US Secretary of State Colin Powell appealed to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on Thursday to step aside for the sake of achieving his lifetime goal of a Palestinian state.
In an unusually personal tone, Powell told a press conference at the Foreign Press Center: "Mr. Chairman, how long can you wait?
"How long can you stay in this position where the Palestinian people are suffering, where it's difficult to go forward toward the objectives of the road map, where it's difficult to achieve what you say is your dream -- a state for the Palestinian people?"
The US and Israel call Arafat, the elected leader of the Palestinian Authority who has been a virtual prisoner in his Ramallah office since 2001, an obstacle to peace, and refuse to deal with him.
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier pointedly opposed the US-Israeli boycott of Arafat in a speech to the UN General Assembly on Thursday.
He said France would continue to interact with "the elected and legitimate leaders -- all the leaders -- of this region."
Reporting on a meeting on Wednesday of Middle East peace mediators -- the US, Russia, the EU and the UN, Powell said they were growing tired of waiting for Palestinian reforms.
"There is a weariness in the international community to continue providing the kind of assistance (that) the Palestinians so desperately need unless we see some sort of political reform," he said.
Powell said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for a unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and from a few settlements in the West Bank offered an opportunity to move forward but required Palestinian action on security.
Meanwhile, Powell churned through meetings with envoys in New York for the UN General Assembly, adding another first to his tenure on Thursday by meeting with Libya's foreign minister.
It was the first time an American secretary of state had met with a Libyan envoy since at least the 1970s. Powell's session with Foreign Minister Abdurahman Shalgam at a hotel followed US President George W. Bush's revocation last week of the trade embargo on Libya and other steps in return for Tripoli's dismantling its unconventional weapons pro-grams. After the meeting, a senior State Department official said that Powell discussed Libya's "positive" moves but also how it can further improve relations with Washington.
The US continues to have "serious concerns" that Libya may have plotted to assassinate Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and about human rights abuses in Libya.
Last year, Libya agreed to compensate families of the 270 victims who died in the crash in Lockerbie, Scotland, of Pan Am Flight 107, which was blown up by Libyan terrorists, and to dismantle its chemical, biological and nuclear arms programs as demanded by the US.
As Libya has followed through on its pledges, the US has gradually lifted sanctions and stepped up contacts with the Libyan leader-ship. However, because Libya remains on the State Department's list of countries that sponsor terrorism, it is barred from receiving imports with military and security applications, and Libya and the US do not have full diplomatic relations.
In other developments, Powell met with Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov. A senior State Department official said Powell raised concerns about recent steps by President Vladimir Putin on the political process in Russia, but he gave no details.
Indonesia yesterday began enforcing its newly ratified penal code, replacing a Dutch-era criminal law that had governed the country for more than 80 years and marking a major shift in its legal landscape. Since proclaiming independence in 1945, the Southeast Asian country had continued to operate under a colonial framework widely criticized as outdated and misaligned with Indonesia’s social values. Efforts to revise the code stalled for decades as lawmakers debated how to balance human rights, religious norms and local traditions in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. The 345-page Indonesian Penal Code, known as the KUHP, was passed in 2022. It
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
PERILOUS JOURNEY: Over just a matter of days last month, about 1,600 Afghans who were at risk of perishing due to the cold weather were rescued in the mountains Habibullah set off from his home in western Afghanistan determined to find work in Iran, only for the 15-year-old to freeze to death while walking across the mountainous frontier. “He was forced to go, to bring food for the family,” his mother, Mah Jan, said at her mud home in Ghunjan village. “We have no food to eat, we have no clothes to wear. The house in which I live has no electricity, no water. I have no proper window, nothing to burn for heating,” she added, clutching a photograph of her son. Habibullah was one of at least 18 migrants who died
Russia early yesterday bombarded Ukraine, killing two people in the Kyiv region, authorities said on the eve of a diplomatic summit in France. A nationwide siren was issued just after midnight, while Ukraine’s military said air defenses were operating in several places. In the capital, a private medical facility caught fire as a result of the Russian strikes, killing one person and wounding three others, the State Emergency Service of Kyiv said. It released images of rescuers removing people on stretchers from a gutted building. Another pre-dawn attack on the neighboring city of Fastiv killed one man in his 70s, Kyiv Governor Mykola
RSS