Colin Powell

Mr. Powell, the key figure in a month of intensive U.S. diplomacy on the Middle East, said Tuesday's terrorist incident puts "at risk" the possibility of moving forward. But he made clear the United States will continue pushing Arab leaders, the Palestinians and Israelis to work to end violence. Appearing alongside his British counterpart during a break in their meetings, the secretary appeared to anticipate Israeli retaliation for the lethal bombing near Tel Aviv, but said ultimately there must be a political settlement of the crisis.

 "No matter how many military operations one conducts, or how many suicide bombs are delivered, at the end of the day we have to find a political solution," Mr. Powell said. " And I recognize how difficult it is with some of the parties who are there, some of the leaders who are out there, and with this kind of violence. And with responses that will come and acts of self-defense. But at the same time, we cannot lose sight of the reality that a political solution ultimately is what will be required to bring this long-running crisis to an end."

 Mr. Powell said he expects CIA director George Tenet, author of a cease-fire plan spurned by the parties a year ago, to return to the region next week to try to re-establish Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation. He also said under questioning, that reform of the Palestinian authority is essential to a renewed peace process. But in an indirect rebuff to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and remarks he made at the White House Tuesday, he said he did not see reform as a pre-condition for dealings with the Palestinians.

 For his part, Foreign Secretary Straw said he saw Tuesday's attacks as an attempt by Palestinian radicals to scuttle international efforts to restore a political dialogue.
 
 

Jack Straw

In his comments earlier at Brookings, a Washington think-tank, Mr. Straw said Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat should remain involved in efforts to re-start the regional peace process, even though he said British officials are disappointed that he has not done more to control violence. The Foreign Secretary said it would be a mistake to bypass Mr. Arafat, and that those in search of regional peace, "don't get to choose the leaders we deal with." 

But, the ILO regional director for Europe and Central Asia, Friedrich Buttler, says that under the current situation, the term unemployment has become meaningless.

 "There are people who have employment but cannot actually work because they cannot move from one place to another," he said. "You have to imagine how internal closures work, that there are checkpoints between and around all the settlements and the cities and that you nearly cannot move." 

Gaza street market (VOA photo - L. Kassman)

 "You can find that there is nearly no tourism existing," he said. "And, if you go through the town and you see Jerusalem and you see the newly constructed big hotels, you find them completely empty. So, the tourist sector is in a big crisis, on both sides, as well in Palestine as in Israel." 

Jerusalem bus stop VOA photo-L. Kassman

 The ILO team will report to the ILO's annual conference in June. Mr. Buttler says the team will propose vocational training and financing for small and medium-sized industries in the Palestinian territories. He says the ILO can provide the technical skills and know-how to improve the Palestinian economy. But, he says there are limits to what it can do in the absence of peace. 

The Soviet Union has disappeared, says Boris Shikmuradov, with the exception of Turkmenistan. As a Turkmen opposition leader abroad, he is urgently probing for cracks in the monolithic state run by President Saparmurat Niazov. They are hard to find, said Mr. Shikmuradov, a former Turkemenistan foreign minister, at a meeting of RFE-RL in Washington. 

"Niazov actually represents the most primitive and negative continuation of the Soviet tradition of leadership," he said. "After the late 1980s, the Turkmen people did not go through the transfer from the Soviet system to post-Soviet system. Rather they continued to live through the worst aspects of the Soviet system."

 Mr. Skikmuradov emphasized the difficulty of creating a meaningful opposition from outside the country.

 "Inside the country there is no opposition," he said. "No comments are allowed against Niazov. There is no political opposition party. There is no single accredited foreign journalist in the country, and it is impossible to get information from government sources since they are so unreliable."
 
 

AP
Turkmenistan president Saparmurat Niazov

 Obviously, more significant matters do not escape his scrutiny, in particular, any sign of political opposition. Professor Haghayeghgi says that makes it very difficult for opposition abroad to make any headway. The opposition also tends to divide along not so consequential lines. 

"Individuals who do decide to break away from the existing political structures tend to be more concerned about personal ambition rather than the longevity of the organization they have set up," he said. "That personality conflict permeates the Central Asian societies, in Kazakhstan, in Tajikistan and Turkmenistan is the same."

 Professor Haghayeghi thinks Mr. Shikmuradov has the best chance to challenge the regime, but it is an uphill battle. Mr. Niazov has been busily purging his top ranks to forestall any defections. 

"The only way you can survive is by constantly rotating people that hold high offices, and that rotation pretty much prevents consolidation of opposition within the power structure," he said. "He does that routinely. The latest wave of purges took place a couple of months ago when he got rid of heads of security forces."

 Professor Haghayeghi says the purges suggest a certain desperation on Mr. Niazov's part, as if he realizes sooner or later his subordinates will have enough of his bizarre, tyrannical regime.

The United Nations agency for refugees announced Wednesday that it is ending refugee status for all Eritreans on December 31 because their country is now at peace. 

UNHCR chief Ruud Lubbers said Eritrean refugees should no longer have any fear of persecution. He said a peace agreement signed two years ago between Eritrea and Ethiopia and the establishment of a U.N. supervised security buffer zone between the two countries have brought stability to the Horn of Africa. 

UNHCR spokeswoman Millicent Matuli said this stability was the key factor in the agency's decision to stop granting refugee status to Eritreans. 

"UNHCR believes the root causes of the Eritrean refugee problem have changed fundamentally. This is because peace has returned with the signing of a cease-fire agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea in June 2000," Ms. Matuli said. 

Ms. Matuli has said the majority of Eritrean refugees are in Sudan, where UNHCR assists some 140,000 people, but there are thousands of others living in urban centers throughout the country. More than 44,000 Eritreans have returned from Sudan with UNHCR assistance. Some 5,000 Eritrean refugees are also in Ethiopia and Yemen. 

Ms. Matuli said the UNHCR started a return program for Eritrean refugees last year and will continue to aid those wanting to go home until the end of the year. And she said there may be instances where some will continue to receive refugee status. 

"We are asking anybody who still fears for their lives, should they go home, to approach UNHCR and there would be a new determination of their status. Should there be need for continued asylum beyond the end of this year, then certainly these people would continue to get refugee status," Ms. Matuli said. 

More than 100,000 Eritreans have already gone home, either on their own or under the voluntary repatriation operation that began in May of last year. 

 "The majority of the world's population continues to live in conditions of great poverty and deprivation," he said. "War and conflict still reign in many parts of the world. The divide between the rich and the poor within single nations and among nations is widening rather than being bridged. The struggle for true and universal human emancipation still lies ahead for the children, youth and future generations."

 Mr. Mandela, described as a hero, was honored with the presidential medal of honor at a ceremony co-sponsored by New York University and U.N. AIDS. 

A new scholarship fund was announced to help fight crises in Africa. Through the program, coordinated with leaders and universities in several African nations, African students will concentrate on areas in dire need of attention. One focus includes health policy, particularly the battle against AIDS and HIV. 

Former South African President Nelson Mandela

The presidents of Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania and Mali attended the unveiling of the scholarship fund. They are in New York for the United Nations summit on children. Mozambique's President Joaquim Chissano is the chair of the fund. He says education is a top priority in the quest for socio-economic development. 

"As we seek to invest in an African renaissance, we realize that our success will depend on our own leadership capacity through an effective and efficient public service," he said. "We need highly qualified and experienced leaders, managers and civil servants."
 
 

AP
Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano

The United Nations children's agency, UNICEF, has said that while there have been advances in children's health in recent years, millions of young people still die from diseases that could easily be prevented. 

Carol Bellamy

Ms. Bellamy has welcomed this improvement but said many children still die each year from illnesses that can be prevented, and that is one of the issues that the U.N. special session will address. "It is estimated that about 11 million children die worldwide from totally preventable causes that do not cost a huge amount of money to prevent - such as immunization campaigns, better water, better sanitation. So this Special Session on Children is anchored first in recognizing there is still unfinished business from the past," Ms. Bellamy said. 

UNICEF said that 7 out of 10 childhood deaths in developing countries result mainly from pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, malnutrition and measles. It has said of all the vaccine preventable diseases, measles is the most deadly, killing more than three-quarters of a million children every year.
 
 

Afghan children waiting for polio vaccination

 "It has come down to such a point that we can talk about near total eradication. Although there are still some 10 countries left on the list (of countries with polio), we are getting there," Mr. Vergara said. 

VOA photo - B. Padden

 UNICEF officials said that the success stories are the direct result of immunization efforts. They credit these efforts with saving the lives of three million children every year. 

But agency officials have said many young people such as those in areas of conflict - are still beyond their reach because they cannot be accessed by health workers.

 Mr. Vergara said that while progress is being made in saving children, giving birth in the developing world is still far more dangerous than in the developed world.

 "One of the worrying trends is that there is no progress in maternal mortality rates. What this means in practical terms is that nearly one-half million women die every year - 515,000 to be precise - from complications due to pregnancy and childbirth," he said. 

Mr. Vergara said good obstetric care, the presence of birth attendants, and simply being able to reach health centers would save the lives of many women.

 UNICEF chief Carol Bellamy said that while the agency will maintain its focus on reducing child and maternal mortality rates, it must also address other issues.

 "For example, the effect of war on children. Today the victims of war are not military, they are largely civilian women and children. The terrible impact of the pandemic of HIV-AIDs on children, infecting children, killing children's parents so that they become orphans, babies infected at birth. So HIV-AIDs has to be confronted. The issue of exploitation, of trafficking. The issue of child labor," Ms. Bellamy said.

 The UNICEF chief said although great strides have been made, much more needs to be done to protect children around the world. 

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