Cholil Bisri dies

Cholil Bisri dies

People's Consultative Assembly deputy speaker Cholil Bisri,
62, died on Monday at his residence in Rembang, Central Java,
after suffering from a liver ailment and low blood pressure. He
is survived by his wife and eight children. A student at the
Muslim boarding school founded by Cholil and brother Mustofa,
Akhmad Dahlan, said Cholil was found dead by his doctor at 8:40
p.m. "He died in peace," Akhmad said, adding that the National
Awakening Party (PKB) politician would be buried on Tuesday near
his father in a family cemetery plot. -- JP

Sudan rejects
African troop offer

Sudan rejected an offer of African troops to disarm rebels in
Darfur as peace talks began in Nigeria, insisting it was capable
of neutralizing both progovernment and rebel militia fighting in
the western region. Rebels, in turn, said they would not accept
disarmament by Sudanese government forces to end an 18-month-old
conflict. Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo made the proposal
ahead of the talks in Abuja, arguing that Sudanese forces were
incapable of disarming the rebels without more fighting in
Darfur, where the conflict has already killed up to 50,000
people. -- Reuters

Tigers issue
fresh warning

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers issued a fresh warning on Monday to Sri
Lankan security forces against supporting renegade rebels and
risking the collapse of a Oslo-brokered truce. The Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in a letter to the Norwegian-led
Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, said security forces had colluded
with a breakaway Tiger faction to kill two LTTE members in the
island's east last week. The LTTE accused the Sri Lankan army of
"accommodating and encouraging the activities of armed groups",
and warned that it is a "serious threat to normalcy and
maintaining the integrity of the truce", the Tamil website
reported. -- AFP

Israel plans 530
settler homes

Israel plans to build 530 new settler homes in the occupied West
Bank after Washington softened its opposition to growth in Jewish
enclaves, a policy shift Palestinians say will make peace
impossible. Israeli political sources said on Monday the
construction, together with tenders for 1,000 other homes
approved last week by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, would mainly
affect settlements near Jerusalem and be in full swing by the end
of 2004. Six earthmovers were already hard at work on Monday
carving up a rocky hill crest beyond the last line of houses in
Har Gilo settlement, sandwiched between two Palestinian villages
south of Jerusalem. Officials said about 200 homes would be built
there. -- Reuters