Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 20 April 2006 — Page 44

Page 44 • The Muncie Times • April 20, 2006

AFRICAN BRIEFS

continued from page 43 teenager not guilty of the murder of a 9-year-old Tajik girl in 2004. The teenager was instead convicted of hooliganism, and sentenced to 5 12 years in prison. Aliu Tunkara, who heads Africa Unity, a civic group for Africans in Russia, called the ruling a recipe for more violence. "Since nobody was punished for the murder of the girl, people with similar nationalist attitudes now feel they have nothing to fear in committing such actions," he said. In an interview with "Moskovskii Komsomolets," Tunkara • explained that extremist groups operate with the assistance of the police. "Do you know how ‘pleasant’ it is to chat with our police officers? At each step, you hear such expressions as ‘hey, chief gorilla, come here!”' According to figures from the Moscow Bureau of Human Rights, there were 25 fatal racial attacks in Russia in 2005. Rebels attack Chad's forces By Braden Ruddy (GIN)—In another sign that the violence in Darfur, Sudan, is spilling over to neighboring Chad, an army base in the south eastern city of Haraze Mangueigne, Chad, was attacked by rebels from Chad's United Front for Democratic Change (FUCD)

Chadian officials accuse the government in Khartoum of backing the rebels,, a charge which Sudan denie^^BUHBa| In a telephone interview with Reuters news agency, Abdel Rahman Abdel Karim, an FUCD leader, said, "This is only the beginning. Our morale is very high." FUCD is trying to overthrow Chad President Idriss Deby, who has been in power since 1990. It is a coalition of rebel groups le d by Mahamat Nour, from bases in Darfur along the Chad-Sudan

border.

The hour-long battle at the army garrison resulted in four injuries, while 50 prisoners were captured, the rebel leader said. A significant number of Chad's army officers have also deserted to join

FUCD.

Newly-elected leader peacefully takes Benin presidency By Braden Ruddy (GIN)--Mathieu Kerekou, the leader of the West African nation of Benin for the last three decades, relinquished his rule on Wednesday. He had reached the constitutional age limit, and has been replaced by Boni Yayi, the recent election winner. Pro-democracy advocates celebrated the decision to peacefully hand over power, especially as many neighboring leaders try to hold on by changing laws, constitutions, and are usually only replaced as a result of

violent coups or death. Benin has been labeled "free" by American N GO Freedom House. The other West African nations to be awarded the distinction are Ghana and

Senegal.

Kerekou began his rule by seizing power in a 1972 military coup and altered his dictatorship into a Marxist-Leninist one-party state in 1975. In 1990, Benin began a largely successful transition to democracy by embarking on a liberal economic plan, rewriting the constitution and supporting U.N. peace-keep-ing missions on the African continent. Fittingly for a man who ran his country through three ideologies and himself converted first to Islam and then became a born-again Christian, Kerekou's motto was "the stick cannot break in the arms of a chameleon". His trademark swagger stick was emblazoned with a chameleon. "Gen. Kerekou has not given in to temptation, which is remarkable in Africa," said a Cameroonian newspaper, referring to the peaceful handover of power. "This action has planted Benin firmly in the club of democracies and also opened the voice of political rejuvenation and perhaps even the style of governance". Charles Taylor's son

arrested

immigration officials

By Braden Ruddy (GIN)—The son

of

accused Liberian warlord Charles Taylor was arrested in Florida on a charge of making false statements on a U.S. passport, the Justice Department said. The arrest of Charles McArthur Emmanuel, also known as Charles "Chuckie" Taylor Jr., came a day after his father, Charles Taylor, was handed over to a U.N.-backed Special Tribunal in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Emmanuel, a U.S. citizen, was arrested at Miami International Airport after arriving from Trinidad. Emmanuel traveled to the Caribbean island of Trinidad when he quit Liberia at the end of July 2003, passing through Dulles International Airport in suburban Virginia, the affidavit said. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents learned that he applied 2 weeks ago to renew his U.S. passport at the U.S. Embassy in Port of Spain, Trinidad's capital. He lied about his father's identity on the application, the affidavit said. |V The 29-year-old has been banned by the United Nations from traveling to Liberia. When Taylor became president of Liberia in 1997, he appointed his son to lead the presidential security force, the Anti-Terrorist Unit. The criminal compliant filed by U.S. immigration officials said, "As head of the ATU, Emmanuel was

responsible for training soldiers to serve on that force." Charles Taylor Sr. is awaiting trial in Sierra Leone on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. U.N. official slams rebel terrorism in northern Uganda By Braden Ruddy (GIN)—Jan Egeland, chief of U.N. Humanitarian Affairs, said that rebelactivity in northern Uganda is "terrorism of the worst kind anywhere in the world." Within the troubled northern region, rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) are notorious for abducting children and carrying out vicious attacks. Egeland has appealed to both the international community and the Ugandan government to do more to end the crisis. Nearly 2 million people have been displaced during the country’s 20-year civil war. Many Ugandans live in temporary camps, in squ-alid conditions, to avoid LRA attacks. "I don’t think we really understand what it is when 90 percent of a population is terrorized into crammed camp conditions like this," Egeland said. "The government of Uganda has to do more, the army has to provide real security for the people, not only when they are inside cramped camps but when they go out into these camps."