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Floods are wreaking havoc in large areas of eastern Africa, ending a harsh drought. The floods have killed at least 40 people in southern Ethiopia, officials say. Another 40 people have died in Kenya, according to Red Cross figures. Tens of thousands of people across the region have fled their homes. And aid agencies warn the worst may be yet to come as rain continues to fall across the region. Ethiopia's Mines Minister Mohamoud Dirir Gheddi on Wednesday told the BBC the government was unable to cope. "For the last two years people have been praying for rain... Very unfortunately according to what I have seen... villages have been virtually submerged," he said. "Houses have been destroyed... People have fled to the mountains... they have been left with virtually nothing." Kenya In western Kenya some 60,000 have fled
rising waters, according to the Kenya Red Cross Society.
"It is just the beginning of the rainy season so we should be prepared for a deterioration of the situation," their secretary general said in a statement. On Monday, Kenya's Government declared the floods a national disaster. They are appealing for international assistance and the army have been deployed. A United Nations report says refugee camps in north-eastern Kenya have also been severely hit. The BBC's Ishbel Matheson in Nairobi says the Kenyan authorities have been caught unprepared by the scale of the flooding. In the Busia area of western Kenya, earth dykes, built only last year, have been swept away. Houses and crops have been submerged. Villagers have been heading to higher ground where they are finding shelter in camps set up by aid agencies. In the capital, Nairobi, roads have flooded and stranded cars are causing even bigger traffic jams than usual. The rains are being described as the heaviest for several years. Somalia, Ethiopia In Somalia, the lower Jubba River and the middle Shebelle regions have been affected with thousands displaced. An aid agency official in Bu'aleh told the BBC said that 21 out of 33 nearby villages had been abandoned because of the floods and people were now suffering from lack of food, shelter and medicine. However, he said water levels had now begun falling. In Ethiopia, about 96,000 were forced to flee their homes after the Shebelle river burst its banks, flooding lowland areas of the country's Somali region. Delivering help has been difficult because bridges and roads have been washed away and the usual sources of drinking-water have been contaminated by the floods Rescue workers are operating in the area, providing the people with medical supplies, plastic shelters and cooking equipment. The towns of Kelafo and Mustahil have reportedly been hardest hit. A senior representative of the UN children's fund Unicef, Marc Rubin, said the situation was "very serious and worse than any year before". "We are very concerned about the humanitarian situation. They have no food, no clean water and the health service has been destroyed," he told the UN information agency Irin. At least five health centres and two schools have been destroyed, and dozens of villages have been cut off. The area has been receiving food aid due to the severe drought that has hit some 12.6 million people in the country. The UN's World Food Programme (WFP), which is in Kelafo, has warned that food needs may have to be reassessed because of the flooding. "Flooding is needed in the area for
flood-recession agriculture, but there will be an immediate negative impact on
the population," said a WFP representative quoted by Irin. SEE ALSO:
 
RELATED INTERNET LINKS:
TOP AFRICA STORIES NOW  . End of article 3.
The United Nations Security Council is discussing ending 12 years of sanctions against Iraq, and the use of the country's oil revenues to fund reconstruction. The United States has presented a draft resolution - co-sponsored by Britain and Spain - to the closed session which would immediately lift all restrictions imposed on Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait in 1990, apart from an arms embargo. Under the US proposals, a new body comprising the United States and key ally Britain - known as the "authority" - would decide how income from the sale of Iraqi oil would be spent. The UN, which currently controls Iraq's oil revenue, would be confined to an advisory role. An official appointed by the Americans to
advise the Iraqi finance ministry, David Nummy, said the lifting of sanctions
was crucial to reviving trade and restarting the economy.
"If the world cares about the basic lives of the ordinary Iraqi they will come to their aid by supporting the lifting of sanctions, allowing goods to flow into the country," he told reporters. However, there are divisions within the council over the role the United Nations should play in post-war Iraq following the victory of US-led coalition forces. The BBC UN correspondent, Greg Barrow, says there is every indication that negotiations over this draft resolution will be difficult with France and Russia - who opposed military action in the first place - likely to dissent. For the resolution to pass, it needs the support of nine of the 15 members of the council, and must not be vetoed by any one of the five permanent members, which include France and Russia. Weapons inspectors France and Russia want to see a strong
role for the UN to give any US-chosen Iraqi authority international
legitimacy.
They also want the UN to follow procedures - opposed by Washington - which would require UN arms inspectors to declare Iraq free of weapons of mass destruction before sanctions are removed. The draft resolution does not mention the return of UN weapons teams, but does for the first time recognise the coalition as an "occupying power" under international law. In a statement issued on Friday, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said that France would take a "constructive" approach to the US resolution, but reiterated his support for a central role for the UN. "After the emergency phase, establishing a stable, democratic Iraq that is recognised internationally is one of our key priorities," the statement said. "The strong involvement of the international community, via a central role for the United Nations, is indispensable to ensuring its legitimacy." Before Friday's meeting began, the Russian ambassador to the UN, Sergei Lavrov, said he would put "lots of questions" to his counterpart, John Negroponte. Lengthy debate 'not necessary' The White House has expressed confidence that the draft resolution will face few obstacles. "The president wants the Security Council to act quickly and there is no need for a lengthy debate," spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters. The resolution would apparently allow some contracts concluded by the old Iraqi regime under the oil-for-food programme to be honoured - a move designed to please the Russians, correspondents say. Reports say the council is unlikely to
make a decision before 24 May. KEY STORIES
DESPATCHES
 Battle for
survival The future of Iraq's Marsh Arabs is in the balance
AUDIO GALLERY
 Rebuilding
Baghdad
HAVE YOUR SAY
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TOP MIDDLE EAST STORIES NOW
. End of article 4.
US President George W Bush will on Friday call for a free trade area between the US and the Middle East within a decade, officials have said. The proposed free trade area would build on existing US free trade agreements with Israel and Jordan, an unnamed senior administration official was quoted as saying. Washington hopes Iraq and a new Palestinian state would be among countries that qualify for membership, the official said. Mr Bush will also focus on the prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace, following Washington's publication last week of a "roadmap" peace plan, envisaging a Palestinian state by 2005. Mr Bush is due to make a speech at the University of South Carolina at about 1900 GMT. Strings attached Now that Saddam Hussein's regime has fallen in Iraq, Washington is keen use the opportunity to push for Israeli-Palestinian peace, as well as end trade barriers between the US and states in the region. The president believes Middle East nations
"deserve to be able to participate in the economic prosperity that has been
experienced in many other parts of the world," the senior White House official
said.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Trade Representative Robert Zoellick will attend a World Economic Forum in Jordan next month, where they will discuss conditions for membership in a new trade pact, the official said. Nations wanting to join a free trade area would need to have a market economy and a commitment to tackle terrorism, the official said. "We'll discuss with the parties in the region as we go forward about what are the conditions for participation by any specific country," he said. "It will take time to meet those goals. "That's why he's outlined a realistic goal of a decade." Morocco pact The US has said it wants to conclude a trade pact with Morocco by the end of the year, while, on Thursday, Mr Zoellick said Bahrain and Egypt were "serious candidates" for free trade deals. As a member of the World Trade Organisation, the US also has agreements on bi-lateral trade with several other Middle Eastern countries that are part of the group. However, the history of trade relations among Middle East states shows that change can be slow in coming. The six Gulf Arab states first proposed a free trade regime among themselves in 1983 but it was 20 years before a customs union was put in place. Some experts have also cast doubt on the impetus any US-Middle East free trade deal would bring to the search for peace in the region. "Free trade agreements could make sense, but I don't think in-and-of themselves they will be the catalyst for regional Middle East peace," said David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "There are some very thorny issues there." Mr Powell is travelling to the Middle East
this weekend where he will hold separate talks with Israel Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, more commonly known as Abu
Mazen. KEY STORIES
ANALYSIS
 Bush's
ambitions Even optimists must suspend disbelief at the US peace plan, writes Jon Leyne
HAVE YOUR SAY
INTERACTIVE ESSAYS
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TOP BUSINESS STORIES NOW
. End of article 5.
Officers call to order hundreds of members of the Group of Patriots for Peace on a sports field on the outskirts of Abidjan. This is the Lions unit. They do push-ups and scream for victory over rebels. Their instructors are holding weapons. The second in command of the Patriots for Peace, Secretary-General Toure Moussa Zeguen, says his group is opposed to a French-brokered peace plan that gives positions in the cabinet to rebels. He also accuses Burkina Faso and an opposition political leader of being behind the rebels. "We think that our movement is a popular movement to stop, you know, the terrorism of France and Burkina Faso with the political party of Alassane Ouattara so we are mobilizing people around the country, those who are ready to come and fight with us, you know, to not discuss with terrorists but fight them until they hang," he says. The rebels are based in the north, near the border with Burkina Faso, a stronghold of Mr. Ouattara, who was excluded from recent presidential elections because of a court ruling that he didn't meet nationality requirements.
Other similar groups, with names like the Cobras, Flic Flac or the Front for the Total Liberation of Ivory Coast, have also started training outside Abidjan. Estimates put the total number of militia members at 60,000. Mr. Zeguen warns members of the reconciliation government their lives are at risk, because he says these groups have the means and the will to fight. "We said that we cannot admit in our country those people who killed our parents without any reason to come and become members of the government so the rebels, the government can be sure that we can attack any one of them at any time. We have enough weapons at this present time, we have enough things to fight them back, that's not the problem. We are expecting more and more weapons coming from the outside," he says. Toure Moussa, a journalist for the political opposition newspaper Le Patriote, says he believes the militias are receiving weapons from members of the army and the police. He says they also receive training at police academies and military bases. Mr. Moussa says he is afraid these movements could evolve into deadly militias like the Interahamwe in Rwanda. He says it is very frightening because militia members outnumber soldiers and police in Ivory Coast. But the U.N. envoy for peace in Ivory Coast Albert Tevoedjre believes the groups can be contained. He considers them part of the difficult process to end the war. "I am convinced that by persuasion from the government, from the religious groups, from the NGOs and for anyone who has any influence on youths things will get better," he says. "I see no reason why we should not be able to persuade those groups to disarm and to be part of the process." The heads of two key ministries in the government, defense and the interior, still need to be named in order to finalize the peace deal. Ivory Coast's civil war began in September, with the northern-based rebels accusing the government of President Laurent Gbagbo of xenophobia against immigrant populations from the north. On the road leading back to Abidjan, another unit of the Group of Patriots for Peace is arriving for its training session. They sing songs calling for the liberation of northern and western areas under rebel control. The
unit's commander is Captain Zrakpa who likes to be known as Captain Z. He says
he is fighting for democracy and that no one should be allowed to enter a
government by the barrel of a gun.
. End of article 6.
The bomb went off during the busy traders market day in the town of Koronadal, on the southern island of Mindinao. The bomb was fashioned from a mortar, and reportedly went off just after being placed on the crowded street. It apparently killed the suspected bomber and an accomplice, as well as innocent bystanders. Colonel Agustin Dema-ala of the Philippine army told reporters that at least two women vendors and three passersby died at the scene, with a further seven people succumbing to injuries in the hospital. At least two dozen others were injured. Philippine authorities claimed the bombing was carried out by the Muslim separatist group, the Moro Isamic Liberation Front, or MILF. An MILF spokesman later denied the Front was linked to the attack, saying the rebel group did not attack civilian targets. An attack last week, to which the MILF admitted, killed 34 people, including 10 civilians. That bombing led the government to scrap a plan to restart peace talks with the rebels. The government has also linked the MILF to a series of bombings that led to power outages in the southern provinces, as well as explosions in the southern city of Davao that killed 38 people during March and April. The MILF has been waging a 25-year campaign for an Islamic state in the southern regions of the Philippines, and has consistently received support from Muslim groups abroad, including the Organization of Islamic Conferences, the OIC. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, in her weekly
radio address, said a detailed report would be delivered to the OIC, showing
that the MILF is not engaged in a noble struggle, but rather in what she called
the murder of innocent civilians.
. End of article 7.
A court in Yemen has sentenced a man to death for killing three Americans who worked at a Christian-run hospital last December. Abed Abdulrazzak Kamel, 30, smuggled a gun into the hospital in the southern town of Jibla. He told police he shot the three, including the hospital director and a woman doctor, because they were Christian missionaries. Yemeni security officials say Kamel
belonged to an al-Qaeda cell that plotted attacks on foreigners and Yemeni
officials.
During the trial, he told the court he had co-ordinated the attack with another suspected Muslim militant, who is being tried separately over the murder of a Yemeni politician Kamel came into the hospital cradling his Kalashnikov rifle inside a jacket as though it was a child, according to police. He entered a staff room and shot dead hospital administrator William Koehn, Kathleen Gariety and doctor Martha Myers. Kamel then went to the hospital pharmacy and shot pharmacist Donald Caswell, who later recovered. Crackdown Kamel condemned the verdict, saying he should have been tried by an Islamic court and not a civil court. His lawyer said he would appeal against
the sentence, which is usually enforced by firing squad.
"The ruling is a political one and violates Islamic Sharia law," Kamel told the court in Ebb province, 170 kilometres (105 miles) south of the capital Sanaa. Kamel was a student at Yemen's al-Iman university - which was briefly closed last year after allegations that it was a hotbed of Islamic militancy. After the killing President Ali Abdullah Saleh sent a message of condolence to his US counterpart George W Bush, expressing shock and outrage at the attack on people who were working to help Yemenis. Yemen has been a focus for anti-Western attacks in recent years. In October 2000, 17 US sailors died in a suicide attack on the destroyer USS Cole in the southern port of Aden. Since the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States, Yemen has been cracking down on Islamic militants members in an attempt to shed its image as a haven for al-Qaeda supporters. American special forces have been allowed
to operate in the country. SEE ALSO:
RELATED INTERNET LINKS:
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external internet sites
TOP MIDDLE EAST STORIES NOW
. End of article 8.
President Bush's handling of the war in Iraq has drawn praise from many Democrats in recent weeks. But some members of the opposition are now belatedly questioning Mr. Bush's recent speech aboard the U.S. aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, contending it was a costly political gimmick aimed at helping the president win re-election next year.
It took a few days, but some Democrats are now grumbling that the president's appearance aboard the carrier, Lincoln, was nothing more than a costly made-for-television political gimmick designed to win him votes in the 2004 presidential election. New Jersey Congressman Robert Menendez made the case for the Democrats on NBC's Today program. "So, I think that to go ahead and spend a million dollars in taxpayers' money for, in essence, what will be a campaign commercial during the next presidential election, delay the homecoming of 4,000 troops when you could have visited them in their port 39 miles away, just simply doesn't make sense, doesn't make sense to the taxpayers," he said. White House officials insist the president's visit to the carrier and his prime time television speech proclaiming the end of major combat operations in Iraq legitimately fall under his duties as commander in chief. Presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer said "more than 100 Americans in our military paid the ultimate price to defend us, and this president is proud to have visited the [USS] Abraham Lincoln, to have flown onto to it to say, 'thank you' in person to those who defend our country," he said. Public opinion polls indicate the president has a huge advantage on foreign policy and national security issues compared to the nine Democrats running for the White House. But political analyst Stuart Rothenberg said Democrats do not want to concede any issues to the president, as the 2004 election cycle draws near. "I don't think the Democrats, as a party, fear this president at the moment. They respect what he did on foreign policy. Many of them, though not all, are giving him credit in that area. But they just feel that he is fundamentally vulnerable in terms of taxes and priorities," he said. Other analysts believe the complaint about the carrier visit is proof that Democrats are almost desperate to find something to weaken the president's advantage on national security. Washington commentator David Aikman, a regular guest on VOA's 'Issues in the News' program, said "one of the things that really worries the Democrats is that the image of Bush landing and wearing his flight suit and getting out of the plane, with a helmet under his arm -- it reinforces the impression that most Americans have that, on issues of national security, the Republicans just do a better job. And that is not an image that any Democratic contender for the presidency wants to have ringing in the backs of people's heads, when they go to the voting machine." A recent debate in South Carolina showed that all nine Democratic presidential contenders are willing to criticize the president's record on foreign policy and national security. But at
the same time, most of them hammered away at the president's handling of the
economy, believing that issue to be their best chance to deny Mr. Bush a second
term next year.
. End of article 9.
There was a hero's welcome for Ayatollah al-Hakim as he came home to watch over the formation of a new government following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Mr. Al-Hakim has spoken favorably of making Iraq an Islamic republic under Sharia law, but he plays down any comparisons with the hardline clerics who dominate Iran, where he lived in exile. Mr. Al-Hakim leads the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which has a militia of several thousand fighters. After initial reluctance, the Supreme Council has joined other political factions in negotiations on forming a post-war government. Shi'ites make up about 60 percent of Iraq's population, but
they were brutally repressed by Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime.
Several of the ayatollah's relatives were killed by the regime.
. End of article 10.
Voters lined up at polling stations across the small republic on the Baltic Sea to take part in what could be a major turning point in Lithuania's history. The country is one of 10 European nations, most of them former communist states, that have been invited to join the European Union a year from now. Recent opinion polls indicate that around 65 percent of the country's 3.5 million people favor the move. But Lithuanians have been through difficult economic times since the country gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, and many of its citizens seem indifferent about the issue of EU membership. A turnout of
less than 50 percent would mean the polling results would be
invalid.
If voters approve the referendum, Lithuania would become the first former Soviet republic to say 'yes' to the European Union. The Soviet Red army occupied the country in 1940, along with neighboring Estonia and Latvia. Much bitterness remains from the long Soviet occupation, which ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. But some oppose joining the European Union because they see it as coming under a new kind of foreign domination. Opposition to joining is stronger in Latvia and Estonia, which are due to hold their own referendums in September. All three republics have also been invited to join the NATO military alliance. Malta,
Slovenia and Hungary have already voted in favor of joining the European Union,
while Slovakia and Poland are to hold their votes on membership
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The strong involvement of the
international community, via a central role for the United Nations, is
indispensable to ensuring its legitimacy 
