THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2012
PAGE 3A
NEWS OF THE WORLD
Associated Press
AFRICA
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ugandan soldiers hunting for fugitive warlord Joseph Kony deep in the Central African Republic eat a quick breakfast in the early morning on April 19. Encounters between Ugandan troops and Lord's Resistance Army rebels are so rare that the Kony hunters worry about other things when they walk the army: armed poachers, wild beets and honey bees.
Ugandan soldiers say there's no sign of Kony and the LRA
DIEMA, Central African Republic — The hunt for alleged war criminal Joseph Kony is heating up on international radars, but Ugandan foot soldiers who have spent years searching for the man are starting to ask a question their top commanders prefer to ignore. Is it possible he is dead?
Ugandan army officials say the Lord's Resistance Army leader is alive and hiding somewhere within the Central African Republic. Rank-and-file soldiers, however, say intelligence on Kony is so limited that if he dies, or is already dead, his foes might never know and could wind up chasing a ghost through this vast Central Africa
jungle.
Soldiers in one of many Konyhunting squads said their task in the Central African Republic could no longer be described as a manhunt. The soldiers, who requested anonymity for fear of punishment, said for years there has been no LRA presence in the areas they patrol.
The soldiers are growing increasingly disillusioned, complaining of boredom and having to carry around heavy guns they never expect to use.
want to keep us here, but up to now our squad has never come across any rebels."
Another soldier said: "We are bored. We have nothing to do. We are mobile every day but we never see the enemy."
"Our commanders don't want you to know the truth," one of them said on the banks of the Vovodo river, his colleagues nodding in approval. "They
Ugandan officials say Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, fled to the Central African Republic hours before the aerial attack, but LRA attacks have been frequently reported in Congo recently. Ugandan troops left the Congo last year after Congolese authorities asked them to go.
ASIA
Court to deliver Gilani verdict Thursday
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's Supreme Court is expected to deliver a verdict later this week in a contempt case against the prime minister that could see him losing his job at a time
when his U.S.- backed government is fighting terrorism and militancy, the premier's lawyer said Tuesday.
A guilty verdict could also result in Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani serving up to six months in prison for his refusal to reopen an old corruption case against the country's president, his political ally.
Gilani
That could stoke fresh political turmoil at a time when Pakistan is
trying to patch up its relations with the United-States and is grappling with a weak economy and a bloody Taliban insurgency.
But even if Gilani is forced to step down — a process that could take months — the deeper political impact could be limited since the ruling coalition has the majority in parliament needed to elect a new prime minister,
The court has summoned to Gilani to appear before it on Thursday, when it is expected to deliver its verdict, said his lawyer, Aitzaz Ahsan.
"I am hopeful that the prime minister will be acquitted," Ahsan said outside the courthouse in Islamabad.
The judges have repeatedly ordered the government to write a letter to Swiss authorities requesting they reopen a case against President Ali Ifi Zardari that is from the late 1990s.
AFRICA
Sudan drops bombs on South Sudan
President Salva Kiri's comments, made during a trip to China, signal a rise in rhetoric between the rival nations who had spent decades at war with each other. Neither side has officially declared war.
war that killed 2 million people.
NAIROBI, Kenya — South Sudan's president said its northern neighbor has "declared war" on the world's newest nation, just hours after Sudanese jets dropped eight bombs onto South Sudan on Tuesday.
Sudan and South Sudan have been drawing closer to a full-scale war in recent weeks over the unresolved issues of oil revenues and their disputed border. South Sudan seceded from Sudan last year as a result of a 2005 peace treaty that ended decades of
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir gave a fiery speech last week in which he said there will be no negotiations with the "poisonous insects" who are challenging Sudan's claim to disputed territory near the nations' shared border.
Kir, the southern president, arrived in China late Monday for a five-day visit to lobby for economic and diplomatic support.
Kiril told Chinese President Hujiao the visit comes at a "a very critical moment for the Republic of South Sudan because our neighbor in Khartoum has declared war on the Republic of South Sudan."
EUROPE
Migrants jailed while asylum claims pursued
NYIRBATOR, Hungary They say they came to Hungary to escape brutality, war or the threat of being put to death in their home countries. Instead, they are serving untold months behind bars without ever being convicted of a crime.
Migrants who arrive from violence-ridden countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan or Somalia are spending up to a year languishing in detention centers.
In 2010, the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban adopted a policy of locking up undocumented migrants while authorities adjudicate their asylum claims. Critics, including the writers of a U.N. report released Tuesday, say the policy is unusually harsh and out of step with European norms and international law.
"No other country (in Central Europe) is taking such extreme and harsh measures as Hungary does, and in no other country do we hear so many similar reports of abuse in detention," said Gottried Koefer, UNHCR's representative for Central Europe.
Inmates at a detention center in the eastern city of Nyribator jammed up against the metal grills covering the windows at the sight of Associated Press reporters on the street below.
"I come here for asylum, not prison!" shouted one skull-capped inmate.