Strike fear into enemies of Islam, says Mahathir: Muslims should

Wed, 17 Sep 2003

Strike fear into enemies of Islam, says Mahathir: Muslims should pursue knowledge to strike fear in the enemies of Islam and avoid being labeled terrorists, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Tuesday. Mahathir told a gathering of young Muslims from 57 countries that they should learn modern science and technology to prevent Islam from being humiliated and regarded as "a religion of terrorists". "We need weapons to strike fear in the hearts of our enemy," he said. "It is quite clear that we are not prepared for the time being as we do not have the knowledge to fight the enemy." -- Reuters

Gen. Clark decides to join White House race: Former NATO commander Wesley Clark has decided to join the 2004 White House race, making the retired four-star U.S. Army general the 10th Democratic presidential candidate, political sources said on Tuesday. Clark, who headed the 1999 NATO bombing campaign in Kosovo but is a political novice, was expected to announce his decision in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Wednesday. His entry, widely anticipated by many Democrats, throws another wild card into an already unpredictable campaign. -- Reuters

UN offices attacked in Congo: Unidentified assailants fired on United Nations offices in the volatile northeastern Congolese town of Bunia on Tuesday, the day after UN troops detained the army and security chiefs of a tribal militia, a UN spokesman said. The assailants were hiding among demonstrators protesting the detention of Floribert Kisembo, chief of staff of the Union of Congolese Patriots, or UPC, and Rafiki Saba, the security chief of the same main Hema tribal faction, said Leocadio Salmeron, spokesman of the UN mission in Congo, or MONUC. -- AP

Guinea-Bissau's junta don't want to stay in power: Guinea- Bissau's new military rulers do not want to stay in power, junta boss Gen. Verissimo Seabra Correia said on Tuesday, insisting that their sole aim was to shake the poor West African nation out of political and economic paralysis. "I can tell you we have no intention of remaining in power," Correia, the armed forces chief of staff who led Sunday's bloodless coup, told reporters. "We are in an unusual situation: we were in a country with no constitution, no judiciary, no parliament -- a crazy country, in other words," he said. "We simply corrected the situation." -- AFP

Mali's former president takes helm at African Union: Former Malian president Alpha Oumar Konare, one of a select group of African leaders who relinquished power without fuss, took the helm of the African Union (AU) on Tuesday vowing to promote democracy and development. At a ceremony held at the flag- bedecked AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, he took over as chairman of the AU Commission from Amara Essy, an Ivorian diplomat who oversaw the AU's transition from the old Organization of African Unity (OAU). -- Reuters

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