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Sudan cuts ties with Chad after rebel attack on Khartoum

By (AP)

Sudan severed relations with Chad on Sunday, accusing it of supporting fighters who assaulted the capital the night before, and warned that a top Darfur rebel leader was hiding somewhere in the city.

A curfew was lifted in Khartoum but remained in effect in the capital's twin city of Omdurman, where rebels were still loose, state-run radio reported quoting police Maj. Gen. Mohamed Abdul-Majeed.

The surprise assault late Saturday was the closest Darfur rebels have ever come to Sudan's seat of government, hundreds of miles from their bases in the far west of the...

By DENIS FARRELL (AP)

Zimbabwe's presidential runoff cannot take place in the time allotted by law, the head of the electoral commission said in an interview published Sunday.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has insisted the vote should be held within 21 days of the May 2 announcement of the results from the initial vote. However, Zimbabwean government officials have said the electoral commission has up to a year to hold the runoff.

"It was ambitious for the legislature to think 21 days would be enough," George Chiweshe was quoted as saying in the state-run Sunday Mail.

Chiweshe said the...

By William Castello (AP)

Sudan severed relations with Chad on Sunday, accusing it of supporting fighters who assaulted the capital the night before and warned that a top Darfur rebel leader was hiding somewhere in the city.

Khartoum was still under curfew and reeling from the surprise assault late Saturday by Darfur rebels operating hundreds of miles from their bases in the far west of the country.

The government issued several statements claiming to have crushed the rebels and paraded images of captured and bloodied fighters on television.

"I would like to assure people that everything is now...

By William Castello (AP)

President Omar al-Bashir announced Sunday he severed relations with neighboring Chad, accusing the government of supporting rebels who attacked the Sudanese capital, according to state media.

The president, wearing his military uniform, appeared on state television and said he held Chad responsible for the Saturday night assault by Darfur rebels on Khartoum, the independent English language daily Sudan Tribune reported.

"Al-Bashir announces the severing of relations with Chad," reads a headline on a brief news story from the official SUNA news agency. The news agency added...

By William Castello (AP)

President Omar al-Bashir announced Sunday he severed relations with neighboring Chad, accusing the government of supporting rebels who attacked the Sudanese capital, according to state media.

The president, wearing his military uniform, appeared on state television and said he held Chad responsible for the Saturday night assault by Darfur rebels on Khartoum, the independent English language daily Sudan Tribune reported.

"Al-Bashir announces the severing of relations with Chad," reads a headline on a brief news story from the official SUNA news agency. The news agency added...

By DENIS FARRELL (AP)

PRETORIA, South Africa _ Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said Saturday that he will return to his homeland despite threats to his life to take part in a runoff against President Robert Mugabe.

Tsvangirai, addressing reporters in the capital of neighboring South Africa, said his supporters would feel "betrayed" if he did not face Zimbabwe's ruler of 28 years.

"A runoff election could finally knock out the dictator for good," Tsvangirai said. "I am ready and the people are ready for the final round."

No runoff date has been set. Tsvangirai said Saturday...

By William Castello (AP)

A leader of a Darfur rebel group says hundreds of his fighters are on the outskirts of Sudan's capital, clashing with security forces.

An Associated Press reporter in Khartoum said security forces ordered residents to clear the streets Saturday.

Armored vehicles and heavily armed security forces were patrolling the capital. Government forces also closed bridges leading to Omdurman, Khartoum's twin city.

A leader of the Darfur rebel group Justice and Equality told The Associated Press by telephone from the outskirts of Omdurman that his fighters were clashing with...

By (AP)

Zimbabwe's top opposition leader said Saturday he will take part in a presidential runoff against the country's longtime leader Robert Mugabe and will soon return to his homeland.

Morgan Tsvangirai, addressing reporters in South Africa, said his supporters would feel "betrayed" if he did not face Mugabe in the runoff.

"I am ready, the people are ready," he said. "I intend to return as shortly as possible and intend to begin a victory tour," he said.

Tsvangirai had said previously that he won the first round of elections outright and that official figures showing a ...

By (AP)

Zimbabwe's opposition declined to meet with visiting South African President Thabo Mbeki on Friday and said that he should be replaced as mediator in the country's political crisis.

President Robert Mugabe met Mbeki on Friday on the South African leader's third visit as mediator on behalf of the Southern African Development Community.

The two men, wearing flower garlands, laughed as they walked hand-in-hand from the aircraft on Mbeki's arrival. They did not speak with reporters, but later posed for photographs in Mugabe's residence, State House, where met for nearly four ho...

By (AP)

The editor of an independent Zimbabwean newspaper has been arrested and the country's largest farm union said Thursday that 40,000 farm workers have been displaced in postelection violence.

Davison Maruziva, editor of the Standard newspaper, was taken by police from the newspaper's office Thursday, the publisher said.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said prominent human rights lawyer Harrison Nkomo was also arrested in central Harare on Wednesday. Police could not be reached for comment.

Maruziva was accused of publishing "false statements prejudicial to the state," ...

By MOHAMED SHEIKH NOR (AP)

Hundreds of youths hurled stones and blocked roads with blazing tires Tuesday in a second day of protests over soaring food prices that has frustrated residents already living in one of the world's most dangerous war zones.

Meanwhile, an international rights group accused Ethiopian troops of torturing and killing civilians in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Ethiopia, whose troops are supporting Somalia's shaky U.N.-backed government, denied the allegations.

And Islamist fighters said a U.S. airstrike overnight blasted a remote area of central Somalia hours after armed...

By MOHAMED SHEIKH NOR (AP)

Hundreds of youths in Somalia's capital lobbed stones at shops and cars and set tires ablaze Tuesday in a second day of violence over soaring food prices.

Besides rising prices, the protests have been driven by shopkeepers' refusal to accept some bank notes, apparently out of concern over counterfeiters. On Tuesday, shop owners met and agreed to begin accepting the notes again.

Tuesday's unrest was not as widespread as the day before, when tens of thousands took to the streets in rioting that spread to all 13 districts of the capital. Troops fired into the crowds on Monday, k...

By Abd Raouf (AP)

An Al-Jazeera cameraman released from the U.S.-run Guantanamo Bay detention center last week described it Monday as the worst prison mankind has ever seen.

Sami al-Haj, a Sudanese citizen, was whisked from his hospital bed in a convoy escorted by police cars with flashing lights and wailing sirens to an outdoor event in his neighborhood organized by his family. His speech was broadcast live on Sudanese television.

"After 2,340 days spent in the most heinous prison mankind has ever known, we are honored to be here. Thank you, and thank all those defended us and of our right in...

By FRANCOIS MORI (AP)

Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed said Monday that six pirates in French custody for allegedly holding the crew of a yacht hostage are likely from his home region in the Horn of Africa country.

Ahmed, who was in Paris for meetings with President Nicolas Sarkozy and other top French officials, did not confirm a French news report that four of the pirates were members of his extended family, or clan.

But he said that even if they turned out to be relatives, "they must pay" for their crimes.

"If they are from my family, or if they are from another family, I am for jus...

By MOHAMED SHEIKH NOR (AP)

Troops fired into tens of thousands of rioting Somalis on Monday, killing two people in the latest eruption of violence over soaring food prices around the world.

Wielding thick sticks and hurling stones that smashed the windshields of several cars and buses, the rioters jammed the narrow streets of the Somali capital, screaming, "Down with those suffocating us!"

In Mogadishu, protesters including women and children marched against the refusal of traders to accept old 1,000-shilling notes, blaming them and a growing number of counterfeiters for rising food costs.

Within...

By MOHAMED SHEIKH NOR (AP)

Witnesses say soldiers opened fire and killed at least two people in Somalia as tens of thousands rioted over high food prices.

Dr. Dahir Dhere says a man wounded in Monday's protests died on the way to an operating room at the capital's main hospital.

Protester Abdinur Farah says he was marching with his uncle when government troops opened fire and wounded his relative. He died before he could be taken to a hospital.

Several people were injured in the riot. Protesters hurled stones that smashed the windshields of cars and buses. They also attacked shopkeepers who...

By DENIS FARRELL (AP)

Educators have become targets in Zimbabwe's postelection violence, a teachers union said Sunday, threatening a nationwide strike unless the government stops the attacks.

The Roman Catholic Justice and Peace Commission also protested political violence and called on the United Nations and African Union to supervise a planned presidential runoff.

In a statement to coincide with Sunday services, the Catholic human rights body said the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission could no longer be relied on as a "neutral and nonpartisan electoral umpire" after its five-week delay in announcing...

By (AP)

The runoff pitting President Robert Mugabe against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai will not take place in the next few weeks as required by law, the head of the electoral commission said in an interview published Sunday.

Tsvangirai had announced over the weekend that he would participate in a runoff against Mugabe _ but insisted the vote be held, as law requires, within 21 days of the May 2 announcement of results from the first vote.

However, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said government officials need more time to prepare for the runoff.

"It...

By (AP)

A look at the rebels who moved on the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on Saturday, and the underlying conflict in the Darfur region:

___

CONFLICT:

More than 200,000 people have died since ethnic African tribes rebelled in February 2003 after years of neglect by the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum. The government responded with a military campaign in which pro-government Arab militia, the janjaweed, are alleged to have committed widespread atrocities.

___

PLAYERS:

_ Sudan's government: President Omar al-Bashir last year agreed under heavy...

By (AP)

Zimbabwe's top opposition leader says he will contest a presidential runoff and return soon to his homeland.

Morgan Tsvangirai said Saturday his supporters would feel betrayed if he did not face Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in the runoff.

He addressed reporters in South Africa on Saturday.

Tsvangirai has said previously he won the first round outright and that official figures showing a second round are fraudulent.

Opposition officials and rights activists accuse Mugabe of orchestrating violence against the opposition since the first round on March 29. They...

By (AP)

Insurgents attacked a Somali military base near the presidential palace in Mogadishu on Friday, and an ensuing gunbattle left at least six people dead and 13 wounded, witnesses said.

Mohamed Dini said he witnessed the fighting from a window in his house in the southern part of Somalia's capital and saw the bodies of two civilians and two government soldiers.

The battle lasted about an hour. Other soldiers collected the bodies after the fighting ended, he said.

Another witness, Maryan Da'ud, said her two stepbrothers also were killed and her house was heavily damaged by...

By (AP)

Police fortified their headquarters Friday in fear of another attack after Islamist fighters raided the station in the heart of the government's Mogadishu stronghold.

The insurgents have tried many times to attack the heavily guarded K4 district but Thursday's raid was their first major success.

"We are fortifying our defensive positions to be ready for other attacks," Hassan told The Associated Press outside the station, where the burned out hulks of two vehicles set ablaze in the fighting remained.

Police officer Dalmar Mohamed Hassan said two officers and five insur...

By (AP)

Nigeria on Wednesday announced it was suspending import duties and other taxes on rice while launching a raft of other measures to head off a food crisis in Africa's most populous nation.

The government said that it will not collect taxes on imported rice until the end of October at the earliest in a bid to curb rising prices on the staple food for many of Nigeria's 140 million people. It also said it would seek to bolster domestic rice production while increasing its stock of emergency stores.

Soaring fuel prices, growing demand from the burgeoning middle classes in India...

By (AP)

The tiny port nation of Djibouti, a key U.S. ally in the Horn of Africa, has urged the U.N. Security Council to take immediate action to prevent a conflict with its northern neighbor Eritrea.

In a letter to the council president circulated Tuesday, Djibouti's Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf said Eritrea has launched a major military buildup on their border overlooking critical Red Sea shipping lanes.

He accused Eritrea of carrying out "an undisguised and naked provocation against my country's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

"We call on the council to dep...

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