13 pirates sentenced to death in China over massacre
BEIJING, Dec 22 (AFP)
Thirteen pirates � 12 Chinese and one Indonesian � were sentenced to death on Wednesday for slaughtering 23 sailors in a ship hijacking, the Intermediate People�s Court in the southern port of Shanwei said.
The men were among 38 accused of hijacking the Hong Kong-owned �Changxing� cargo ship on November 16, 1998, murdering the crew of 23 Chinese and throwing the bodies in the sea as they sailed down the coast from Shanghai.
Algerian Indicted on U.S. Explosive Charges
SEATTLE (Reuters)
An Algerian-born man arrested last week for allegedly bringing bomb parts into the United States from Canada was indicted on Wednesday on five charges ranging from using false identification to smuggling explosives.
But a Federal grand jury in Seattle did not charge Ahmed Ressam, 32, with terrorism, according to the indictment filed in U.S. District Court.
�This is not a terrorism indictment,� U.S. Attorney Kate Pflaumer told reporters after Ressam�s arraignment.
Pflaumer declined to say if authorities thought Ressam was part of a broader effort to place bombs in the United States, but issued a public warning to anyone who might have worked with Ressam that they could face conspiracy charges if they did not turn themselves in.
�To anyone out there who might have that information (about a plot) now would be a good time to come forward,� she told reporters, adding that Ressam could face additional charges.
Ressam, whose arrest raised fears that guerrillas may target New Year�s Eve celebrations with bomb attacks, was ordered held without bail at a court hearing after the grand jury indictments were unsealed.
BAKU, Dec 22 (AFP)
A dynasty is emerging in resource-rich Azerbaijan as Heydar Aliyev�s only son Ilham turns clear favorite to succeed his ailing father as president, analysts said Wednesday.
Delegates of the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan (New Azerbaijan, or YAP) party ended a two-day congress Tuesday and elected Ilham, a vice president in the state oil company SOCAR, as one of its five deputy chairmen.
�The YAP party congress achieved what it set out to do,� one western diplomat said. �Now Ilham has entered the party hierarchy and can move into higher and higher positions.�
The move is believed by some experts to be the first step to establishing the political credentials of Ilham, who turns 38 on Friday, with the ultimate aim of succeeding his father.
Ilham is one of 70 YAP deputies in the 125-member parliament but till now had not held any senior political post.
Aliyev has been seen as delegating more authority to his son.
Ilham has already made two high-profile visits to the United States where he met with senior government officials. Recently he took a prominent seat next to his father at an Organisation for Security and Economic Cooperation summit in Istanbul.
Although both Aliyevs deny there is any succession plan, many YAP supporters are openly pushing for Ilham. Many observers believe the Azeri president has indeed designated Aliyev as his heir apparent.
�Ilham is a politician of the future,� said Information Minister and YAP member Sirus Tabrizli. �He possesses a high intellectual potential and can honorably represent Azerbaijan in the international arena.�
Yet there are doubts that Ilham has either the will or desire to take a central role in Azerbaijan�s turbulent political scene.
After two violent transfers of power and numerous attempted coups, the question who will follow Aliyev is uppermost in the minds of many in this oil-rich nation of 7.9 million.
The 76-year-old ex-KGB general and Communist Party boss, despite heart troubles, still dominates the country�s political life and has come to symbolize stability during his six years in office.
Alarm bells went off here when he was rushed to Turkey for what was widely believed to be treatment for a heart attack. Months later, he underwent open-heart surgery in the United States and spent close to six weeks in rehabilitation.
�We have been expecting ever since Aliyev came back from Turkey that he would start replacing ministers and officials to help make room for Ilham,� the western diplomat said.
Some observers predict that Ilham will lead the party in next year�s parliamentary elections, after which he could become a cabinet post or parliamentary speaker.
NORTHERN CHECHNYA, Russia
Dec 22 (AFP)
Chechen rebels were ordered to regroup in the mountains as Russian military sources said Wednesday the final push into the Chechen capital was under way.
Rebels in the city were reported to be trying to flee. Others outside the capital had been given orders to regroup in the south, Chechen sources said.
Fresh Russian detachments were being sent to Grozny and military officials told AFP that troops were on a state of combat alert, poised to sweep into the capital at a half hour�s notice.
Moscow estimates that 2,000 rebels are still holed up in the besieged capital.
Reports that up to 100 Russian soldiers had been killed over the past five days in fighting in and around Grozny were denied Wednesday by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
�This is utter nonsense with no basis at all,� Putin told AFP following a news conference.
Earlier AVN military news agency cited Russian defense sources as saying at least 100 troops had been killed in clashes.
The dead were delivered to Russia�s main North Caucasus base of Mozdok, where senior commanders were assessing the faults of Moscow�s strategy in Chechnya, AVN said.
A Russian colonel who had just returned from Grozny to the �liberated� northern areas of Chechnya said many of the casualties occurred during a botched reconnaissance mission into Grozny last week.
But Moscow has denied such a mission ever took place. �There has been no large-scale operation in Grozny,� Putin said.
The colonel, who asked not to be named, said most street battles in Grozny were sparked by Chechen attempts to evacuate the city.
He said Russian forces were sending new detachments to Grozny. �The operation to liberate Grozny is practically under way. Our reconnaissance troops have reached the very center of Grozny several times.�
Other military officials told AFP that federal detachments were on a state of combat alert, poised to surge forward into Grozny at half-an-hour�s notice.
Meanwhile Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov�s spokesman, contacted by telephone in neighboring Ingushetia, said his troops had been given an order to regroup in the southern mountains of Chechnya.
�The president has ordered a retreat into the mountains, except for the fighters in Grozny, who will stay,� Said-Selim Abdulmuslimov said.
Grozny mayor Lecha Dudayev said �fighting is taking place in different parts of the city nearly every day,� adding that Moscow overnight had unleashed the fiercest artillery barrage on Grozny in the past 10 days.
AVN cited a high-ranking military source as saying that Russian generals had received orders to take control of Grozny nearly 10 days ago.
But Putin said there was no fixed timetable.
He said the three-month crackdown against �terrorists� in Chechnya would be completed soon. The end of the war is �near, but we will not give ourselves any time limits, tie down the operation to a certain date,� he Putin said in televised comments.
Moscow lost thousands of men at the start of the 1994-1996 war when it stormed Grozny, as units of Chechen fighters armed with rocket-launchers destroyed Russian tanks trapped in the narrow streets.
Meanwhile, Moscow said it had opened an inquiry into a massacre of possibly dozens of Chechen civilians as an international human rights body accused Russian soldiers of war crimes.
Witnesses told AFP Tuesday that Russian troops executed between 15 and 50 unarmed civilians earlier this month in Alkhan-Yurt.
And Human Rights Watch said it had evidence that government troops killed Chechen civilians in cold blood over a two-week period after capturing the village of Alkhan-Yurt, southwest of Grozny, at the beginning of this month.
�We have been investigating abuses in Alkhan-Yurt for two weeks now. We�ve documented more than a dozen case of summary executions in the village in detail,� Peter Bouckaert, spokesman for Human Rights Watch, told AFP in an interview at the Chechen-Ingush border.
All Over the Globe is published by IPA House.
© 1998 IPA House. All Rights Reserved.