World briefs

By Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 12, 2000

Walesa cleared of spying accusation

WARSAW, Poland -- Solidarity founder Lech Walesa, who fought Polish communist rule for two decades before helping to vanquish it in 1989, was cleared Friday of collaborating with communist-era secret police and will be allowed to run for president.

Walesa was forced to defend his reputation in a special screening court, which dismissed suggestions in old police files that he spied on fellow dissidents. The decision freed the 56-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner to run this fall for the presidency he lost in 1995.

"I fought with them, and I finally defeated them," the former shipyard electrician said after the court agreed that the files, written by agents whose job it was to discredit dissidents, were not credible.

President Aleksander Kwasniewski, an ex-communist who defeated Walesa in 1995 and is heavily favored to win again Oct. 8, was cleared by the screening court Thursday of similar allegations.

Colombian rebel group seizes researchers

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Leftist rebels seized about two dozen biological researchers, including an American, in western Colombia, but a guerrilla leader promised Friday to release them soon.

National Liberation Army commander Nicolas Rodriguez said his forces had detained the scientists in Antioquia province to investigate their reason for being in the area. The researchers have been missing since Wednesday.

Rodriguez said that he was satisfied the team was conducting an environment-related investigation and that he would have the researchers freed as soon as a safe mechanism for their release could be organized.

Among the captives is John Douglas Lynch, a native of Collins, Iowa.

Elsewhere . . .

FIJIAN CHARGED: George Speight, the coup leader whose raid on Parliament plunged Fiji into two months of crisis, was charged with treason Friday. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

CONGO FIGHTING: A Congolese rebel leader said Friday his fighters had killed about 800 government soldiers when their three riverboats burned and sank under rebel fire. There was no independent confirmation of the claim. Despite a cease-fire agreement last year, fighting between President Laurent Kabila's army and the rebels has intensified.

CHECHNYA AID: Responding to a U.N. appeal, the United States is contributing $2.6-million to assist more than 250,000 people displaced by the conflict in Chechnya. This brings the U.S. total of cash and other aid to more than $21-million.

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