BBC news 2007-09-09 加文本

BBC 2007-09-09


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BBC World with John Jason.

A leading official of the US State Department has warned Eritrea that it could be added to the list of countries considered by Washington to be sponsors of terrorism. The Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer said the American government was continuing to gather evidence which could lead to sanctions against Eritrea. Ground Ferry reports.

Relations between the United States and Eritrea have been poor for some time. But the decision of the Eritreans to host a conference of Somali Islamists and other opponents of Somalia's transitional government has prompted a sharp deterioration. Still worse from the American point of view was the presence at the meeting in Eritrea are one of those thought to be leading the insurgency against the beleaguered Somali administration, Hassan Dahir Uways. Eritrea has accused the American diplomat of deliberate distortion and of uNPRovoked hostility.

Members of al-Qaeda's North Africa wing say they carried out two suicide attacks that have killed at least 50 people in Algeria in the past two days. In the latest attack, at least 30 people died on Saturday when a truck packed with explosives drove into a Coast Guard base in the northern Algerian port of Dellys. Our North Africa correspondent Richard Hamilton reports.

In an Internet statement, the group which calls itself al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb said it was behind the truck bombing on Saturday in Dellys, and an earlier attack in the town of Batna on Thursday. The admission does not really come as a surprise because analysts say the attacks bore the hallmark of al-Qaeda which has imported the tactic of suicide bombing into the region. More than 30 people died in Batna, when a man blew himself up among a crowd that was expecting the arrival of President Abdhulaziz Bouteflika.

Partial results from parliamentary elections in Morocco indicate/ that the Nationalist Party Istiqlal has pushed the main Islamic party into second place. The Interior Minister said Istiqlal, meaning independence, won 52 seats, five more than the Islamist Justice and Development Party. Ian Pannell reports from Rabat.

The moderate Islamic group had expected to double its seats in the Lower House of Parliament. Instead, the Nationalist Party Istiqlal appears to have triumphed. They currently form part of the ruling coalition. The head of the PJD described the result as "sickening", accusing other parties of manipulating and buying votes. But a group of international monitors has declared the elections orderly and professional with only a few isolated irregularities.

A United Nations report says that more than half / the suicide bombers carrying out attacks in Afghanistan are not Afghan nationals. The survey carried out by the UN Mission in Kabul says that more than 80% of the attackers are recruited, trained or sheltered in neighboring Pakistan. The foreign suicide bombers are mainly Pakistani, but also Arab or Central Asian.

World News from the BBC.

The former President of Argentina Carlos Menem has been charged with involvement in the illegal sale of weapons to Croatia/ and Ecuador while he was in office between 1989 and 1999. His passport has been withdrawn and assets worth $120 million frozen to pay for any fine resulting from the prosecution. Mr. Menem, who’d expressed an interest in running for president in Argentina's election next month, has denied any wrongdoing.

Votes have been counted after Sierra Leone's presidential election. Despite some recent violence, international observers say polling in the closely-fought contest was largely peaceful and more orderly than the first round. The opposition leader Ernest Bai Koroma who led in the first round of voting, is running against Vice President Solomon Berewa. Both candidates have complained about irregularities. But the head of the EU election observer mission in Sierra Leone Marie-Anne Isler Beguin said that if no errors were found, the losing candidate would have to admit / defeat. “If everybody, the international community, our mission is a different mission says that’s ok, this election are credible and transparent, they have to accept the result."

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says that the Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has promised to gather together as many of the Darfur rebel factions as possible. Mr. Ban who met the colonel in Libya says he wants the proposed talks between rebels and the Khartoum government to be seen as final status negotiations. The BBC UN correspondent says that Libya is regarded as having influence with key rebel leaders.

The Italian opera singer Luciano Pavarotti has been buried in his hometown of Modena. Thousands of mourners at Modena’s Cathedral applauded after the funeral. They included Italy's Prime Minister Romano Prodi and celebrities, such as the rock singer Bono. Pavarotti was buried next to his parents and his son.

BBC World News.