The outcome of the French presidential elections is wide open ahead the first round of voting on Sunday. 

The incumbent, President Jacques Chirac has a slight lead over his Socialist challenger, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, but pollsters say it may be insignificant.

Voter apathy is widespread among the French electorate with up to one third of them not intending to vote, and a large group who are still undecided.

Fourteen other candidates stand to pick up between half and two thirds of the vote, in what is seen as widespread disillusionment with the frontrunners. The biggest benefactor may be far-right National Front leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Scandals and allegations of corruption have surrounded Mr Chirac's campaign.

 

By Alix Kroeger  BBC Correspondent in Belgrade

The chief international mediator in Bosnia-Hercegovina has imposed constitutional reforms giving equal rights to the country's three main peoples.

The reform deal was agreed in talks between the main political parties last month, but the parliaments of the two post-war entities - the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Bosnian-Serb Republic - failed to ratify the amendments in time for elections to take place later this year.

Wolfgang Petritsch said he would not be obstructed by "nationalist dinosaurs"

It was billed as a test of political ownership - whether Bosnia's leaders would take responsibility for reforming their own constitutions, in line with a key court ruling giving equal rights to the three main peoples across the whole territory of the country. 

In the end, they fell at the last hurdle and the reforms were imposed by the International High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch.

The court ruling undermines the post-war division of Bosnia into two ethnically defined entities. 

For that reason, nationalists on all sides resisted the reforms.

Talks progress

After two years of prevarication and delay, a deal was finally hammered out last month.

It was due to be ratified by Thursday at the latest in order for elections to be called on schedule for 5 October, 170 days in advance, as required by law.

Muslim and Croat nationalists blocked ratification in the lower house of the Federation parliament, while in the Bosnian-Serb Republic deputies proposed a series of last-minute amendments watering down the agreement.

Mr Petritsch even cut the election period by a day to give the parliaments extra time.

Bosnia's leaders went further and talked more than at any time since the war - but in the end, there was no choice but to impose if the elections were to go ahead as planned.

 

By Mark Doyle  The BBC's west Africa correspondent

The UN Sanctions Committee is meeting in New York to consider a possible extension of sanctions against Liberia, though the west African country says there is no longer any justification for imposing them.

A boycott on arms sales to Liberia and diamond sales from it was imposed because of the government's support for rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

Liberian President Charles Taylor opposes UN sanctions

The United Nations accused Liberia of trading in diamonds obtained by the rebels and encouraging the chaos the rebels caused throughout the west African region.

A recent UN report said that although there were still some rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Liberia, they did not cause any direct threat to the stability that has now returned to Sierra Leone.

But the panel of experts nevertheless recommended that the sanctions against the Liberian Government should remain because of the continuing volatility in the region.

The Liberian Information Minister, Reginald Goodridge, said this was clearly unfair.

He argued that if the original reason for the sanctions was his government's support for the rebels, and that if that support was no longer significant - as even the UN panel of experts agreed - anyone of good faith would agree to lifting the sanctions.

Suspected manipulation

While Mr Goodridge is right to say the panel of experts has reported that there is now minimal contact between the Liberian Government and the RUF, the UN report also highlights wider problems, which the Sanctions Committee may take into account.

Thousands have been displaced by fighting in the region

These include probable arms sanctions-busting by the Liberian Government.

It also mentions the suspected manipulation by the Monrovia regime of a humanitarian crisis, which made thousands of Liberians homeless, in order to get international sympathy for the sanctions to be lifted.

The allegation is that the Liberian Government covertly caused unrest and then said it was the work of rebels.

This extraordinary charge, which is contained in the UN panel's report, is strongly denied by Liberia, but is given some currency by diplomats and aid workers in Monrovia.

Finance ministers of the Group of 24 (G24) developing nations have said the recent global economic recovery could be derailed by the crisis in the Middle East.

Speaking ahead of a meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (MF) this weekend, the G24 ministers also expressed "grave concern at the loss of innocent lives and the catastrophic situation in the Palestinian territories".

Incursions by Israel in recent weeks have left several towns within Palestine decimated, throwing into question the stability of the region and forcing world oil prices higher.

The finance ministers, who represent developing countries within Latin American, Asia and Africa, called for international cooperation to avoid undue oil-price volatility, in a statement issued shortly after their meeting on Friday in Washington.

They said the rise in oil prices is costly both to producing and consuming nations.

Lack of trade

The Group of 24 statement also noted that depressed commodity prices had weakened growth and export performance among developing countries, and had "undermined the fight against poverty as well as financially sustainability".

Rock-bottom prices for goods such as sugar, coffee and rice have damaged the economies of many commodity-dependent developing nations.

IMF and World Bank officials speaking earlier in the week also expressed concern over falling commodity prices and lack of trade. 

Speaking on Friday, World Bank President James Wolfensohn said depressed commodity prices have had the effect of a "silent hurricane" on Latin American countries.

On Wednesday, IMF Managing Director Horst Koehler said the lack of international trading partners with Latin American nations makes them especially vulnerable to downturns in the world economy.

The G24 also noted other impediments to worldwide economic growth, including continued weakness in Japan and slow growth in Europe.

The decline in savings rates in several advanced economies, especially the United States, also puts the worldwide recovery at risk, the group said.

Argentina has closed all the country's banks, suspending operations and transactions indefinitely amid fears of a financial collapse.

The announcement by the central bank is aimed at stemming the rush by customers to withdraw funds which is threatening to break overstretched banks.

I have 12 pesos to last until the end of the month - I probably won't eat much today

Bank customer Maximiliano Lopez

But huge crowds gathered outside banks as people tried to cash their salary cheques and get money from automated teller machines.

The BBC correspondent in Sao Paulo says there is a total loss of confidence in the system and the signs are that the situation will get even worse.

Argentina's banking system has lost about 10% of its total deposits since the start of the year, with many savers launching successful court challenges to government-imposed restrictions on withdrawals.

Finance ministers want to turn savings into 10-year government bonds

The government is now hoping to pass a bill that would convert most depositors' savings into 10-year bonds.

The savings for bond-swap would make it harder for savers to have the government's $500-a-month limit on withdrawals legally overturned.

Earlier, the government ordered Canadian-owned Scotiabank Quilmes, the country's 11th biggest deposit holder, to close for 30 days.

Hundreds of people lined up outside Scotiabank's main Buenos Aires branch to withdraw their salaries, one of the few operations the bank was still allowed to perform.

Within a few hours, other banks closed branches across the city and put guards at the doors.

Cry for help

A telecoms worker, Maximiliano Lopez, who was waiting outside Scotiabank's headquarters said: "I have 12 pesos [$4] to last me until the end of the month.

"I probably won't eat much today because that much money doesn't stretch that far." 

Foreign banks are faced with a choice of bailing out their cash-strapped Argentine units until the crisis is resolved, or exiting the country altogether. 

Argentine Finance Minister Remes Lenicov is expected to ask the International Monetary Fund for extra aid to resolve the banking crisis at a meeting in Washington this weekend.

Finance Minister Lenicov, left, is expected to ask IMF for extra aid

But the IMF had indicated that it would not make any extra cash available unless the Argentine Government pushes through an austerity package.

The IMF proposal would force Argentina to slash thousands of public-sector jobs, a move that would impose further economic hardship on the Argentine people.

Argentina's latest economic crisis, which began in earnest late last year after the country missed repayments on its $140bn debt, has been marked by violent street protests.

Earlier this week, the IMF said it expected the Argentine economy to contract by 10-15% this year.

Hundreds of US army engineers have arrived on the Philippine island of Basilan to bolster Manila's efforts to hunt down a Muslim kidnap gang said to be linked to the al-Qaeda terror network.

Our mission here is to train, advise and assist the Philippine military to beat terrorism in the southern Philippines

Brigadier-General Donald Wurster

The arrival of the 300 engineers brings the number of US troops in the southern Philippines to more than 1,000.

They will build landing strips and pave roads so that Philippine troops and supplies can be moved around more quickly in operations against the Abu Sayyaf group, Pentagon officials said. 

However, given Philippine sensitivity over the return of the former colonial power, the Americans are not supposed to do any actual fighting.

"Our mission here is to train, advise and assist the Philippine military to beat terrorism in the southern Philippines," said Brigadier-General Donald Wurster, commander of US forces there.

The engineers will also dig wells in impoverished parts of Basilan and work on other civic projects. 

The aim, says the BBC's John McLean in Manila, is to win the hearts and minds of the local population, some of whom - willingly or unwillingly - support Abu Sayyaf.

Al-Qaeda links

A US missionary couple and a Filipina nurse have been held hostage by Abu Sayyaf rebels for more than 10 months on Basilan.

The United States has linked Abu Sayyaf to the al-Qaeda network and its leader Osama Bin Laden, who it suspects of masterminding the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington.

Protesters say the stationing of US troops is an attack on Philippines sovereignty

A Pentagon spokesman said the engineers, known as Seabees, would be deployed for three months - at a cost of around $3.9m.

The engineers were guarded by US marines as they disembarked from the USS Germantown, a 184.5-metre (609-foot) landing ship off Basilan.

They unloaded bulldozers and other heavy equipment, which was then taken to a Philippine army camp on the outskirts of Isabela, the island's capital.

 

By Emma Jane Kirby  BBC correspondent in Geneva

Russia has escaped condemnation by the United Nations Human Rights Commission, after a resolution highlighting violations in the breakaway region of Chechnya was narrowly defeated. 

The resolution, which was sponsored by the European Union, called for an end to fighting in the region and asked Russia to set up an inquiry into alleged human-rights violations there.

The vote was applauded by delegates

The proposal condemned the Russian security forces and army for "torture, ill treatment and for the disproportionate and indiscriminate use of military force against civilians". 

It also outlawed all terrorist attacks committed in the Republic of Chechnya as well as the violations of humanitarian law perpetrated by Chechen fighters. 

But the 53-member commission meeting in Geneva rejected the EU resolution - by just 16 to 15 votes, with a further 22 states abstaining.

The result has broken the traditional voting pattern on Russia. 

For the last two years, the commission has passed resolutions condemning Russia's human-rights record, making Russia the only permanent member of the UN Security Council to be censured for human-rights abuses. 

The defeat has disappointed non-governmental organisations like Human Rights Watch, which claims that the vote sends a message to Russia that it can now "intimidate the international community into silence".

The engineer of the crowded train that derailed in Florida, killing four people and injuring 159, slammed on the emergency brakes because he saw a problem on the tracks, according to US investigators.

George Black of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the engineer was trying to stop the train in reaction to "something he saw wrong with the tracks".

You could feel things were going wrong - it wasn't a smooth track any more

Passenger Don Sein

He did not elaborate, but said officials planned to talk at length to the engineer later.

Experts have converged on the site of the crash near the north-east Florida town of Crescent City to try to find out what caused the Amtrak Auto Train to come off the rails.

Both the train and the tracks had been inspected within hours of the accident and no problems were found.

George Black said the train was within the speed limit

Bulldozers have been moved in to try to right the carriages that toppled over on Thursday, just over an hour into the train's overnight journey to the suburbs of Washington DC.

Passengers on the train - popular with holidaymakers combining visits to the nation's capital with Florida's theme parks - reported hearing screeching brakes before the accident.

Don Sein, of New York, said: "We felt two hard braking movements and then you could feel things were going wrong.

"It wasn't a smooth track any more. And then everyone just held on as the train went off the track."

Passengers trapped

Mr Black said the train was travelling at about 56mph (90kph), within the 60mph speed limit.

Investigators have been climbing into the carriages looking for evidence

He added that the train's crew had undergone blood and urine tests purely for requirements.

NTSB investigators have been photographing the scene and using ladders to climb into the carriages strewn over the track.

Some 21 of the train's 40 cars derailed, including 14 of the 16 passenger cars.

Many passengers escaped through windows but dozens were trapped inside for hours.

Investigators have said four people died, revising downwards an earlier report of six fatalities. Amtrak said 159 people were treated at hospitals for injuries, some serious. 

 

By Haroon Rashid  BBC correspondent in Peshawar

The leader of one of Pakistan's banned Islamic extremist groups has been sentenced to seven years in jail by a tribal court. 

Many religious extremists remain unrepentant

Maulana Sufi Mohammad, head of the now-banned Tehrik Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi (TNSM), led hundreds of tribal young men into Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taleban in 2001. 

He and 30 TNSM activists were arrested while returning from Afghanistan on 17 November last year after the fall of Taleban regime in Kabul. 

The authorities arrested them for illegally entering restricted tribal areas in Pakistan's north-western borders with Afghanistan. 

Reports confirming the sentence came on Saturday in Peshawar, capital of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

Anti-coalition combat

The provincial authorities say a tribal court had given its verdict some time ago although this verdict was reported by the local press on Saturday. 

General Musharraf faces a tough campaign

Maulana Sufi Mohammad and his band of TNSM volunteers come from the NWFP's Malakand Agency.

He and his militias went to Afghanistan to support the Taleban forces after the US-led coalition launched operations in that country.

Most of his supporters were either killed in action or were arrested by anti-Taleban forces.

After the fall of the Taleban, Maulana Mohammad tried to come back to Pakistan with only a handful of his followers. 

He and his small group of fighters were arrested by the local administration of the tribal area while crossing the border into Pakistan. 

Local militancy

A case was registered against them on charges of entering a restricted region without necessary permission.

A local four-member tribal court set up by the government found him and his 30 companions guilty and awarded them seven years in jail. 

His followers say they will file an appeal against the conviction. 

The TNSM was already waging a violent struggle for the imposition of Taleban-like Islamic rule in their area.

General Pervez Musharraf's military government banned the TNSM, along with several other militant groups, in January, as part of his campaign against religious extremism.

 

By Alastair Leithead  BBC correspondent in Antananarivo

The UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, has welcomed the Madagascar agreement signed in Dakar by the two men who both consider themselves to be president of the Indian Ocean island. 

Protests have been rife since the December election

The details of the deal, which involves a recount of the December presidential election and then a possible referendum, have not yet been revealed, but there is cautious optimism in the capital. 

Both incumbent President Didier Ratsiraka and his rival Marc Ravalomanana claim to have won the December poll.

Supporters of self-declared President Ravalomanana are due to install their new governor in Fianarantsoa, the scene of some of the worst violence in this crisis, after forcing out the pro-Ratsiraka governor this week. 

Unanswered questions

The deal is seen as a success story for the United Nations and the Organisation of African Unity which have managed to broker an agreement after two previous rounds of talks failed. 

But after four months of political crisis, few people in Madagascar are convinced it will be resolved as easily as the Dakar accord suggests.

There are many unanswered questions over how a recount can be carried out so long after the ballot.

And, despite the deal, there are doubts over whether incumbent President Ratsiraka really has the intention or indeed the capability of lifting barricades which have isolated Antananarivo for months.

People are awaiting the details and the practical implementation of the accord. 

Meanwhile, Mr Ravalomanana's plan to replace the six provincial governors continues unabated. 

There has been bloodshed in Fianarantsoa over the past few weeks as his own appointee tried to force the pro-Ratsiraka governor out. 

He eventually succeeded this week and will be inaugurated at a ceremony on Saturday.

It was an important victory, opening up supply routes to the capital and showing that beyond deals in Senegal, Mr Ravalomanana's control is spreading, albeit slowly, across the country.

A US envoy to the Middle East has described the devastation at the Jenin refugee camp as a "tragedy for thousands of innocent Palestinian people".

US Undersecretary of State William Burns on Saturday toured the camp which has been the scene of recent heavy fighting between Israel and the Palestinians.

What happened here in the Jenin camp has caused enormous human suffering

William Burns, US envoy

Late on Saturday, the Israeli army said tanks and armored vehicles had began pulling out of parts of the West Bank city of Ramallah, with the exception of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's besieged headquarters.

Israel has said it will co-operate fully with a United Nations fact-finding team which is to look into what happened in Jenin.

The Palestinians have accused Israel of committing a massacre at the camp; Israel has denied the allegation, saying those who died were mainly armed fighters.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that "Israel has nothing to hide regarding the operation in Jenin." 

The Palestinians have welcomed the UN mission as a step forward, but insisted that an international peacekeeping force should be sent too.

Gaza deaths

Fresh violence erupted on Saturday, as a Palestinian gunman was shot dead after killing an Israeli border policeman at the Erez checkpoint on the border between Gaza and Israel.

Palestinian militants vowed revenge against Israel

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, an armed wing of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, said one of its members from Gaza City carried out the attack.

In Gaza City, hundreds of Palestinians attended the funeral of two members of the militant Islamic Jihad organisation, killed by Israeli troops outside the Netzarim settlement on Friday.

Israel said the men had been trying to infiltrate the settlement to stage an attack.

Jenin bodies

Israel said on Friday its forces had fully withdrawn from Jenin but were still ringing the city and the camp.

	Click here to see town-by-town update

The army said some of its soldiers were in the camp extricating bodies for burial, under the observation of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Palestinian medical sources said about 40 bodies have so far been recovered, while a Jenin hospital official said the body count was expected to climb.

Israel says about 70 Palestinians were killed in 12 days of fighting.

The BBC's Stephen Gibbs, who is in Jenin, said the US undersecretary of state spent three hours inside the camp. 

As he walked through he occasionally paused to watch teams of Palestinians shifting rubble with their bare hands. 

Mr Burns said aid agencies should be given "full and complete access" to the entire area.

The clear-up is proceeding cautiously, aid workers say, because of an unknown number of explosive devices.

An Israeli-Arab doctor had his foot blown off in an explosion in a booby-trapped house, French news agency AFP reported.

Israel radio said six other people were wounded in similar circumstances on Saturday.

Sieges continue

Israel says it will pull troops back from the West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday, but its forces will remain in Bethlehem and Ramallah.

It has rejected an offer by Yasser Arafat to put the alleged killers of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi on trial in a Palestinian court.

Israel has demanded the suspects, who are inside Mr Arafat's besieged compound, be handed over to Israel before it will withdraw from the area, which it has surrounded since the end of March.

Bethlehem's mayor said on Saturday that there had been no progress in talks with Israel to end the siege of the Church of the Nativity.

Israeli troops have surrounded the church since 2 April, demanding the surrender of armed Palestinians inside.

Thousands of demonstrators have gathered in Washington to protest against Israel's military actions in the West Bank, the United States' war on terror and globalisation.

Mass rallies were taking place around the capital as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank began their annual spring meeting.

There are just large numbers of people who want to have their voices heard and that's what America is all about

Charles Ramsey, Washington police

Hundreds of police, fearing a repeat of the violence of previous years, sealed off the downtown venue as the protests got under way.

So far the protests have been colourful and noisy and police say they have made no arrests.

"There are just large numbers of people who want to have their voices heard and that's what America is all about," said Washington Metropolitan Police Department Chief Charles Ramsey.

But security forces are taking no chances: rubbish bins and post boxes have been removed, while all police leave has been cancelled and reinforcements drafted in.

Anti-Israel protest

The BBC's Washington correspondent Justin Webb says a pro-Palestinian rally is probably the largest at the moment, with an estimated couple of thousand supporters.

Police blocked off streets as a precaution

Demonstrators gathered in front of the White House, waving flags and posters reading "Free Palestine, no war on Iraq".

Pro-Palestinian protesters said they want to rival a demonstration in favour of Israel in the capital last week which organisers said attracted up to 100,000 people.

Our correspondent says demonstrations are covering a wide variety of issues.

Ryan Sarni, a 21-year-old student said: "We're all working under the same banner of pro-choice, pro-environment, pro-worker and pro-women.

"There is just diversity of tactics and viewpoints here."

A 30-foot (nine metres) balloon in the shape of the Earth, bearing a "For sale" sign, was displayed across the road from where finance officials met in advance of the IMF/World Bank summit.

Mass rally

Hundreds of anti-globalisation protesters have gathered outside the IMF building, and some are planning to protest outside the offices of Citibank, Coca-Cola and bio-tech firm Monsanto.

Protesters are demonstrating on a range of issues

Demonstrators from a range of groups are also planning to march down Pennsylvania Avenue - just blocks from the White House - before rallying on the steps of the Capitol Building.

After the first financial meeting, the Group of Seven developed countries said they had endorsed a plan aimed at easing debt crises in emerging economies, but were seriously concerned about the current Argentine crisis. 

The group said prospects for global economic recovery were good, but rising oil prices could still pose a risk.

Officials from the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada also said they had agreed to intensify efforts to cut off funding to international terrorist groups.

The leaders of China and Iran have pledged greater co-operation during an historic meeting in Tehran.

President Jiang Zemin is the first Chinese leader to visit Iran since the Islamic revolution in 1979.

He was given a red-carpet welcome by his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Khatami at the Sa'adabad Palace in the north of the capital.

President Jiang visited the 2,500-year-old Persepolis site before going to Tehran

Their talks concentrated on improving Sino-Iranian relations at a time when both countries are concerned about growing US influence around the world and the reconstruction of Afghanistan which shares borders with Iran and China. 

The two leaders also witnessed the signing of six co-operation agreements covering oil, gas, trade, transportation, information technology and educational exchanges, the Iranian state news agency said.

Mr Jiang was quoted by the English-language Tehran Times as saying: "Our forefathers began friendly exchanges through the world-famous Silk Road more than 2,000 years ago."

'Much in common'

That theme was continued by Beijing's ambassador to Iran, Sun Bigan, who said Iran and China were seeking to "revive their golden Silk Road ties".

He told Iranian television that the two countries had much in common.

"China supports a multi-polar world, is critical of Israeli killings and believes peace in the Middle East will not be achieved without materialisation of the rights of Palestinians including withdrawal of Israeli troops from occupied territories," he said.

Mr Jiang's visit is being seen by some in Iran as a turning point in relations.

Trade between the two countries has doubled over the past three years to $3.3bn, government officials said.

Mr Jiang is heading a delegation of 180 government and business officials on the last leg of a trip that has taken him to Libya, Nigeria, Germany and Tunisia.

Forty-six people have been killed in a bus crash in southern Oman.

Police say the vehicle, which was travelling to the town of Salalah, 900 kilometres (558 miles) south of the capital, Oman, skidded off a mountain road and crashed into a valley.

Those who died were construction workers from the same company.

An investigation is under way into what caused the crash.

"We presume at this stage that the driver lost control after he failed to observe the speed limit," a police statement said.

But an official from the construction company, Al-Nahdah al-Omania, said the firm suspected a mechanical failure was to blame.

At least eight passengers survived the crash and were taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Al-Nahdah al-Omania said most of its workers on the bus were from the Indian sub-continent.

Four of the dead were Omanis, the official ONA news agency said.

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo says it plans to implement an alliance signed with several rebel factions, despite the refusal of the biggest of the groups to join the agreement. 

The announcement came after the break-up of eight weeks of peace talks at Sun City, in South Africa.

Under the government's plan, President Joseph Kabila will remain in power, while the leader of the Ugandan-backed Congolese Liberation Movement (CLM), Jean-Pierre Bemba, will be prime minister. 

It will not bring a reunification of the country, it will not bring peace and it will not lead to the withdrawal of foreign forces or to free elections

Bizima Karaha, RCD delegate

But the Rwandan-backed Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) did not accept the power-sharing plan. 

Correspondents say without the agreement of the RCD - which controls about 40% of Congolese territory - there are fears that a four-year-old war in the country will reignite, with changed alliances.

'Back to square one'

The former president of Botswana, Sir Ketumile Masire, who acted as a facilitator for the talks, blamed Kinshasa and the MLC for the failure of the talks. 

Mr Masire said the power-sharing deal was done without the knowledge of other participants.

Kabila accepted a plan for a transitional government

He said their deal came just as a final, comprehensive agreement was about to be reached. 

Mr Masire said the agreement was a loss to all the participants, and had brought the search for peace in the Congo back to, as he put it, square one. 

The talks, sponsored by the South African Government and the European Union, are aimed at working out political, economic and military structures under a transitional government, ahead of elections. 

'No more talking'

On Friday, the South African president, Thabo Mbeki, made a last-minute effort to resolve the deadlock in the talks. 

The South African Government is reported to have asked the Congolese delegation to leave a small group behind for further talks.

Mr Bemba had in mind a deal of his own with Kinshasa

But as the Congolese delegation headed home on Saturday, the group's head was quoted by Reuters as saying: "There will be no more talking on our side."

"We are going home to implement our own peace deal," Augustin Katumba Mwanke, was quoted as saying.

On Friday, the RCD dismissed the agreement - in which they were offered a minor role - as a joke. 

Civil war

"An alliance between Bemba and Kabila will not solve one of the problems of the Congo," said Bizima Karaha of the RCD.

"It will not bring a reunification of the country, it will not bring peace and it will not lead to the withdrawal of foreign forces or to free elections."

Reports say the RCD wanted the delegates to the talks to elect the president, a proposal rejected by Kinshasa.

The aim of the talks was to end a civil war that has divided DR Congo into at least three parts for the past four years.

The civil war began in 1998, with an attempt to topple the government of the late Laurent Kabila.

Neighbouring countries stepped in, with Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe on the government's side and Uganda and Rwanda backing the rebels.

A ceasefire was agreed a year ago, but has repeatedly been broken - most recently in the eastern town of Moliro last month.

 

By Frances Harrison  BBC correspondent in Colombo

The Norwegian Government, which has been mediating in the Sri Lankan civil war, says it is remarkable how fast the peace process has progressed in the last few months. 

Actually, it might be the case that things are moving a bit too fast

Vidar Helgessen, Norwegian mediator

Norway's Deputy Foreign Minister, Vidar Helgessen, who has been visiting Sri Lanka, says he believes the rebels are sincere about a negotiated settlement.

He says they are realistic about what can be achieved. 

Mr Helgessen has been meeting the Sri Lankan Government and also went to see the Tamil Tigers in their stronghold in the north of the island. 

Mr Helgessen said he was struck by how the Tamil Tiger rebel group was now making the transition from a guerrilla force to a political entity. 

Rapid pace

The minister said it was fairly striking to see how the rebel leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was comfortable in his new role as a political leader. 

Mr Helgessen has a lot to smile about

Mr Helgessen also spoke of the courage of the Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Ranil Wickramasinghe, in taking bold steps to try and resolve a conflict that has dragged on for 19 years. 

"I think it's remarkable how fast things are moving and how fast they're moving in the right direction. 

"Actually, it might be the case that things are moving a bit too fast because things need to settle on both sides, they need to get their respective apparatus realising the change and the amount of change taking place," he said.

Direct talks

The Norwegian mediators say although both sides have complained of failure to implement all the clauses of the ceasefire agreement they signed in February, these are not serious breaches. 

High-level differences are narrowing

The next stage is face-to-face peace talks - the first for seven years. 

These are expected to take place somewhere in Thailand in mid-June. 

At the moment, the Norwegians are helping both sides draw up an agenda for those talks, which are expected to focus on an interim administration for the north and east of Sri Lanka, the conflict areas. 

It is thought the legal framework for a final political settlement would be deferred, partly because of the problems of getting a sufficient majority in parliament to amend the constitution.