World in brief

Sudanese minister denies 'ethnic cleansing'

CAIRO - Sudan's foreign minister denied Friday that government forces are engaged in a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" in the western Darfur region, after a prominent human rights group accused them of driving more than 1-million black Africans from their homes.

The report Friday by Human Rights Watch said soldiers and nomadic Arab militiamen, known as janjaweed, have killed thousands of people in a deliberate campaign to drive black African tribes from the Darfur region.

It accused the Arab-dominated government of providing weapons and air support to the Arab janjaweed militia, who often sweep into villages riding camels and horses, and called on the U.N. Security Council, meeting Friday on the Darfur situation, to step in to help stop the bloodshed and look for evidence of crimes against humanity.

In Geneva, the U.N. rights chief said a government-backed "reign of terror" was taking place in Darfur province, with indications of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Bertrand Ramcharan said in a report to be presented to the Security Council that the abuses were "perpetrated by the government of Sudan and its proxy militia."

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail, returning to Khartoum from a trip to Kenya on Friday, denied any "ethnic cleansing" was taking place.

"What is happening in Darfur is neither ethnic cleansing nor genocide," Ismail told the official Sudan News Agency. "It is a state of war, which resulted in a humanitarian situation."

Human Rights Watch likened the Darfur situation to the beginning of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, when 500,000 people were slaughtered by a government-backed, extremist militia. The international community has been widely criticized for not intervening to stop the bloodshed.

YELWA, Nigeria - Injured, hungry and grieving Muslims abandoned their central Nigerian town Friday amid stalled efforts to mediate a conflict that has left an estimated 500 dead in attacks by fighters of a predominantly Christian tribe.

"They came from God, they go back to God," 49-year-old Jumai Isa said of her husband and five children, shot and hacked to death by men wearing charcoal body paint and bandanas. "Now I want to go away."

A Red Cross team visiting Yelwa estimated Thursday that there were "500 to 600 killed" by Christian Tarok-speakers during attacks Sunday and Tuesday, team leader Umar Abdu Mairiga said.

He cited witness reports and an inspection of a mass grave site that Hausa-speaking Muslim residents said contained at least 280 bodies.

The Christian Tarok farmers and predominantly Muslim Hausa traders and cattle herdsmen have launched back-and-forth raids since more than 1,000 people were killed in an outbreak of religious violence in the previously peaceful city of Jos in September 2001.

KATMANDU, Nepal - Nepal's prime minister quit Friday after weeks of protests demanding the return of democracy in the Himalayan kingdom wracked by political instability and a Maoist insurgency.

The resignation of Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa opens the way for talks between King Gyanendra and opposition parties demanding the restoration of a democratic government.

Thapa, 75, had served since the king appointed him last June to replace another monarchist prime minister who resigned after political parties protested his appointment as unconstitutional.

WASHINGTON - Haiti's interim prime minister left Washington on Friday with a $40-million aid commitment from the Bush administration and additional promises of assistance to his struggling nation from various international organizations.

"There is strong commitment coming from all the friends of Haiti," Gerard Latortue said of the visit. "I am very optimistic."

During his three-day stay with a packed agenda, Latortue met with President Bush for about 20 minutes in an unscheduled but apparently planned "drop in" Thurs-day while the prime minister met with national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Latortue also met with members of Congress and representatives from the Organization of American States, USAID and the Inter-American Development Bank, World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

The $40-million in emergency U.S. funds will be funneled to Haiti this year, State Department officials confirmed Friday.

The money, which will be pulled from other programs, is in addition to the $55-million already allocated for Haiti.

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