Rebels, troops clash near border
Intense fighting has erupted in the northern part of Darfur with hundreds of rebels and Sudanese government troops wounded or captured in clashes this week near the border with Chad, international observers said Tuesday.
The Sudanese air force is bombing villages in rebel-controlled areas north of the regional capital of El Fasher, the international groups said. The number of civilian casualties in these bombings is not known, the United Nations mission in Sudan said. The Sudanese military on Tuesday denied the bombings were continuing.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo called for stepped-up support to a beleaguered African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur.
“It is not in the interests of Sudan, nor in the interests of Africa, nor indeed in the interests of the world, for us all to stand by and see genocide being developed in Darfur,” Obasanjo, the leader of Africa’s most-populous nation, told diplomats, U.N. and AU officials during a visit to Ethiopia.
The U.N. says at least 18,000 people have fled fighting in North Darfur in the past month alone, streaming into refugee camps in El Fasher.
That has worsened a refugee problem that already had seen 2.5 million people displaced from their homes in the last three years. More than 200,000 people are believed to have been killed.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Peron’s remains will be reburied
The remains of former Argentine political strongman Juan Domingo Peron are to be reburied in a new mausoleum during a ceremony next week, organizers said Tuesday.
Leaders of the Peronist movement the populist politician founded 61 years ago will attend the ceremony.
The move of Peron’s remains from a Buenos Aires cemetery to suburban San Vicente comes amid the run-up to next year’s presidential election – a traditional time for reinvoking the name and party ideals of the man who dominated Argentine political life of the last century.
President Nestor Kirchner was invited to attend the ceremony Oct. 17 and former Presidents Carlos Menem and Eduardo Duhalde, both members of the dominant Peronist party, were expected to be on hand.
Manila, Philippines
Bombs kill 6, injure dozens
Two bombs exploded Tuesday in insurgency-torn southern Philippines, killing six people and wounding more than 30, as officials heightened security amid warnings that al-Qaida-linked terrorists were planning further attacks.
One explosion occurred in a stall selling alcohol during a festival in the town of Makilala on Mindanao island, said North Cotabato provincial Police Chief Federico Dulay. Six people were killed and at least 29 were injured.
The second bomb went off in a market in Tacurong city in another part of the island, wounding five people. A security guard spotted the bomb hidden in a bag and threw it away from the crowd before it exploded, army Col. Felipe Tabas said.
The U.S., Australian and British embassies issued warnings against travel to Mindanao and said the threat of imminent attacks or kidnappings is high across the archipelago, specifically in places frequented by foreigners.