Morauta wants fair election

Morauta wants fair election

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Papua New Guineans must be able to cast their ballots freely and fairly when a landmark election begins in the troubled South Pacific nation on Saturday, Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta said on Friday.

Morauta has said the poll was the most crucial in the history of the cash-strapped, crime-ridden and corrupt island country, and would decide whether Papua New Guinea survives in a tough and challenging new millennium.

Voting will be spread over 12 days and promises to be a complicated process, with electoral officials only able to reach some of the remote and inaccessible highland areas and far-flung islands by helicopters and dinghies.

Despite the difficulty, Morauta has urged the country's Electoral Commission to remain vigilant.

"It is important that everyone entitled to vote has the opportunity to do so," Morauta was quoted as saying in The Post- Courier newspaper on Friday. -- Reuters

;AFP;ANJ; ANPAi..r.. Botswana-SADC Southern African food crisis tops agenda for SADC meeting JP/10/BOTSWANA

Food crisis tops agenda for SADC meeting

BOTSWANA: A Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting began on Friday in Botswana, with ministers and officials expected to look at overcoming food shortages in the region, a SADC spokesman said.

Ministers and representatives from the 14-nation block will be discussing severe food shortages in at least six SADC member countries during the two days of talks in Gaborone, SADC information officer Keto Segwai told AFP.

"Our region is facing a crisis, because most of it relies on a rain-set practice (in farming). Our big challenge will be to develop an agricultural sector depending less on rain," he said.

Segwai named the six countries where food shortages were severe as Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

SADC executive secretary Prega Ramsamy earlier this week told journalists the region was facing an "unprecedented humanitarian crisis as a result of food shortages" and that ministers in Gaborone would have to come up with a decision on coordinating appeals to the international community. -- AFP

;AFP;ANJ; ANPAi..r.. Britain-crime Dying woman, 71, raped in British hospital JP/BRITAIN

Dying woman raped in hospital

BRITAIN: A 71-year-old woman with terminal cancer was raped in a hospital toilet cubicle as she was receiving treatment for her condition, police in London said on Friday.

The woman, who according to the Sun newspaper has only months to live, was attacked at King's College Hospital in south London six weeks ago.

She kept silent for three weeks before telling a doctor as she felt ashamed and did not want her family to know, the Sun said.

Police detective inspector Martin Ward said it was "a most serious offense on a vulnerable pensioner. All our efforts are directed toward catching this man before he strikes again." A police spokesman said there had been no arrests.

A spokesman for the hospital said the attack happened on a locked ward. All its wards are secured by keys or have an entry code door system, he added. -- AFP

;REUTERS;ANJ; ANPAi..r.. NEPAL Nepal says at least 54 dead in fierce rebel fight JP/10/ATW

Nepal says more than 50 dead in rebel fight

NEPAL: At least 50 Maoist guerrillas and four Nepali soldiers died in a fierce battle after the militants ambushed a remote army post in the Himalayan kingdom's western rebel stronghold, officials said on Friday.

More than 500 rebels, fighting to topple the constitutional monarchy, stormed the army camp at Damachour in Sallyan district, 400 km (250 miles) west of the capital, Kathmandu, late on Wednesday. The battle raged until Thursday evening.

"At least 50 rebels have been confirmed dead. We're confident there are more rebel casualties," the army official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

Nepali security forces have moved reinforcements to help search on Friday for the guerrillas in the jungles around the battleground.

The rebels emerged from the jungle on Wednesday to launch their latest major assault in an increasingly violent six-year fight to install a communist republic in the poor nation wedged between India and China. -- Reuters

;REUTERS;ANJ; ANPAi..r.. MADAGASCAR (UPDATE 3) Madagascar barriers fall, Ratsiraka lands in Paris JP/10/ATW

Madagascar's barriers fall

MADAGASCAR: Madagascar's leadership struggle took a dramatic turn on Friday when opponents of Didier Ratsiraka dismantled barricades erected by his followers within hours of the veteran leader landing unscheduled in Paris.

Ratsiraka's rival for the presidency, Marc Ravalomanana, told national radio that all barricades put up across the Indian Ocean island to try and strangle his power base in Antananarivo had been dismantled.

"The barriers have been completely taken down throughout Madagascar," the millionaire businessman said.

"I now call for national reconciliation so the country can start working towards national recovery in peace and harmony."

Hours before, Ratsiraka, who says he is rightful president even though a court said his rival won disputed elections, landed in the small Le Bourget airport north of Paris, at around 4 a.m. (9:00 a.m.Jakarta time), French officials said. -- Reuters