KHARTOUM, Sudan, Jan. 14--More than 200 people have died in clashes between ethnic African farmers and nomadic Arabs in South Darfur in the past week, leading the Sudanese government to send emissaries to try to reconcile the tribes involved, AP quoted officials as saying Saturday.
The fighting was the latest outburst in a nearly four-year-long conflict that has caused more than 200,000 deaths and chased 2.5 million people from their homes in Sudan’s vast Darfur region, where nomadic tribes and farming communities have long wrangled over access to scarce water.
The war began when ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated government in February 2003, charging it with neglect. The Khartoum regime is accused of responding by unleashing Arab paramilitary groups known as janjaweed that have been blamed for the worst atrocities in the conflict. The Sudanese government rejects the allegations.
The latest fighting involved Habania Arab nomads and Falata ethnic African farmers, Justice Minister Mohammed Ali Al Mardhi told the independent newspaper Al-Rai Al-Amm. He said more than 200 people had been killed over the past week, mainly nomads, and that the government had sent reconciliation missions to try to end the fighting.
“The situation between the two sides remains flammable,“ he said.
Witnesses who spoke on condition anonymity for fear of reprisals said the clashes began a week ago in an area south of Nyala when Habania nomads killed nine Falata tribesmen they accused of stealing cows. Habania fighters later attacked a Falata settlement but suffered heavy casualties, the witnesses said.
Sudanese Interior Minister Zubair Bashir Taha appealed to tribal leaders to stop the killing and “resort to the voice of wisdom,“ the state-run SUNA news agency said.
The government’s casualty estimate could not be independently verified, because the government has barred foreign journalists from Darfur for months.

BETHLEHEM, Occupied Palestine, Jan. 14--Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails were holding a one-day fast Sunday to protest factional fighting that has killed more than 30 people over the past month, the head of parliament’s prisoners’ committee told AFP.
“They are fasting until evening to protest internal fighting and to ask for a government of national unity,“ said Issa Karaka.
The prisoners are warning that they will go on a hunger strike if rival Fatah and Hamas factions don’t agree on a coalition cabinet soon, he said.
President Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah party and the governing Islamist Hamas movement have been at loggerheads for months over forming a government of national unity.
Talks collapsed over disagreements about who would hold key portfolios and over Hamas’s steadfast refusal to bend to Western conditions of renouncing violence, recognizing Israel and agreeing to abide by past peace deals.
The West says the Palestinian government must accept the conditions to unfreeze direct aid that was frozen when Hamas formed a cabinet in March.
According to figures from the Israeli B’Tselem right group, there are more than 9,000 Palestinians currently being held in Israeli jails, including 345 minors.

Bangladeshi police beat an unidentified man during clashes with activists in Dhaka, Jan. 9.

DHAKA, Bangladesh, Jan. 14--Bangladeshi police and soldiers arrested more than 2,500 people and raided the homes of several political leaders after a new caretaker government was sworn in to quell deadly unrest ahead of elections, AP quoted police and news reports as saying Saturday.
Security forces arrested 2,552 people across the country overnight Friday on “various charges,“ said a statement released Saturday by police headquarters in the capital Dhaka.
The arrests came after the president on Thursday declared a state of emergency, delayed elections, and stepped down as head of a caretaker government to end street demonstrations alleging the upcoming vote was rigged.
On Friday, President Iajuddin Ahmed swore in respected economist Fakhruddin Ahmed to replace him as head of the country’s caretaker government, mandated to steer the nation through elections. The president said balloting has been deferred from the scheduled Jan. 22 date.
A 19-party political alliance led by a former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, had threatened to boycott and disrupt the vote unless the president stepped aside as the head of the caretaker government and election reforms were put in place.
Election Commission official Mihir Sarwar Murshed told reporters Saturday that the commission has suspended all election-related activities. He did not elaborate.
Soon after the new caretaker government chief was appointed, the alliance withdrew a planned series of transport blockades and strikes.
The Prothom Alo newspaper reported authorities detained some local politicians throughout Bangladesh, but no prominent leaders were arrested.
Troops and police also raided the homes of some political leaders’ aides suspected of criminal activities or corruption, but made no arrests, the newspaper said.
The politicians were from both sides of the election dispute, the newspaper said.
Police said Saturday a former lawmaker, Kamal Majumder, was arrested the day before and has been jailed in the capital.

TOKYO, Jan. 14--Japan is considering a policy shift that would allow troops engaged in international peacekeeping operations to preemptively fire their weapons, AFP reported Sunday.
The UN Peacekeeping Activities Cooperation Law currently allows Japan’s Self-Defense Forces to use weapons only for protecting themselves and others when facing immediate danger.
The government is contemplating a revision of that law, which would permit troops to preemptively use their weapons to protect UN facilities and prevent captured people from escaping, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.
In these cases Japanese troops would be permitted to use arms even if their enemies were not launching attacks, the mass-circulation daily said, quoting sources close to the discussions.
However, the government was likely to limit the use of arms to situations in which it was obvious that the targets were non-traditional combatants such as guerrillas, terror operatives or criminal gang members, the Yomiuri said.
The shift in policy would make it easier for Japanese troops to participate in UN peacekeeping operations such as ceasefire monitoring, it said.
Last week, Japan created a full-fledged defense ministry for the first time since its World War II defeat and changed the status of the country’s troops, listing overseas activities as one of their missions.
Deployments abroad used to be considered “extraordinary“, leading the government to seek parliamentary approval for specific missions.
In a groundbreaking move, Japan sent troops on a reconstruction mission to Iraq, the first time since 1945 that it had deployed to a country where fighting was underway.
The troops suffered no casualties and never fired their weapons, relying on Australian, British and Dutch forces to protect them.
Japan also sent close to 1,000 troops to Indonesia to assist with relief efforts after the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Thousands of people take part in a march for peace in Madrid, Jan. 13.

MADRID, Spain, Jan. 14--Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators marched through Madrid and other cities Saturday to denounce a deadly car bombing by the Basque separatist group ETA that shattered a 9-month cease-fire and snuffed out Spain’s best hopes in years to end decades of violence.
According to AP, the rallies were boycotted by the opposition, conservative Popular Party, illustrating how deeply divided Spain struggles to find common ground even on the issue that polls show is the most worrisome to its citizens.
Nationwide figures were not available but the Interior Ministry said the Madrid rally alone drew an estimated 175,000 people.
“I am angry with ETA. The attack only shows that it is a gang of madmen,“ said Alejandro Zarzalejos, a 41-year-old English teacher who attended the Madrid rally with his wife and two children, of the Dec. 30 blast at Madrid airport that killed two and injured 26. He said he had been optimistic about the peace process until the bombing. “I have no idea what they want to achieve with this,“ he said.
Rallies were also held in the Basque city of Bilbao--where police said 80,000 people took part--as well as in Pamplona, Zaragoza and other cities and towns.
The rally was called by labor federations and endorsed by hundreds of other organizations to protest the Dec. 30 attack at Madrid airport claimed by the Basque separatists.
The protesters included many from Ecuador, the native country of the two men killed as they slept in cars in the Madrid airport garage targeted in the blast.
It shattered the cease-fire ETA called in March--although the group insisted this week the truce still stands--and prompted the government to declare the termination of a once-promising peace process and plans to negotiate with ETA. It was the first fatal attack by ETA since May 2003.

BANGKOK, Thailand, Jan. 14--Myanmar has claimed victory after the veto of a UN resolution urging democratic reforms in the military-ruled nation, which analysts warn could embolden the repressive junta, AFP reported.
Russia and China on Friday vetoed the Security Council resolution brought by the United States and Britain calling on Myanmar’s generals to free political prisoners, end sexual violence by the military and speed up democratic reform.
“It’s not only a victory of Myanmar people and people of international countries, but also a victory for the reality of Myanmar,“ the junta said in a statement broadcast on state television and radio.
Activists fear the “reality of Myanmar“ could indeed become much darker after the veto, as it could give the regime the confidence to continue with its repressive and isolationist stance.
“It emboldens the regime to misbehave further,“ said Debbie Stothard, of the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma, an advocacy group.
Stothard said that resolutions by other UN bodies such as the Human Rights Council had proved ineffective, and the world had to go back to the Security Council if they were to have any effect on Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
“As the rest of the international community realize the Security Council is the way to go, we think that China and Russia will realize they will have to toe the line,“ she told AFP.
The vote produced the first double veto at the Council in more than 20 years.
China, which is keen to tap Myanmar’s vast natural resources, and Russia, which wants to exert its influence in the region, have always indicated that they will block any attempts by the 15-member Council to criticize the regime.
But the vetoes came not because of disputes over the scope of the abuses in Myanmar, but because of disagreement over whether the situation poses a risk to regional peace and security, Thailand-based Myanmar analyst Win Min said.

PARIS, Jan. 14--Libya plans to order between 13 and 18 French-made Rafale fighter jets as part of its plans to modernize its army, the Journal du Dimanche said on Sunday quoting Libyan government sources, AFP said.
If confirmed the sale would be the first outside France of the fourth generation Rafale fighter planes, made by manufacturer Dassault Aviation.
“The political decision to buy French Rafale fighter planes was taken recently at the highest level of the Libyan state,“ the newspaper said, adding that the order was valued around 2.5 billion euros (3.2 billion dollars).
Dassault Aviation was not immediately available for comment and a source close to the dossier said there had been no new developments in the matter and the report was “speculation“.

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Jan. 14--The transformation of Nepal’s Maoists from rebels to mainstream politicians has moved closer after the cabinet approved an interim constitution giving the ultra-leftists seats in a new parliament.
The rebels will hold 25 per cent of the seats in the temporary parliament.
“The cabinet meeting Sunday approved the finalized interim constitution due to be presented before parliament tomorrow,“ Deputy Prime Minister Amik Sherchan told AFP Saturday.
“The Maoists will enter parliament for the first time and the house session will pass the interim constitution on the same day after discussions,“ he added.
The former rebels fought a violent “people’s war“ for a decade in the impoverished Himalayan nation to install a communist republic, but have now agreed to join mainstream politics.
The temporary constitution has provisions which formally remove the king’s status as head of state, with his executive powers passing to the prime minister.
The interim constitution grants the former rebels 83 seats in a new 330-seat parliament. Among their delegates are representatives of marginalized groups never present in parliament in Nepal before.
The Maoists are expected to join the cabinet within a couple of weeks, but negotiations are still to take place on which posts they will hold.
Once former foes, the rebels and government have observed a ceasefire for nearly nine months, and the rebels have agreed to place their weapons and army under UN monitoring.
The Maoists are expected to start placing their weapons in containers under UN supervision Monday, but as part of the peace deal the rebels will retain keys to the locked-up weapons.
The parliament due to be sworn in Monday will oversee elections to a body that will draft a new version of Nepal’s constitution, and address the future of the monarchy, a long-held rebel demand.