NATION/WORLD
University Daily Kansan/Monday, September9, 1991
7
NATION/WORLDBRIEFS
Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Macedonians vote on referendum for independence
Macedonians crowded into polling stations yesterday to vote on independence for their poor region, and fighting flared again in Croatia after a one-day lull.
The renewed fighting came a day after the European Community opened a peace conference in the Netherlands attended by the leaders of Yugoslavia's federal government, the heads of the federation's six republics and the foreign ministers of the 12 EC nations.
Results were not expected before tomorrow on Macedonia's referendum. It asked voters whether the republic should declare independence, with an option to rejoin a looser Yugoslav alliance of sovereign states. Polls before the vote said Macedonians strongly favored the proposal.
Macedonia, the poorest area of Yugoslavia, would be the third republic to seek to leave the fragmenting federation. Slovenia and Croatia declared independence on June 25, triggering more than two months of combat.
Heavy fighting was reported yesterday around the strategic town of Pakrac in Croatia's ethnically mixed Slavonia region. The elashes ended a brief lull that came after an agreement by Serbian rebel leaders to join the army and Croats in observing a cease-fire to allow negotiations to resolve the crisis.
San Fernando, Philippines
Steaming volcanic debris kills seven, injures others
Steaming volcanic debris kills seven, injures others
A 15-foot-high wall of stealing debris from the Mount Pinatubo volcano thundered down rivers yesterday in central Luzon, killing at least seven people, police said.
Officials said several others were injured, but complete casualty and damage reports were unavailable. The volcanic avalanche poured down rivers and gullies late Saturday near Bacolor, about 60 miles north of Manila, police said.
Nilo Caballia, member of the village council, said the avalanche had the roar of a cattle stampede. Residents of 13 villages used rubber boats to flee after the dry debris forced rivers over their banks, he said. Caballia said the flow left 5-foot-deep deposits in downtown Bacolor.
Billions of tons of debris were hurled from the volcano when it began erupting in June after 600 years of dormancy. The volcano has quieted but continues ejecting ash.
Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany
University founders hope to overcome past animosity
With optimism and vigor, a group of Poles and Germans are founding a university on the Oder-Neisse Line, once the symbol of intractable disputes in divided Europe.
The school does not yet have students, faculty, a budget or a building. But the forceful new German rector of Europa University, Knut Ipsen, hopes for a rush opening in late 1992.
The founders hope the school in eastern Brandenburg state will draw 20,000 to 40,000 international students and help break down animosity between Poland and the country that invaded it in World War II.
Polish Education Minister Robert Glebocki has proposed building dormitories on the Polish side of the Oder River so students could cross the border daily to attend classes in Frankfurt an der Oder.
From The Associated Press
Bloody attack in South Africa leaves at least 42 dead,50 hurt
Gunmen fire at Inkatha members, set off nation's worst day of violence in four months
The Associated Press
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Gunmen ambushed members of the Inkatha Freedom Party yesterday while members of the party were marching through a Black township, setting off bloody factional fighting around Johannesburg that left at least 42 people dead, police said.
About half the victims were slain as they marched to a political rally in Tokoka Township, just southeast of Johannesburg, police said. Yesterday was the country's worst single day of violence in many months.
Gunmen fired automatic weapons from a house at about 300 armed Inkatha supporters who marched down a main road, said Col. Frans Malherbe, police representative. At least 23 people were killed and 18 injured in Tokoza, he said.
Matherbe said authorities did not know who was responsible for the massacre. The township has been the site of repeated battles between the two leading Black groups, the African National Congress and the Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party.
The shooting came six days before the scheduled signing of a peace accord between Inkatha, the ANC and the white-led government. Previous massacres touched off revenge attacks on efforts to negotiate political reforms.
Both Inkatha and the ANC oppose apartheid, but the groups differ about tactics and plans for changing South Africa. Fighting between their supporters has killed more than 6,000 people since 1986.
an assault rifle and a whistle.
Gortrade Mzizi, an Inkatha official,
said she was driving to the rally when
she saw a woman come out of a house with
"As he blew the whistle, other men came from other houses and they also had rifles ... then they started shooting," Mazzi told the independent South Africa Press Association.
A soundman for the state-run South African Broadcasting Corp., who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the marchers scrambled for cover but that the road was covered with bloody bodies.
Inkatha supporters, many carrying spears and shields, surrounded the bodies, shouted war chants and vowed revenge.
Within hours of the massacre, police reported several additional attacks that aimeed motivated by revenge.
In the worst attack, 13 people died in Soweto Township as Inkatha supporters clashed with residents. After a grenade was tossed at Inkatha supporters returning from a rally, the Inkatha supporters rampaged through neighborhoods, attacking houses, smashing windows, looting televisions and firing guns.
A cameraman for London-based Worldwide Television News and a reporter for Japan's TV Asahi were shot in the leg. Both were in good condition in nearby hospitals, their colleagues said.
In another incident, two Black men were killed at a workers' hostel on the western edge of Johannesburg. Malherbe said.
Police said a total of 42 people died and more than 50 were injured in clashes around Johannesburg.
The last mass killings were in early May, when 25 Blacks died in an attack on a squatter camp west of Johannesburg.
U.N. secretary-general to go to Iran
Perez de Cuellar to meet with Iranian president, seek release of Western, Arab hostages
The Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS — Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar will travel to Iran this week in an attempt to win the release of 11 Western hostages in Lebanon and hundreds of Arabs held by Israel and its Lebanese allies.
He is scheduled to arrive tomorrow night in Teheran for two days of talks with Iranian President Hashemi Rafsani and other officials.
invite reporters to cover the secretary-general's trips, offered to help expedite visas for journalists wishing
The hostage situation is expected to dominate the discussions, but the civil war in Afghanistan and the aftermath of the 2003-2008 Iran-Iraq War are also on the agenda.
But U.N. officials, who seldom
Perez de Cuellar has declined to disclose the specifics of his hostage discussions with various parties, saying only that he remains optimistic that freedom can be gained for all prisoners.
to travel separately to Teheran to report on the visit. That specialized speculation that U.N. officials were hopeful of a breakthrough
Javier Perez deCuellar
All or most of the five Americans, three Britons, two Germans and one Italian held hostage in Lebanon are thought to be in the hands of pro-Iranian Shiite Muslims. The longest held in captivity Terry Andersen and his brother Belaisthe Beilid were held for the Associated Press. He was kidnapped on March 16, 1983.
Iran says it is trying to arrange the hostages' release, but the hostage
holders are demanding freedom for several hundred Lebanese and Palestinians held by Israel and its allies in southern Lebanon. The hostage holders also want Israel to release a senior Muslim cleric kidnapped by Israeli troops.
Israeli insists it must be given reliable information about seven Israelis servicemen missing in southern Lebanon before it will release any Arabs. Only one of the Israelis, air force navigator Ron Arad, is thought to bealive.
The pro-Syrian Amal militia in Lebanon said recently that Arad had been sold by a renegade member to Iran's Revolutionary Guards and taken to Iran. The Iranian government denied the charge.
A Kuwait newspaper reported Saturday that Aadri is being held at a military camp near the Iranian holy city of Qom. Quoting unidentified sources in
Iran, the daily Sawt al-Kuwait said only five Iranian officials knew of the plan to take Arad to Iran.
Perez de Cuellar has met with Israeli and Iranian diplomats in attempts to resolve the issue.
The Iranians are expected to put more emphasis on fully implementing the agreement that ended the Iran-Iraq war, including the assessment of war reparations. Iran and Iraq each blame the other for starting the war.
Theranisia also is pushing for an end to the war in Afghanistan between Muslim fundamentalists and the Soviet-backed government. It insists that Shia Afghans be included in any future government, although Shiites are a small minority in Afghanistan.
After his talks in Teheran, Perez de Cuellar will go to Jida, Saudi Arabia, for one day of talks with Saudi officials and the Gulf Cooperation Council. Then he will return to New York.
Turn the miles into smiles. Just be there.
AT&T ACUS $ ^{ \mathrm{SM}} $ Service at University of Kansas...
You can shorten the distance between campus and your family and friends by calling from the convenience of your room with AT&T ACUS Service.
ACUS Service also offers the best value to save you money. And, the world is at your fingertips with ACUS Service domestic and international dialing capabilities included with the service.
The only long distance you'll need to experience this year is quality AT&T ACUS Service.
Featuring:
- No Sign-up Fees
- Personal Security Codes
- Individual Bills
Please call 1800445-6063 for more info!
- Low Rates
- International Dialing
AT&T The right choice.