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World in brief

U.N. official: Tsunami is not only relief crisis

By wire services
Published May 25, 2005

GENEVA - The hugely successful worldwide campaign to send immediate aid to victims of last year's Indian Ocean tsunami has distracted donors from less-dramatic emergencies, the U.N. humanitarian chief said Tuesday.

While 85 percent of the U.N. appeal for relief to countries hit by December's tsunami has been covered, other emergencies have received much lower amounts, Jan Egeland told reporters in Geneva.

With major natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis, "we don't need to do anything to get the attention," said Egeland, who is head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. "It's the slow onset disasters that are the problem, the droughts especially."

He cited in particular Niger, Djibouti and the Central African Republic.

Niger, one of the world's poorest countries, has been particularly hard hit by drought and a severe locust invasion "of biblical proportions" and the agency's appeal for $16.2-million launched last week has received no contributions, Egeland said.

OCHA hopes to provide food aid for some 3.6-million people in the west African country, where 800,000 children under 5 are suffering from hunger, including 150,000 who are severely malnourished.

OCHA has received only 4 percent of the $7.5-million it has sought to help victims of drought in Djibouti, and 6 percent of its $23.6-million appeal for the Central African Republic, which is recovering from civil war.

LA PAZ, Bolivia - Thousands of Indian-led protesters filled the streets of this capital on Tuesday, challenging the Bolivian president and leaders of the country's eastern business elite amid persistent rumors of a military coup.

Police battled protesters in the city center with tear gas and water cannons while crowds blocked some routes into the capital.

BOGOTA, Colombia - Suspected leftist guerrillas carrying assault rifles swept into a southern Colombia town Tuesday and attacked government offices, killing six town councilors and five others, authorities said.

The guerrillas, believed to be members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia opened fire at a local council meeting in the town of Puerto Rico, 200 miles south of Bogota, said Oscar Galvis, an official with Colombia's secret police.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - FBI agents repeatedly interrogated two U.S. citizens who were being illegally detained and did nothing to stop them from being tortured by Pakistani authorities, a human rights group said Tuesday.

The brothers, Zain and Kashan Afzal, ages 23 and 25, respectively, both Americans of Pakistani descent, were arrested at their Karachi home in August and kept in secret Pakistani detention facilities for eight months until their release on April 22. No charges were ever filed, according to a report by the group, Human Rights Watch.

NEW TV CHANNEL: Telesur, a new TV station backed by Venezuela, Argentina, Cuba and Uruguay, began transmitting by satellite Tuesday as part of the test phase for a project organizers say will bring Latin America an alternative to large commercial media outlets.

[Last modified May 25, 2005, 00:41:07]