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.	-News for Tue. 02 April & Wed. 03 Apr 2002 The following news clips are from the BBC and included for your convenience. For more detail contact the BBC website. On the BBC web site you will find country profiles, historic information, as well as supporting articles and related news events. Note: This web page may be updated late at times and may be blank on the above date(s). Richard Stallman is a pioneer of the free software movement. His vision is of software that has no secrets, that people can share freely. He told BBC News Online's Alfred Hermida why free software could replace proprietary programs. Richard Stallman: Free software means that you the user are free to study what the program does, change it to suit your needs, distribute copies to other people and publish improved versions. And if you are not a programmer, you can engage someone else to do it for you. Alfred Hermida: We're not talking here of software that is free of commercial value, you can sell this software? RS: Those are two different questions. Free software today has tremendous value to commerce and as a separate matter you can sell it. That's part of the freedom. You can make copies and sell it. Everyone has the freedom to do that. AH: How does this empower the user? RS: It means that you can see what the program does. So if you are concerned it might have a back door, you can check what it really does. And you can study it to learn how you do those jobs. You can study it to see precisely what it does. If you are a business user, anytime you want the program changed, you can change it to suit your needs. It means the whole community does this and together we make the software better. That's why today free software has a general reputation to be powerful and reliable. Systems will stay up for months without crashing. AH: So you can customise it to meet your needs? RS: They get the benefits of your improvements and you get the benefits of theirs. Fundamentally it means that you are free when your friend says 'hey, that looks nice, can I have a copy?', you can openly and lawfully make a copy for your friend. You are not reduced to doing that as an underground activity in fear. Drain on resources AH: What implications does this have for developing countries, countries that are starting to build up a computer industry, places like in India? RS: Free software is defined by freedom. One consequence of this is that if people don't have a lot of money, they can redistribute copies to each other They can get copies and use them lawfully, without having money that they can't afford being squeezed out of them with threat campaigns. For a country that doesn't have a lot of money, using free software is tremendously important. India can't afford to remain stuck in the trap of using Windows because that will mean a continuing and increasing drain on their money to various American companies. They can't afford that, so they should make it a national priority to bring an end to their use of non-free software. AH: It strikes me that there's also an educational aspect in that if we have indian programmers working with free software, they can look into it, find out how it works and build on that. RS: Everyone around the world who wants to learn about programming has this benefit because to learn to write software well, you have to read a lot of software and write a lot of software. The only way you can learn what makes a program clear is by reading programs and seeing what makes them unclear and then you know you shouldn't do that. As a beginner you can't write such programs on your own. With the free software that we have today you can read existing programs that people really use. What's more, you can improve them because you are not at the stage that you could write a whole program, but you could write an improvement that adds a certain feature. By doing that you can learn, you can develop the skills to write such programs and maintain them. That's how I learnt. Locking in users AH: If free software is so appealing how come a lot of people use proprietary systems? RS: Inertia. Our first free operating system become available in 1992 at which point Microsoft already had a quasi-monopoly and when society has inertia, it tends to have a lot of resistance to switching. In addition some of these proprietary software companies are very clever at locking the users in, deliberately making it difficult for them to switch. But in fact people are switching in our direction. AH: If we look to the future, proprietary software is the predominant force in the computer industry. What's the role for free software in this environment? RS: We're going to replace them. To have freedom to live as part of a community, to have the freedom to treat other people decently, you must replace your propriety software with free software, software that lets you have those freedoms. Proprietary software is software that takes away those freedoms, divides people and keeps them helpless. Proprietary software is an anti-social system and I hope to see that system come to an end. AH: Do you see if as a David versus Goliath battle? RS: A little bit. But I am not so much interested in focusing on whether it is heroic, as on winning the battle. We're fighting for people's freedoms. We need you to help. it's not just a few of us, there are tens of thousands of people contributing to free software and there are many people helping us to spread the word. A pro-Western reform bloc has secured a slim parliamentary lead in Ukrainian general elections which saw voters overwhelmingly reject left-wing parties, but no group has emerged as a clear victor. Final results from Sunday's ballot gave the reformist bloc of Viktor Yushchenko 112 seats in the 450-seat house, while a grouping loyal to the scandal-ridden President Leonid Kuchma followed on its heels with 102 seats. The Communist party emerged with their worst result ever from post-Soviet parliamentary elections. But with 66 seats they will nonetheless retain a role in a parliament which lacks a clear majority and where horse trading is likely to be the norm. The election was complicated by Ukraine's two-tier election mechanism under which half the 450 seats are allotted on a proportional basis, the other half through a first-past-the-post system. On the popular vote, Mr Yushchenko's Our Ukraine and the Communists took 23% and 20% respectively, while For United Ukraine notched up just 12% of the vote. But the pro-Kuchma bloc fared well in constituencies operating a first-past-the-post system, where correspondents say business barons and regional leaders loyal to Kuchma largely hold sway. Ninety-three independent candidates have won seats in parliament, and it is these politicians which the two main blocs will be hoping to bring on side. Some analysts predict that the majority of these deputies will opt to back the pro-Kuchma bloc. But BBC Eurasia analyst Stephen Eke says differences between Our Ukraine and For a United Ukraine should not be exaggerated. He notes that while the two campaigned against each other, their manifestos and philosophies are remarkably similar. Dirty campaign Some 65% of Ukraine's 37 million voters cast their ballots in the election, which was seen by many as a mid-term referendum on President Kuchma's performance. The president is implicated in a series of scandals ranging from the killing of a prominent journalist to an illegal sale of arms to Iraq. Correspondents say that the results of the election will not enhance his current influence but may well maintain it. The election campaign, the third in the 10 years since independence, was branded the dirtiest in Ukraine's history. Mr Yushchenko's party said that in some constituencies, its delegates were taken off the ballot papers at the very last moment. The United States has criticised the government for not having done more to ensure a fair election. A spokesman for the State Department in Washington said steps had not been taken to curb the widespread and open abuse of authority. An election monitor from Denmark, Hanne Severinsen, was more blunt when she dismissed the election arrangements as "completely incompetent". "Queues were huge and people just gave up," she said, with the result that few voters were able to cast their ballot. Rhys can now play outside In one of the first treatments of its kind, UK doctors have used gene therapy to cure a toddler of a potentially fatal disorder. Scientists at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London successfully treated 18-month-old Rhys Evans, who had a condition preventing him from developing an immune system. The problem, called severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) is caused by a single mutated gene, and meant that he had to live in sterile conditions or risk picking up a life-threatening infection. Rhys, from Treharris, nr Cardiff, had spent much of his life in hospital prior to the treatment. Only one in between 50,000 and 100,000 births in the UK is affected by the disorder. However, following the ground-breaking treatment, which adds in a correctly-functioning version of the faulty gene, it is hoped that he will be able to lead a normal life. And doctors are hopeful that children with other similar genetic disorders could benefit in a similar way. Gene therapy for SCID - often dubbed the "baby in a bubble" syndrome - has only been successful in two other cases, treated at a Paris Hospital in 2000. Gene therapy hurdles In general, attempts to use gene therapy in a wide variety of medical fields have had only limited success so far. This is because it has proved difficult to get the therapy to the cells which need it. However, the Great Ormond Street team, led by Dr Adrian Thrasher, is now moving on to tackle other similar disorders caused by a single gene defect. Dr Thrasher told the BBC: "We're very excited by this - he was incredibly sick, with a nasty pneumonia, a life threatening infection. "After his gene therapy, he was running around at home - he's a normal little boy now." Rhys' mother Marie said that she had been restricted to fortnightly visits because Rhys had to stay at Great Ormond Street while she returned home. She said: "It is difficult to look at what we have been through - we see him now, playing with other children, and it's just amazing. "Since they cracked the genetic code and found the gene, they can work miracles." No donor The only existing treatment for SCIDs is bone marrow transplantation, but in the case of Rhys, a matching donor could not be found. Instead, Dr Thrasher's team took bone marrow from the boy, then used a virus to carry a new version of the gene into immune cells from the marrow. This was then reimplanted into the patient, where it gradually began to generate further cells to pass into the bloodstream and protect him from infection. Now he has a normal count of immune cells for a child of his age, and doctors are hopeful this will continue. This particular type of SCID, called "X-linked" SCID, affects only boys. The scientists now want to try to correct an illness called chronic granulamatous disorder (CGD), which again invovles a single defective gene. The success is the first for the newly-launched gene therapy laboratory at Great Ormond Street, which was partly funded by the trust's "Jeans for Genes" appeal. MPs packed into the Commons to pay tribute Prime Minister Tony Blair has paid tribute to the Queen Mother saying she was a "unifying force" who commanded the affection and respect of the whole nation. He was leading politicians from all sides in paying their respects, as both Houses of Parliament and the Scottish Parliament were recalled. Speaking to a packed House of Commons, Mr Blair praised the Queen Mother's "extraordinary vigour", her love of life, her humour and sense of duty. Mr Blair concluded: "There is nothing false or complicated about the public response to her death. It's the simplest of equations. She loved her country and her country loved her." Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said: "We are proud to have shared in the life of this deeply loved and remarkable lady." Royal vigil Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy spoke of the "special place the Queen mother always had in the hearts of Scottish people" because of "her warmth and because she identified so strongly with us". Senior parliamentarians including Labour's Tam Dalyell, Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble and former Scottish Nationalist leader Alex Salmond paid their own tributes to the Queen Mother and shared memories of their meetings with her over the years. Parliament's recall comes ahead of a ceremony on Friday when the royal coffin will be carried to lie in state at Westminster Hall until the funeral in Westminster Abbey on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Duke of York has visited St James' Palace to pay his respects to his grandmother. He spent time in the Queen's Chapel before moving on to sign the book of condolence and meet well-wishers gathered outside. The Duke then walked down the Mall to Clarence House, the Queen Mother's London residence, where he said the four grandsons - Prince Charles, Prince Edward, Lord Linley and himself - planned to hold a vigil while the Queen Mother's body lay in state. "We each had an individual and unique relationship with our grandmother," The Duke of York said. "She was very, very special indeed." 'Steadfast service' Lord Williams of Mostyn, the Leader of the Lords, led peers by praising the Queen Mother's "charm, dignity and steadfast service". In Scotland, ministers held a one minute silence before party leaders led by First Minister Jack McConnell paid their tributes. Parliament is only called back from its breaks at times of great national importance, with the last recall being after the US terror attacks. The Commons benches were packed although some Labour MPs with republican views had been expected to stay away, and some other politicians were abroad and unable to return. Downing Street has resisted calls from some MPs who want Wednesday's tributes to be followed by an emergency debate about ongoing violence in the Middle East. State honours Under current plans, the Queen Mother will receive a royal ceremonial funeral. Protocol reserves state funerals for heads of state. Parliament can decide to grant the accolade to other key national figures, as it did for Nelson, Wellington and Churchill, but that move is thought unlikely on this occasion. Buckingham Palace stresses the main elements of a state funeral are "absolutely identical" to the ceremonial funeral the Queen Mother will receive. The core difference is the government pays for state funerals, while the Queen bears much of the costs for royal ceremonial funerals. Military spectacular The Queen Mother's coffin made a low-key arrival in London on Tuesday and is resting at St James's Palace for a period of private mourning for the Royal Family. On Wednesday a special service is being held at the Forfar church in Scotland where she was confirmed at the age of 16. Parliament will again be centre stage on Friday, when a military spectacular is promised as 1,600 troops march with the coffin to Westminster Hall. The public will then be able to pay their respects as the coffin lies in state inside the medieval hall on 5 April (1400 to 1800 BST), and from 6 to 8 April (0800 to 1800 BST). Politicians from around the Commonwealth will attend the funeral itself in Westminster Abbey next Tuesday. Lim: Hoping for a breakthrough in the North A presidential envoy from South Korea has arrived in the North for talks aimed at restarting dialogue and exchanges between the two countries. The three-day visit by Lim Dong-won, a former unification minister, is the first public contact between the sides for months. "I am going to Pyongyang to prevent the building of tension on the Korean peninsula and arrange a breakthrough in South-North relations," he said before departure. He was met at the airport by Kim Wan-Su, a senior official from the North Korean committee that handles inter-Korean relations, the country's official KCNA news agency said. Mr Lim said in Seoul that he would hold the first round of talks with North Korean officials on Wednesday afternoon, to discuss the timing of his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Mr Lim has been a key architect of South Korean President Kim Dae-jung's "sunshine policy", aimed at engaging the Communist state with whom Seoul is still technically at war. North Korea suspended inter-Korean government exchanges last November, angered by what it believed was a hostile policy being pursued against it by the United States - a close ally of the South. Much is resting on Mr Lim's visit even though the South Korean Government is playing down expectations. Clock ticking The stakes are high now, partly because President Dae-jung, who has doggedly pursued efforts to engage the North, has less than a year left in office. Whoever his successor turns out to be may not be so active in trying to activate exchanges with the North. The president's envoy will be carrying a message for the North Korean leader, urging him to revive a series of projects that the two sides had agreed since their historic summit nearly two years ago. They include a return visit to South Korea by Kim Jong-il; further reunions between elderly relatives separated since the Korean war half a century ago; the connection of road and rail links between the two countries; and the implementation of a series of economic agreements. The envoy will also want to address new concerns about North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes, and urge Pyongyang to begin talks with Japan and the US. The BBC's Seoul correspondent Caroline Gluck says many in the South are sceptical about this trip resulting in major breakthroughs, although Pyongyang, which needs economic help and food aid, may agree to more family reunions. But North Korea still remains highly unpredictable and some surprises could be in store, she says. Suspected Islamic militants in Algeria have killed 20 government soldiers in an ambush, the Algerian authorities say. A member of a civilian self-defence group also died in Monday's attack in mountainous terrain near Moulay Larbi, about 400 kilometres (280 miles) from Algiers. According to security sources, the troops had been carrying out a search operation for members of an armed Islamic group. They were travelling in three all-terrain vehicles across a heavily-wooded area when they were ambushed by armed men. The attack is the bloodiest single incident blamed on militants this year. Last month, at least 15 pro-government militiamen were killed when suspected Islamic militants attacked an army barracks. Well over 100,000 people have been killed in Algeria since the military-backed government cancelled an election which Islamic fundamentalists were poised to win in 1992. Recent arrests The BBC's North Africa correspondent Stephanie Irvine says the army believes the gunmen were members of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) which split several years ago from the Armed Islamic Group. She says the attack is believed to be in revenge for the recent arrest of 150 people by the security forces in a sweep against suspected supporters of the GSPC in the area. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika vowed in a recent speech to fight the rebels "without respite". The conflict has claimed more than 320 lives this year - more than 100 of these being militants caught by the security forces. Before and after: There are no photos of flight 77's impact A book which argues that American Airlines flight 77 did not crash into the Pentagon on 11 September has become an immediate bestseller in France. Thierry Meyssan's book L'Effroyable Imposture (The Appalling Fraud) alleges the attack on the building, which houses the US defence department, was staged by none other than the American Government. "No plane crashed into the Pentagon," he said in a recent interview on France 2 television. "I believe the government is lying." Mr Meyssan's book alleges that eyewitness accounts of the crash are contradictory, photographs of the scene show no wreckage of an airliner and the damage to the building is inconsistent with an authentic air crash. A related website, Hunt the Boeing, contains photographic evidence to back up Mr Meyssan's claims. The site seems to favour the theory that "a booby-trapped truck caused the explosion" as the first reports, quickly denied by officials, had suggested. But it does not attempt to explain why the attack on the Pentagon might have been fabricated or how the 68 people who perished on flight 77 died. Brisk business A Pentagon spokesman, Glen Flood, described the book as "a slap in the face and real offence to the American people, particularly to the memory of victims of the attacks". But Mr Meyssan's provocative theories have proved irresistible to the French public. "Copies have been flying off shelves," a saleswoman at Fnac bookshop in central Paris. "It's a phenomenon," said another. Reports say the book's original run of 20,000 copies sold out within two hours of going on sale. Fnac says its 2,500 copies sold in 10 days, compared with blockbuster novels which sell maybe 1,500 in a month. The book is currently the top of Amazon France's bestseller list and has made it to second place in the Livres Hebdo's list. 'Confidence trick' But French media reports have mocked Mr Meyssan - who is president of the respected left-leaning think tank Reseau Voltaire - and compared his book with the Roswell alien cover-up theory. Liberation slammed the book as "a tissue of wild allegations". "This phenomenon is not typical of the French," sociologist Pierre Lagrange told Liberation. "But the events of 11 September gave us a reality so similar to science fiction, that there has been more of a market for paranoid interpretations." News weekly Le Nouvel Observateur denounced the book as revisionism. "This theory suits everyone - there are no Islamic extremists... everyone is happy. It eliminates reality." But while Le Monde joined in the attacks on the Meyssan book, it admitted that the whole truth about the flight 77 incident was yet to come out. "There is no official account of the crash...the lack of information is feeding the rumour." Spamming does not recognise international borders The US authorities have trumpeted a string of successes in combating unsolicited e-mails, known as "spam", but warned that the battle had only just begun. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released preliminary results from its "Netforce" joint venture with eight state law enforcers in the US and four in Canada, which aims to tighten previously lax enforcement of anti-spam regulations. The agencies have brought 63 law enforcement actions against web-based scams - ranging from auction fraud to bogus cancer cure sites - and have sent more than 500 letters warning people that spam is illegal. The FTC argued, however, that the onus was on other consumer protection agencies to ensure that the anti-spam message got through, and that the rise of the internet created a fresh impetus for law enforcement agencies to pool their efforts. "Illegal internet schemes and deceptive spam don't stop at state lines or international borders," said J Howard Beales, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. Scamming and spamming In its latest report, the FTC pointed out four particularly egregious cases of mass spamming, including a fraudulent online music shop and a firm selling bogus cancer remedies. The four schemes were hit by legal action from Netforce, in contrast to hundreds of other cases, where warning letters only were sent out. In February, the FTC filed six civil suits against participants in a spamming campaign to lure investors into a classic pyramid investment scheme. The e-mail messages promised recipients that if they invested $500, they would realise a payoff of $46,000 within three months. Legal loopholes Combating such schemes is relatively straightforward, since they had violated other aspects of commercial law regarding financial services or trading standards. But in the absence of clear guidelines on what constitutes spam, and given the difficulty of pinning down perpetrators, the FTC has so far found fighting spam more generally an uphill battle. The agency said it had collected some 10 million examples of unwanted spam since 1998. Achieving a higher number of prosecutions will not be possible, however, without a change in the law. Last year, federal lawmakers introduced five measures designed to stem the flood of spam, but faced resistance from lobbyists who argued that regulating e-mail promotions would constitute a unfair restriction on trade. At a state level, there has been more progress: so far, some 20 US states have introduced anti-spam rules. The devastation threatens numerous species Large expanses of the world's forests are in rapid decline and could be lost much sooner than expected, a new report by an environmental research group says. The report, written by Dirk Bryant for the Washington-based World Resources Institute, says much of what is currently designated intact forest is actually badly degenerated. "A lot of it is illegal logging in areas of the tropics," Mr Bryant told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "[There are] good rules on the books by governments who are really making an effort, but they're just not implemented on the ground," he said. Two-year survey The WRI report is based on a two-year survey that covered North America, Russia, Indonesia, Central Africa, Chile and Venezuela. It found that areas believed to have forest land intact were now riddled with roads, logging and mining activity. "As we examined what we thought were still vast, untouched stretches of intact forests in the world, we came to the conclusion that they are fast becoming a myth," WRI president Jonathan Lash said. "We've mapped about half the world's forests in detail and we're finding that the closer we look, the less intact old growth and primary forest we're finding," said Mr Bryant. Russian loss "[That is] considerably less in many places than we had estimated during our original mapping several years ago," he added. "Russia is a great example. [It is] the biggest forest area in the world in a single country. "We found only a quarter of forests today are intact in larger tracts of old growth and primary forest," he said. Such forest trees are important in counteracting climate change, Mr Bryant said. "They store vast amounts of carbon, which, if you clear them, burn them and degrade them, then go into the atmosphere and contribute to global warming," he said. Industry role Mr Bryant did, however, have some words of optimism about deforestation. "It's being offset to some extent by regenerating forests in certain parts of the world. He said companies were also playing a role. "Industry is stepping to the fore and leading companies are realising that through market investment decisions, they can make a difference." Mr Blair faces opposition to military action A Cabinet split over military action in Iraq has re-emerged ahead of Tony Blair's weekend meeting with US President George Bush. Mr Blair is reported to have "carpeted" International Development Secretary Clare Short after she expressed reservations about a possible attack. The government is insisting no decision has been made on whether to launch a new offensive against Iraq's leader Saddam Hussein. But according to the Guardian newspaper, Mr Blair is "privately reconciled" to British involvement in any military action. The clashes have claimed more than 700 lives Fresh religious violence between Hindus and Muslims has claimed six more lives in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The violence comes just a day before Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is due to visit the state, which has been hit by religious clashes over the past month. More than 700 people, mostly Muslims, have died in the riots which erupted in late February when a Muslim mob attacked a train carrying Hindu activists, killing 58 people. The Gujarat Government has been heavily criticised by India's national human rights commission for failing to prevent the violence. Overnight attacks The bodies of five Muslims - three men and two women - were found in a village near the state's commercial capital, Ahmedabad early on Wednesday morning. They were killed when their homes were set on fire in the village of Abasana. Police found their charred remains in the ruins of the buildings. Four other Muslims were taken to hospital with burns. In another incident a man was shot dead by police who were trying to control rioting between Hindus and Muslims in the village of Umbhrat. In Ahmedabad, the scene of the worst violence over the past month, police opened fire to break up renewed fighting between mobs of Hindus and Muslims. The Indian prime minister is due to visit Gujarat in the next 24 hours, to review efforts to control the outbreak of trouble and to look at measures to rehabilitate the thousands who have been forced from their homes. Trouble spreads In the past two days, disturbances have spread to the Kutch district in north-west Gujarat, which had been unaffected until now. Violence has also broken out in the neighbouring state of Maharashtra. In a separate development, a hardline Hindu leader has been barred by the authorities in the neighbouring Rajasthan from visiting a violence hit area in the state. Praveen Togadia, general secretary of the hardline Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) has been asked to keep away from Ganaganagar, which was under curfew last week following tension between Hindus and Muslims. A bomb has exploded in the Indonesian town of Ambon, killing four people and injuring about 50, some critically. It was the first serious violation of a ceasefire deal signed in February after three years of Muslim-Christian violence that left thousands dead. The device exploded in a Christian-controlled part of the port city, in the eastern Moluccan islands. Following the explosion, a large group of residents converged on the provincial governor's office, setting fire to the building, police said. Stones were thrown and police and troops fired warning shots over people's heads to disperse the crowd, which was angered by the explosion, witnesses said. The bomb exploded late morning outside a karaoke bar on a central shopping street, close to the governor's office. One person died at the scene and three others in hospital or on the way to it, according to a hospital employee. Some of those in hospital were said to be critically injured. There were conflicting reports about the bomb. Some people said it was thrown from a speeding van while others said it exploded under a parked motor scooter. "It was a powerful explosion," said one police officer. "The perpetrators obviously had training." There were a number of minor bomb blasts in the Moluccas following the peace treaty. Senior government officials blamed the attacks on paramilitaries opposed to the deal. Muslim militants belonging to the Laskar Jihad group have vowed to disrupt the peace process. Weapons surrender The Muslim-Christian violence broke out in 1999 - sparked by a minor traffic accident - and led to more than 5,000 deaths. Hundreds of thousands of people fled their homes. The violence got worse in 2000 with the arrival of the Java-based Laskar Jihad. Under the February peace deal, there is to be an inquiry into the group's activities as well as into two Christian separatist groups. Since the peace deal the region has been fairly calm, with both Muslim and Christian communities agreeing to hand over their weapons. Muslims and Christians mingled freely for the first time in years after the accord, hugging each other and shaking hands. The numbers of Christians and Muslims are almost evenly split in the Moluccas, while Indonesia as a whole is 85% Muslim. Congo's Kabila and Zimbabwe's Mugabe are close allies Leaders from the countries embroiled in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo have started their meeting in the Zambian capital, Lusaka. The talks are focusing on the failure of foreign forces to withdraw, in line with a ceasefire agreed in 1999. Of the five outside countries - Rwanda and Uganda on the side of the rebels and Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia backing the Kinshasa government - only Namibia has pulled out all its troops. The summit was called to end a deadlock in talks between the government, opposition parties, and rebels groups in South Africa. These talks were intended to set up a transitional government which would oversee elections but little progress was made. However, on the eve of the Lusaka summit, the government made an offer to let rebel groups share power, if they committed themselves to reunifying a country divided by three years of civil war. Peace hopes Opening the one-day summit, Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa told the warring factions that the peace process had reached a "critical" point. "You, as Congolese parties, should bear in mind that the people of (DR) Congo are waiting with baited breath" for a successful conclusion of the peace talks, Mr Mwanawasa warned. Presidents Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Sam Nujoma of Namibia, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Joseph Kabila of DR Congo and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa are in Lusaka. The leaders of Angola and Uganda are being represented by senior government ministers. Representatives from two of the three main Congolese rebel groups are also attending the meeting. Malnutrition During the opening ceremony, the UN special envoy to DR Congo, Namanga Ngongi, said progress had been made towards peace, despite fighting in the south-eastern town of Moliro last month. When UN peacekeepers visited the town on Tuesday, rival groups were no longer fighting. Up to two million people have died in DR Congo, mostly from malnutrition and disease, since the war broke out in 1998 when rebels backed by Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda tried to topple the government of the late Congolese President Laurent Desire Kabila. Peace hopes were revived after Mr Kabila's son, Joseph, succeeded his murdered father in January 2001. Sankoh cannot vote or stand in the election The Revolutionary United Front Party will not contest Sierra Leone's 14 May presidential elections, following the banning of its leader, Foday Sankoh. But the former rebels have pledged that their withdrawal will not lead to a new bout of fighting and they will field candidates in the parliamentary elections due on the same day. Mr Sankoh, who is standing trial for murder, has not been allowed to run because he is not a registered voter. The election follows the official end of Sierra Leone's civil war, which killed tens of thousands of people. It was declared over in January, when thousands of rebels handed in their weapons to United Nations peacekeepers.