Africanews

WAR AND PEACE

ALGERIA On July 21, President Liamine Zeroual wrapped up a series of talks with party leaders on Algeria's political future amid a background of renewed violence. He met delegates from 12 different political parties and agreed to set up three- mixed-party commissions to prepare for a national political conference, a referendum on constitutional charges and legislative elections to be held early next year.

ERITREA On 22nd July, Eritrean President Issias Afeworki ruled out the possibility of an armed conflict between his country and Sudan despite their differences and intermitent trouble along the border, according to the Arab weekly Al-wasat.

LIBYA Three Muslim militants, a policeman and a civilian were killed in clashes in the Libyan city of Benghazi, according to travellers arriving at the border told AFP on 8th July. This region, 700Km East of Tripoli has been the site of several clashes between Muslim militants and police since the beginning of the year. On 14th July at least 20 people were killed in a riot at a football match in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, during which bodyguards of the sons of the president Muammar Gaddafi opened fire on spectators who were chanting anti- Gaddafi slogans, diplomats said.

BURUNDI On June 30, hundreds of demonstrators marched through Bujumbura to protest against foreign military intervention in Burundi. The protesters, rallied by former president Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, a Tutsi who exerts powerful influence in the Tutsi-dominated army and among young Tutsi, denounced the Burundian government for the call, during a regional summit in Arusha, northern Tanzania on June 25. A regional military force to stabilise Burundi was likely to be composed mainly of soldiers from Tanzania, Uganda, and Ethiopia, experts on a technical panel planing the force said on July 2. The experts were from the five African countries, meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, which was convened by President Mkapa of Tanzania. It ended on July 3.

SIERRA LEONE On 1st July at least nine civilians were killed in simultaneous attacks on six villages, in East Sierra Leone that led thousands to flee their homes, as reported by local journalists. The victims died in Yorjuma Gbeika and Lembema in Eastern province during raids attributed to rebels of Revolutionary United Front, RUF.

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