8 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, October 15, 1996 NATiN/WouoD Kurdish rebel faction claims new ground in northern Iraq BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A Kurdish faction claimed new gains yesterday in a push through northern Iraq, and the U.S. and Iraqi govern- ments were put in the curious position of agree- ing on something: The feuding Kurds should set- tle their differences to keep the conflict from spreading. The American and Iraqi positions did not completely coincide, however. The White House said both Iraq and Iran should stay out of the conflict, while Iraq warned against involvement by Iran. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which is battling a Kurdish faction allied with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, said yesterday that it was marching closer to Irbil, northern Iraq's princi- pal city. However, there was no indication that PUK fighters planned an assault on the city - which is fortified by Iraqi tanks - or that Iraq was U.S., Iraq say Kurds should settle their differences planning to intercede. On Sunday, PUK rebels seized the key city of Sulaymaniyah, but the group's leader, Jalal Talabani, said he was reluctant to take on Saddam's powerful military. "We have no plans at present to retake Irbil because it's surrounded by Iraqi tanks," Talabani was quoted as telling the London-based Arabic daily al-Hayat on Sunday. The rival Kurdistan Democratic Party cap- tured Irbil with the help of Saddam's army Aug. 31 and went on to seize virtually the entire Kurdish region in northern Iraq. Iraq's assistance prompted the United States to retaliate with cruise missiles. Iraq has urged the two Kurdish groups to resolve their problems through talks and sternly warned the advancing faction against "dealing with foreign powers," a reference to the PUK's ties to Iran. Meanwhile, U.S. officials spoke to both Kurdish factions, also urging them to end the fighting. "We see no constructive role for either Iraq or Iran in this conflict;' White House spokesperson David Johnson said. A statement by Talabani's rebels, faxed to The Associated Press yesterday, said they routed their Iraqi-backed rivals from six districts between Sulaymaniyah and Irbil. The statement also said PUK forces entered the town of Halabja, east of Sulaymaniyah, and rebuffed a major KDP attack. The KDP, for its part, claimed Iran had "entered the war" and that thousands of Iranian Revolutionary Guards, backed by artillery, had pushed through the border into Iraq. KDP official Sami Abdurrahman claimed yesterday that "there has been open Iranian aggression on our country," involving more than 15,000 Revolutionary Guards who crossed the border into Iraq. The PUK denied the allegation, as did the Iranian Foreign Ministry. Iranian government spokesman Mahmoud Mohammadi said the claim was meant to "pacify international forums regarding (KDP leader Massoud) Barzani's col- laboration with the Iraqi army." The Iraqi government said it was prepared to invite all parties to peace talks in the capital, Baghdad. The PUK and KDP have long been at log- gerheads. The KDP accuses the PUK of main- taining close links with Persian Iran, Iraq's non- Arab neighbor, while the KDP favors a more conciliatory approach with the Iraqi govern- ment in resolving Kurdish demands for auton- omy. Western countries created the northern sa area to protect the Kurds from Saddam's militay after the 1991 Persian Gulf War; since then, .te two groups have mostly quarreled with each other. The United States mediated a cease-fire last year, but it collapsed Aug. 17. In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a British envoy said Britain would hold talks between the two Kurdish factions. Jeremy Hanley, minister of state for foreign and Commonwealth affairs, said London also would urge the factions not. cooperate with Saddam's government. Bishop renews peace milssion DILI, Indonesia (AP) - Days after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo recharged his mission yesterday with a strident condemnation of Indonesia's military rule in East Timor and a fresh call to end the 21- year conflict. The Roman Catholic bishop, in his first interview since being named co- recipient of the award Friday, said he hopes the prize will increase interna- tional pressure to stop fighting on the island for good. Belo urged a referendum on autono- my as the best way to do that. Indonesia has repeatedly rejected the idea, saying the East Timor issue has been settled. Belo said the government was wrong." Then what does it want?" Belo demanded. "That the 700,000 East Timorese people just bow their heads?" Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Indonesia's attempt to crush an independence movement on the island territory it invaded in 1975, after Portugal pulled out during a civil war. Belo insisted the annexation of East Timor is not final. "Have you asked the people in vil- lages what they really want?" he said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Don't think that all Timorese people have accepted the integration, and that everything is OK." "It has not been for the past 20 years, and may not be for the next 20 years."' Belo's statements were his most con- frontational since being named bishop 13 years ago. The 48-year-old Belo is the most influential figure in East Timor, the only predominantly Catholic region in Indonesia, which, with 190 million peo- ple, is the world's largest Muslim nation. Belo shared the prize with Jose Ramos-Horta, who was once a leftist guerrilla in a faction that fought Portugal. The bishop suggested the United Nations sponsor talks among East Timorese groups and the governments of Indonesia and Portugal, and said he hoped the Nobel Prize would add some urgency to the struggle for a solution. The Indonesian government of President Suharto, the long-ruling for- mer general who ordered the 1975 invasion, has said it won't change its policies as a result of the Nobel. "Indonesia has proved that it never yielded to pressure in the case of East Timor," its U.N. ambassador, Nurgoho Wisnumurti, said Sunday. Suharto plans to visit East Timor on today to unveil a statue of Jesus Christ in an attempt to demonstrate his gov- ernment's religious tolerance. AP PHOTO Shaky Mideast peace A Palestinian police training officer, front, shows cadets how to strip and re-assemble an AK47 machine gun at a training base in the West Bank town of Jericho, yesterday. Rebel leader a no-show for Christopher visit 'Innocents' deal with war-time mustice Los Angeles Tunes LIMA, Peru - The cobbler worked on the street, a vulnerable place in the best of times. And it was the worst of timhes: 1993, the height of Peru's bloody civil war. Police were hunting terro ists in the gray slums of Lira. Terrorists were shooting at the police, civilians and each other. Every day, however, Julio Loa Albornoz set up his outdoor stand and repaired shoes. He stayed out of politics. He was the father of two young children, a devout Buddhist. As long as he worked and kept his head down, he thought he would safe. He was wrong. One day the anti-terrorist police rolled up in a van. They were tortjr- ing a suspect in back, Loa says, the suspect pointed at him. The police pulled the cobbler into the van and into the dungeon of Peru's anti-ter- rorist justice system, where the judges wear masks and the guilty verdict is read as soon as the defensl rests.r Although prosecutors admitted there was no evidence, Loa was charged with terrorism. He spent 3 1/2 years in prison as his case plod- ded through a Kafkaesque maze of military and civilian courts, convic- tions, appeals. Loa became one of more than 1,000 Peruvians believed to have been wrongly imprisoned under emergen anti-subversion laws -inmates kno W as "The Innocents.' "It makes you sick," said Loa, now 34. "It ... was like they were playing with me. I think they were trying to drive me crazy." Loa talked about his ordeal a few days after his recent release from4 a maximum-security prison here. Peru's top military court freed him at a time of growing consensus that the war left a legacy of injustices to be redressed. The plight of the innocents, accoo" ing to Peruvian leaders, is an unavoid- able result of harsh policies needed to fight a dangerous foe: the country's Maoist rebels. Although the fighting has abated, Congress voted Friday to extend current anti-terrorism laws for another year. Meanwhile, a special commission headed by Peru's new defender of .the people, a public ombudsman, is revie@ ing the cases of the innocents at the utr- ing of President Alberto Fujimori. About 200 of the wrongly accused have been freed this year _ Loa among them. And earlier this month, the government announced the first of a series of par- dons promised by the president. Some human rights activists criticize the president's remedy, saying it,. is absurd to pardon convicts who did nothing wrong in the first place. Los Angeles Times LUANDA, Angola - U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher flew yesterday to this war-rav- aged capital to try to jump-start the process to end one of the world's deadliest conflicts. But the visit from the highest-ranking U.S. official since Angola became independent in 1975 was marred by the nonappearance of Jonas Savimbi, leader of the rebel movement known as National Union for the Total Independence of Angola or UNITA. Christopher called for a swifter Angolan peace and said the United States "would not tolerate" any resumption of conflict by UNITA during its talks with the freely elected government of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos. "With the U.N. leaving in a mat- ter of months, it is imperative that both sides move more rapidly to meet their obligations," Christopher said. In a bid to keep the much delayed process on track, Christopher asked George Moose, an assistant U.S. secretary of state, to fly to Dailundo, the UNITA cen- tral highlands headquarters, to warn Savimbi that he faced more U.N. sanctions next month if he does not keep the peace. UNITA, which was a funnel for U.S. covert aid in the 1970s and 1980s when Angola was a Cold War battleground with the Soviet Union, has fallen signif- icantly behind in both political and military compli- ance with a 1994 peace accord, signed in Lusaka. Savimbi said he did not meet Christopher in Luanda because of security concerns; one of his demobilized generals was killed there weeks ago. But the U.S. del- egation downplayed this concern, saying it was no rea- son to boycott yesterday's meeting. Savimbi also did not show up for a meeting with Southern African lead- ers last week. The peace process now hangs in the balance, with U.N. troops in the world's most expensive peace-keep- ing operation due to begin withdrawing in February. Meantime, this Central African country effectively remains partitioned between two factions that have been at war for two decades. "We are obviously concerned as are others, about the delays in the process and the impact of those delays on the confidence and the future process" of implementation of the peace :: it t, agreement," Moose told reporters - traveling with Christopher. Imperaill Although Angola is among's -both id the world's most war-racked countries, it also has oil and dia- more rap mond riches. About twice the size of Texas, it provides 7 percent of meet the imported U.S. oil - about as much as supplied by Nigeria. oblgatlo Private investment in Angola by Chevron, Texaco, Occidental, - War Exxon, Conoco and Ranger oil U.S. se companies totals $4 billion - a figure expected to grow in the next decade as new areas are exploited, U.S. officials say. Because of these interests, Washington has played a key diplomatic and financial role in the Angolan peace process, underwriting 25 percent of the $1 million-a-day peacekeeping operation here and pledging $190 million more last year to support development and reconstruction, demobilization of e IJ ir warring troops, de-mining and food aid. "The stakes (in Angola) are huge," a senior administration official told reporters. "It's the last piece of the puzzle in Southern Africa. If it's peaceful and stable, Angola can emerge as an engine for economic growth for the subregion and beyond." But the challenges here are equally huge. There were up to 20 million land mines planted here during the conflict. More than 70,000 Angolans are amputees. More than S 500,000 of Angola's 10 mil- tat lion people have died since ye Nrival militias began fighting each other in 1975. And the killing is not over. "There are more land mines in Angola than peo- ple," Christopher said at a U.N. de-mining demonstra- tion. Although the fighting has abated, 150 to 200 rren Christopher Angolans still die each cretary of state week from mines. Christopher called on Savimbi, as he has promised to do, to provide 26,000 volunteers from 62,500 demobilized UNITA fighters for the new combined armed forces. He said the rebel leader should send his remaining generals to Luanda. Savimbi also has yet to participate in forming a national coalition government, which was scheduled to be functioning by mid-1996. / ° T tW i t 4T~ V 1 * F .10~z * At Northwestern College of Chiropractic, we feet strongly about the quality of education we provide to our 600 students and their preparedness for satisfying careers. As our 3,000 alumni know, we can provide you with an educational experience featuring: " 55 years of expertise developing a well-rounded, clinical sciences, diagnosis, X-ray, chiropractic therapeu- tics, wellness care and practice management; * Emphasis on clinical, hands-on education and experience; " 11:1 student-to-faculty ratio, individual faculty attention, easy access to educational resources; * Clinical internships in 80+ Minnesota community clinics and five College public clinics; * Extensive interdisciplinary clinical learning opportunities; * A research center known internationally and dedicated to