KILLED AS INDIAN TROOPS TAKE SIKH TEMPLE

At least 308 people were killed Wednesday and today as the Indian Army attacked and occupied the holiest shrine of the Sikh religion in an attempt to end a terrorist campaign that has tormented India's Punjab state for nearly two years. Among those reported killed was Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the leader of the radical wing of the Sikh militant movement.

Forty-eight of the dead in the assault on the shrine, the Golden Temple complex in the northern city of Amritsar, were soldiers, according to Lieut. Gen. Ranjit Singh Dayal, commander of the army force in Punjab. He said the rest of the dead were Sikh militants who had been fighting the army with mortars, machine guns and antitank rockets. About 450 rebellious Sikhs and their supporters were reportedly captured inside the complex. At least 17 soldiers and Sikh militants were also killed as the army raided 43 other places of worship throughout Punjab. The shrines were said to have served as hideouts for Sikhs who have been carrying out a campaign of political murder. About 700 Sikhs were reportedly arrested in these raids. Eleven people were reported killed in Amritsar during clashes between security forces and crowds of Sikhs protesting the storming of the temple. Army Takes Control Late Wednesday night, a Government spokesman in Chandigarh, the Punjab capital, said the army and paramilitary forces had taken control of all buildings within the temple grounds and that active resistance had stopped. Mopping-up operations were proceeding, the spokesman said.

The storming of the temple could have political consequences for Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Sikhs in the United States called the attack an act of ''tyranny.'' The Sikhs' Akali Dal party announced in New Delhi that it would start a ''protest program'' today against the army action. India's Home Secretary, W. K. Wali, said Wednesday night that the army suffered more casualties than it might have because it tried to avoid damaging the Golden Temple itself, which is called the Harmandir Sahib. This is a small, gold-covered structure in the middle of a sacred pool.

All-India Radio, which is state owned, and other Indian news organizations reported that the body of Mr. Bhindranwale, the leader of the extremist Sikh faction, had been found in the Golden Temple. Mr. Bhindranwale was a fundamentalist preacher. He had vowed many times that if troops invaded the temple, he and his followers would resist. Rebels in the Harmandir Sahib fired on the advancing troops with machine guns. About 20 rebellious Sikhs ultimately surrendered there, waving white flags as they emerged.

The last band of holdouts was said to have been in the basement of another building, the Akal Takht, that is part of the outer wall of the temple quadrangle. The Akal Takht is the headquarters of the Sikh religion, which is a five- century-old monotheistic outgrowth and synthesis of Hinduism and Islam that prizes political activism and martial prowess, as well as a sense of egalitarianism. Many Surrendered Many Sikhs inside the Golden Temple surrendered as a result of repeated appeals by loudspeaker to do so, Mr. Wali said. He said the army moved into the temple only as a last resort, after the militants brought heavy firepower against the army outside.

Harchand Singh Longowal, the leader of the moderate, nonviolent faction of the Sikh movement, left the Golden Temple Tuesday night along with his followers. Mr. Longowal is president of the Akali Dal, a Sikh political party that briefly held power in Punjab in the late 1970's. After being defeated by Prime Minister Gandhi's Congress-I Party in 1980, the Akali Dal undertook a nonviolent agitation on behalf of greater political autonomy for Punjab, whose population is predominantly Sikh, along with demands for certain religious and territorial concessions.

The Government and the Akali Dal have been close to agreement on the demands several times, only to have an accord sabotaged by a new eruption of violence. The Bhindranwale and Longowal factions have been increasingly estranged, and the Sikh militants have long since seized the initiative, for purposes not entirely clear. Mr. Longowal left the temple complex through a back door after army troops entered that way from the street. He was taken to what was described as a safe place. Whether he was under arrest was not known. He had been living in the temple complex for many months to avoid arrest. 'Break the Back of Movement' Mr. Wali, the Home Secretary, said Wednesday night, ''I believe that this will break the back of the terrorist movement.'' He said that although scattered acts of terrorism might still take place, the movement had essentially been brought under control. However, protests against the storming of the Golden Temple started in New Delhi and other places soon after the news was known. Young Sikh demonstrators attacked buses with rocks Wednesday evening and tried to set a bus on fire near New Delhi's largest Sikh temple, but the police chased them away. Mr. Wali said some protests were expected, but he predicted that the country at large, including most Sikhs, would applaud the action. ''This is something that no government can allow to continue,'' he said. ''There is a limit to restraint.''

More than 120 people had been killed in Punjab by terrorists in the two weeks preceding the raids Wednesday, and more than 570 since the Akali Dal started its agitation in August 1982. Even as the raids were under way, a few terrorist actions took place. Nine people were killed in five separate terrorist attacks, according to the Government, most of them in the Amritsar district. The militants' campaign, which seemed to have almost a random quality at first, has since been well-coordinated and organized. A recent piece of evidence was the simultaneous arson attacks on 39 railway stations throughout Punjab in mid-April.

Other evidence, provided Wednesday by Mr. Wali, included the weapons used by Sikhs in the Golden Temple. The antitank rockets, he said, were far more advanced than anything used by the paramilitary forces that had been trying to deal with the situation before the army was ordered in last Saturday. One army armored personnel carrier was reported disabled by the antitank rockets. Some Curfews Are Lifted After the raids Wednesday, authorities in some parts of Punjab decided to lift curfews that had been in effect since Sunday. Some curfews were briefly lifted Wednesday to allow families to buy food. There was no word on when a ban on travel to Punjab would be lifted, or when other normal activity might resume.

Punjab military authorities in Chandigarh said the troops who took part in the Punjab operation came from all Indian religions, including the Sikh religion. ''All of them carried out the operation in a most secular way,'' a general said. Of the six senior commanders who took part in the action, the general said, four were Sikhs.

In the early 19th century, the Sikhs established a Sikh state in the Punjab and fought both the Moslems and the British colonizers who sought to annex it. The British finally subdued the Sikhs in 1849, and the Sikhs later supplied many recruits for Britain's Indian Army. Eventually, however, most Sikhs supported the Indian independence movement led by Mohandas K. Ghandi. Amritsar has special meaning for Indians. In 1919, the British killed 400 Indians on a field not far from the Golden Temple. The incident is regarded by historians as a turning point in Indian- British relations that helped lead to India's independence.

Source: New York Times

COLONEL IS NAMED GUINEAN PRESIDENT

An army colonel, Col. Lansana Conte, 39 years old, pledged to reverse the ''harm'' done by President Ahmed Sekou Toure. In a broadcast interview, Colonel Conte denounced racism, which he said ''had been more accentuated'' in Guinea than elsewhere in Africa. He said the military would insure that all citizens ''have the same rights and the same responsibilities.'' Mr. Toure's Government had been dominated by members of his Malinke ethnic group.

Diplomats said the new Government appeared to be well balanced among the various tribes. Colonel Conte said the problem of human rights ''will be our principal problem because since our independence 26 years ago we have lived under a regime where there was no right of expression, where a person did not have the right to say what he wants.'' The new leadership has accused Mr. Toure of rights violations. In the 1960's and 70's, the Government arrested and imprisoned thousands of people. Many others disappeared or were executed.

A recent State Department report said the number of political prisoners had been ''considerably reduced over the past several years.'' ''The old regime died with President Ahmed Sekou Toure, whom we have praised for having led us to independence but that is all,'' the colonel said. ''Now that we have succeeded in taking his place, we are obliged to banish all the harm he has done.''

Throughout Conakry, portraits of Mr. Toure were being removed or defaced. In some places the image had been roughly scratched off or painted over and the slogan ''Down with corruption!'' scrawled nearby. Flags that had been at half-staff after Mr. Toure's death were raised. Hundreds of jubilant schoolchildren, led by adults, paraded through the streets, singing, beating drums and blowing whistles. Some automobiles bore handpainted signs reading, ''Long live the military! Long live the Republic of Guinea!'' Under the former Government, the title was the People's Revolutionary Republic of Guinea.

Several times during the day, Colonel Conte and other officials drove through the city in a motorcade, led by soldiers on motorcycles. Crowds cheered and waved as the motorcade passed. Asked why he was cheering, one Guinean replied, ''Because we have been liberated.'' There was no word on the fate of members of the ousted Government. On Wednesday a military spokesman said only that senior officials had been put ''under security.''

A radio announcement ordered any officials who had not yet reported to the new authorities to do so immediately. Several radio reports also said the coup had been accomplished ''with no bloodletting and without exchanges of gunfire.'' However, a communique issued today by the ruling Military Committee for National Rectification said that the new leadership ''is attentively following the movements of a small group of people who, in connivance with some foreign embassies in the capital, are planning to do harm.'' A well-placed official said the allusion was to the Moroccan Embassy. Moroccan leaders had close relations with Mr. Toure, members of his Government and family. Colonel Conte did not elaborate on the economic policy changes being contemplated. A communique issued Wednesday pledged to encourage free enterprise.

Source: New York Times

GUINEA'S MILITARY ASSUMES CONTROL; SEALS OFF NATION

The armed forces of Guinea said today that they had seized power in that West African nation a week after the death of President Ahmed Sekou Toure ended what they called a ''bloody and ruthless dictatorship.'' The armed forces did not say what had happened to Government officials and the 14 members of the ruling Political Bureau, who were to have met today to choose a successor to Mr. Toure. Mr. Toure, who died March 26 in the Cleveland Clinic while having heart surgery, was black Africa's longest-serving head of state. He had led his nation, one of the world's leading producers of bauxite, since independence from France in October 1958.

The military dissolved the ruling Guinean Democratic Party, Parliament and all mass organizations, suspended the constitution, imposed a curfew from 10 P.M. to 6 A.M., closed the airport and the country's borders, seized the radio and television stations and forbade communication with the rest of the world. A statement read by an unidentified military spokesman on the Conakry radio said the army had ''decided to take over the running of the country in order to lay the foundations of a true democracy, avoiding in the future any personal dictatorship.''

The statement said the coup took place ''without bloodshed, in complete calm and amid popular rejoicing.'' The spokesman also said a ''military redemption committee'' was running the country of 5.5 million people, and added: ''The Guinean people had not dried its tears, yet a tough struggle for the succession was under way amongst Sekou Toure's companions, whose hands are sullied with the blood of so many innocent people.''

Among Mr. Toure's closest associates was Prime Minister Louis Lansana Beavogui, 61 years old, a longtime friend and adviser, who had been expected to succeed him. The spokesman praised Mr. Toure's influence in Africa but said his domestic record was questionable. ''Under the feudal pressure of his family and dishonest companions of his early struggle, your hope for a more just and more equitable society disappeared, swept away by a bloody and ruthless dictatorship,'' he said. The radio said that the military had decided to free all political prisoners and that Guinea would respect all its international commitments.

Guineans were confined to their homes. ''There will be no work, no market and no traffic,'' the spokesman said, concluding, ''Long live the glorious people of Guinea.'' After a period in which Guinea turned to the Soviet Union for aid, Mr. Toure had in recent years increasingly emphasized that he was not tied to any bloc. The nation has exported its bauxite, the ore for aluminum, to both Western countries and the Soviet Union.

During Mr. Toure's rule, human rights organizations said thousands of Guineans were killed or jailed and almost a fifth of the population went into exile. Amnesty International has listed 2,900 people in Guinea who disappeared without a trace. Mr. Toure claimed to have thwarted more than a dozen coup attempts.

Source: New York Times

GUINEA'S PRESIDENT, SEKOU TOURE, DIES IN CLEVELAND CLINIC

Ahmed Sekou Toure, the President of Guinea for 26 years and a symbol of African independence and defiance, died Monday in a Cleveland heart clinic. He was 62 years old. A peasant's son who became a union leader before entering politics, Mr. Toure led his western African country to independence from France in 1958 and then served as its only President so far. Radio reports from Conakry, the capital, said the Guinean Prime Minister, 61-year-old Lansana Beavogui, had stepped in as ''acting President.'' But Western diplomats said they thought that Dr. Beavogui, who has been in fragile health, was unlikely to succeed Mr. Toure on a long-term basis.

Among those seen as likely contenders for power are Mamadi Keita, the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and Isma"el Toure, Minister of Mines and Geology and younger brother of the late President. Covert, dissident and opposition groups are also known to exist within the country as well as in Paris, in Dakar, Senegal and here in Abidjan. But diplomats say they doubt whether these groups are either well organized or well equipped enough to assert themselves at this point.The Guinean leader dealt ruthlessly with opponents; thousands of people disappeared during purges in the 1970's, according to Amnesty International, the human rights organization. He attacked tribal, caste and religious loyalties in the largely Moslem country and nurtured a personality cult around himself.

It was estimated that 1.5 million or more Guineans, or about a third of the population, emigrated, mostly to nearby countries, during a period of iron rule and a declining economy. The People's Revolutionary Republic of Guinea, a former French colony in western Africa, was proclaimed an independent country on Oct. 2, 1958, four days after 95 percent of its voters decided in a referendum to leave the French Community. The leader of the Democratic Party of Guinea, Ahmed Sekou Toure, became President and his organization the only political party.

Guinea has an area of 94,926 square miles, about twice the size of New York State. According to a mid-1983 estimate, Guinea has a population of 5,430,000. Conakry, the capital, is a city of 525,000 inhabitants. Two-thirds of the population is Moslem, one-third animist. Besides French, eight African languages are taught in schools. Government The National Assembly, a one- chamber legislature, consists of 210 members elected for seven years, with all candidates nominated by the ruling Democratic Party. The President, who is also elected for seven years, appoints a Council of Ministers.

Guinea is one of the leading world producers of bauxite, which is exported to Western countries and to the Soviet Union. More than 80 percent of the people work in agriculture, where the cash crops are coffee, bananas, palm kernels, peanuts and pineapples.

The army, consisting of 8,500 men, is equipped with Soviet, Czechoslovak and Chinese weapons and armored cars. There is also a militia of 9,200 men. The navy, with 600 men, has a minesweeper and numerous coastal and other craft. The air force, with 800 men, is said to have 6 MIG-7 jet fighters, 2 MIG trainers, several transport planes and a few helicopters.

Source: New York Times

Somali Guerrillas Claim Some Advances

Somali guerrillas said today that they had killed 123 Government soldiers and wounded 231 in the last week in northwestern and central Somalia.

The rebels' radio station, broadcasting from Ethiopia and monitored in Nairobi, said the guerrillas had captured four villages in the northwest since the fighting began March 8 and suffered ''only light casualties.''

The guerrillas' said the fighting began after an army patrol killed eight villagers, touching off an uprising. The claims of the rebels, who are fighting to overthrow President Mohamed Siad Barre, could not be verified independently.

Source: New York Times

Riot Police and Youths Clash in Soweto

Riot policemen and stone-throwing youths clashed in Soweto today, and cars were set on fire as blacks commemorated the anniversary of the 1976 riots here.

The police said that 20 buses were damaged and that cars and trucks were set on fire as the mainly teen-age groups ran through much of Soweto, a black township outside Johannesburg.

The clashes came after an emotional service in Regina Mundi Church to remember the more than 500 people who died in the 1976 riots. The police said one police officer was hurt when his car's windshield was shattered by a rock. They said there had been some arrests.

Source: New York Times

Car bomb in South Africa kills 16

At least 16 people have been killed and more than 130 people injured in a car bomb explosion in South Africa's capital city, Pretoria.

The explosion happened outside the Nedbank Square building on Church Street at about 1630 hours - the height of the city's rush hour.

Oliver Tambo, who is the organisation's acting president while its senior figure, Nelson Mandela, is in prison, said the Nedbank Square building was a legitimate target, although he did not admit carrying out the attack.

PS: Four days later the South African Air Force bombed ANC bases in Maputo, Mozambique, in retaliation for the Pretoria car bomb. At least six people, including two children, were killed. Following the Maputo attack the ANC formally admitted carrying out the Pretoria bombing.

Source: BBC

ALIENATION OF LAND ACT 68 OF 1981

The purpose of the Alienation of Land Act is to regulate the alienation of land in certain circumstances and to provide for matters connected therewith.

Source: SABINET