January 6, 1996
Web posted at: 10:50 p.m. EST (0350 GMT)
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNN) -- Haiti's President-elect Rene Preval has asked the United Nations to extend its military peacekeeping mission for another six months, Haitian radio reported Saturday.
The mission was set to pull out of Haiti by February 29, but many Haitians fear renewed violence and crime when the 6,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force leaves.
The head of Haiti's transition team, Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, said the extension would allow for better preparation in such areas as the police force, the judicial system, and security.
U.N. representatives met with the government transition team and diplomats Friday to discuss the six-month extension, but the country won't make a formal request until Preval shapes his new government after his February 7 inauguration.
In 1994, the United States led a multinational force and dismantled the ruling army. It also restored deposed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, then handed control over to the U.N. mission in March.
After the peacekeepers pull out, Haiti will rely on its 5,000-member police force to maintain order.
U.N. spokesman Eric Falt told the Haitian press the United States has already notified the United Nations that it will end its participation in the mission after February 29.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (CNN) -- Defense Secretary William Perry said Saturday the United States will expand its military presence in the Persian Gulf to discourage any long-term possibility of aggression by Iran and Iraq.
Perry said that although the threat in the Gulf has been greatly reduced since Operation Desert Storm, it is an issue the United States cannot afford to ignore. He said the Iraqi threat can be minimized only "as long as the United States is there."
According to Perry, top U.S. commanders have drawn up a defense plan for the region that calls for the deployment of thousands of soldiers with tanks and planes to back them up. About 13,000 U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines are already deployed in the region.
Perry was on his way to the Saudi capital Saturday for talks on security in the Gulf and will try to gain Saudi support for the proposed expansion.
NICOSIA, Cyprus (CNN) -- Iranian radio reported Saturday that five Iranians were sentenced to death after being convicted of spying for the United States and Iraq.
The report, monitored by the British Broadcasting Company in Nicosia, Cyprus, said that the five were sentenced by the Islamic Revolutionary Court. They were charged with spying for the U.S. government and the Iraqi Ba'athist regime.
LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) -- Nigerian political activist Ledun Mitee, who was acquitted in the trial that led to the execution of dissident playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa, was arrested Saturday by Nigeria's military government.
According to a written statement from the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, Mitee was arrested Thursday at his home near Bori, a southwestern city at the center of the Ogoni region.
Mitee is a lawyer and the vice-president of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People and was tried for murder along with Saro-Wiwa, the organization's president, and eight other dissidents.
The Nigerian government said the organization instigated the violence that caused the deaths of four people in 1994.
While Mitee was acquitted of the politically charged murders, Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists were hanged on November 10 despite a national and international outcry that the men were framed because of their political beliefs.
Saro-Wiwa and Mitee's group oppose Nigeria's military ruler General Sani Abacha and the country's oil industry.
There was no official announcement of Mitee's arrest and his whereabouts were unknown.
PARIS (CNN) -- An Algerian news agency reported Saturday that security forces have killed two Muslim guerrillas who may have killed Algeria's former Interior Minister Abou Bakr Belkaid four months ago.
The two were suspected of belonging to a fundamentalist hit squad and may be responsible for several assassinations, including Belkaid.
In the past week, a reported 19 guerrillas have been killed by Algerian forces throughout seven regions in the North African country.
Violence has escalated between government forces and Muslim guerrillas since early 1992, when the government canceled a general election the Islamists were set to win.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi president Saddam Hussein admitted Saturday that the U.N. embargo, now in its sixth year, made 1995 a really difficult year for Iraqis.
He called upon his people to counter the hardships by social discipline and more commitment and respect of the law in a scheduled speech Saturday on the occasion of Army Day, which was broadcast on Iraqi television.
Saddam described as crippling the tight economic embargo that was imposed in August 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait.
Saddam complained that some Iraqis still live as if they were not under the embargo, but that the majority of the population working together had been able to achieve progress in all fields, despite their economic difficulties.
BETHLEHEM (CNN) -- Orthodox Christians, who began their celebrations of Christmas Saturday, flocked to Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus Christ.
The patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church arrived in Bethlehem Saturday to celebrate the festival in the traditional way. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was expected in Bethlehem later on Saturday.
The Orthodox church has a different calendar to the one used by the Church of Rome, which results in dates for the major Christian festivals in the Greek church varying from the dates appointed by other European churches.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (CNN) -- The United States has granted a transit visa to Taiwanese vice-president Li Yuan-Zu, Taiwan's foreign ministry said Saturday.
Li's plane will make a re-fueling stop in the U.S. next week when he attends the inauguration of Guatemala's new president.
Relations between the U.S. and China soured in June after Washington granted a entry visa to Taiwanese President Lee Tung-hue for a private visit. China, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province, had warned of consequences if the U.S. granted Li's visa.
MOSCOW (CNN) -- Russian troops claimed Saturday to have killed 30-40 Chechen separatists in a "clean-up" operation near the town of Shatoi.
Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev said Saturday his troops are bracing for a renewed offensive from Chechen rebels.
Fighting has intensified since Russia imposed local elections in December. European mediators are trying to coax both sides back to the negotiating table.
Meanwhile, a group of Russian intellectuals called on President Boris Yeltsin to end the fighting in Chechnya.
More than 100 literary and cultural figures signed the appeal titled, "Stop the War in Chechnya!" published in the Izvestia newspaper Saturday.
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- South Korea accused North Korean government officials of hoarding rice for its military while its people suffer from famine.
South Korea has refused to give rice to North Korea as it has in the past unless North Korea ceases hostilities. U.N. relief officials have verified famine conditions, reporting people digging in the ground for roots to eat.
South Korean Foreign Minister Gong Ro-mung questioned North Korea's claimed rice shortfall saying the country has failed to report rice stockpiles for its 1.2 million-member army.
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