World briefs

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 28, 2000

Ivory Coast violence eases; two rivals meet

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast -- Relative calm returned to this port city Friday as the new president met with his top political rival in hopes of stemming violence that has torn apart their once-stable West African nation.

Residents cautiously ventured out of their homes to clear away charred debris, overturned cars and incinerated tires used to construct crude roadblocks during street battles this week. The clashes reportedly left scores dead.

The violence erupted after a controversial presidential vote Sunday and continued as supporters of popular politician Alassane Dramane Ouattara took to the streets to demand new balloting. Ouattara and another key opposition candidate were barred from running in the election.

Many Ivorians were hopeful that talks between Ouattara and new President Laurent Gbagbo, who claims legitimately to have won the election, will restore peace. But analysts insisted that the key to long-term stability rests with the government's willingness to be inclusive and regard itself as an interim administration rather than a permanent one.

Gbagbo and Ouattara met Friday morning to discuss the appointment of a Cabinet, the establishment of state institutions and concerns about the involvement of some military personnel in the street protests.

Gbagbo, 55, a longtime opposition leader who spearheaded the country's push for multiparty politics in 1990, ruled out a fresh presidential election.

Two arrested in 1985 bombing of Air India jet

TORONTO -- Two men of Sikh origin were arrested and charged Friday with murdering 329 people in the 1985 bombing of an Air India jumbo jet.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced the charges -- the most murder counts ever filed in Canada -- resulting from a 15-year investigation.

Air India Flight 182 from Montreal to New Delhi went down off the coast of Ireland on June 23, 1985, killing all 329 people aboard. It was scheduled to stop in London.

Canadian investigators have long suspected that Sikh terrorists seeking revenge for India's 1984 raid on the Golden Temple in Amritsar -- the seat of faith for the Sikh minority in India -- planted a bomb aboard Flight 182.

Police identified the two men arrested Friday as Ripudaman Singh Malik, 53, and Ajaib Singh Bagri. Authorities said they would refrain from releasing any information about the charges or evidence in the case.

Elsewhere

KOSOVO ELECTION: Serb leaders in Kosovo denounced today's U.N.-sponsored municipal elections as a "catastrophic mistake" that would further divide ethnic Albanians and Serbs. They said they would hold their own ballot for local representatives, but did not announce a date.

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