Iraqis carry an injured employee at Baghdad's al-Salhiya communications centre after it was hit by a missile during a coalition air raid yesterday.Agence

Baghdad rocked by more blasts on 12th day of war

Two large blasts rocked central Baghdad early on Monday as US and British warplanes kept up a fierce barrage on the Iraqi capital.

Washington too optimistic entering Iraq war: poll

More than half of Americans believe the US government was too optimistic in its assessments of the probable course of the war in Iraq, and one in three would not support the war if more than 500 US troops were to die, according to a poll released early on Monday (HK time).

Casualty toll may be high in battle for Baghdad

The defences of Baghdad do not look much: sandbagged emplacements outside government offices, trenches in parks and palm groves, ditches of blazing oil belching out smoke to interfere with the US and British laser-guided bombs. Six-lane motorways ideal for fast-moving armour snake into the city.

Iraqi suicide bomber offers up a prayer before dying

"After he kissed a copy of the Koran, he got into his booby-trapped car and went to an area where enemy armoured cars and tanks were gathered on the fringes of Najaf and turned his pure body and explosives-laden car into a rocket and blew himself up."

Rumsfeld's strategy is questioned

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's influence in crafting the plan for the Iraq war is facing scrutiny as it becomes apparent the campaign will not be as quick or easy as some American leaders had predicted.

Death and uncertainty put a family's faith to the test

When Americans Jane and Athos Riley heard that their son had been taken prisoner in Iraq, they thought things couldn't get much worse. Then their daughter died.

Father cheers attack on radical Islamists

Nabi Aga sheds no tears at the thought that US special forces are closing in on the mountain hideout of his youngest son and his fellow radical Islamists.

Hundreds turn out at China's first public protests

China allowed its first public protests against the war in Iraq yesterday as hundreds of people demonstrated at several different locations.

Posted on Sun, Mar. 30, 2003 STEPHEN IXER Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela's military exchanged gunfire with Colombian paramilitaries and bombed a zone close to the border as a warning to the fighters, President Hugo Chavez said Sunday.

During his weekly TV program, Chavez said Colombian paramilitaries recently "invaded Venezuelan territory" and fired on an army patrol surveying the border area, hitting their helicopter.

A 90-minute gun battle ensued and the assailants ran back to Colombia.

Chavez also said armed forces recently dropped bombs near where Colombian paramilitaries were hiding.

"I said to bomb the area, not on direct targets but over the adjacent area so as to warn them and establish a security cordon," Chavez said. "We did it, it was effective, and they withdrew toward Colombian territory."

Chavez has been criticized for not doing to enough to defend the 1,370-mile border with Colombia, where a civil war has raged for 38 years, pitting leftist rebels against government troops. In recent years, the right-wing paramilitary fighters have joined the fray against the rebels.

Tensions also have mounted between the two countries over allegations that Venezuela's left-wing government supports Colombian guerrillas, a charge Chavez denies.

Meanwhile, in Colombia, Defense Minister Martha Lucia Ramirez accused rebels of using bullets soaked in liquid cyanide, which is prohibited by international treaties.

Ramirez didn't say when the bullets were found or if they had killed soldiers.

In September 2001, four members of the Colombian National Police died in what was alleged to be a poison gas attack blamed on the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

<a href=ipsnews.net>Mario Osava*

RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 30 (IPS) - Another weekend of protests in Latin America against the war on Iraq, marked by music and creative slogans, culminated Sunday with a rally in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, where world-renowned musician and Brazilian Culture Minister Gilberto Gil sang several protest songs. Between 10,000 and 30,000 people, according to press reports or the organisers, took part in the demonstration convened by the governing Workers' Party (PT). Many of those present sang along with Gil to ''Peace'', one of his most famous songs. Two other singers, Supla and Chico Cesar, performed in the peace rally, which was called by a committee that groups more than 100 social organisations and political parties, and by the government of Sao Paulo, Brazil's biggest city. Gil said Brazilians carried the urge to defend peace ''in their genes,'' and expressed his hope that the protests being held around the world would end up eroding the U.S. population's support for the war. ''The participation of artists in the anti-war demonstrations is important, because music symbolises the struggle for peace,'' said the president of the PT, former parliamentary deputy José Genoino. In Mexico, the ''Loveparade'' peace rally, which ended in an enormous dance, began late Saturday and stretched to seven in the morning on Sunday, drawing around 5,000 young people -- very few compared to the projections of the organisers, who hoped for as many as 200,000. Protesters chanted and carried placards against the British-U.S. invasion of Iraq, which has been going on for 10 days. In addition, around 100 graffiti artists covered 300 metres of wall space on a Mexico City school with anti-war designs. Music also formed part of the anti-war events in Buenos Aires, but with a more formal tone: a performance in the historical Colon Theatre in which a children's choir and dancers from a school performed along with popular musicians. Humour and irreverence also played a role in the events organised this weekend by the region's peace movement. In a protest held Saturday in Caracas, alongside placards with the usual anti-war slogans ''No War'' and ''No Blood for Oil'' appeared a poster with the image of U.S. President George W. Bush as a vampire sinking his fangs into oil-rich Iraq and Venezuela. In Rio de Janeiro, the ''Diabush'' (for ''diablo'' or devil), a man sporting a red devil's suit and a mask of the U.S. president's face, carried a sign stating ''I am the one in charge in the world.'' Next to him, a protester wearing a mask of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein carried a fake bomb that read ''No More Bombs.'' The two characters stood out among the roughly 300 people who marched along the famous Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro, and later danced to the music of the afro-Brazilian group Sons of Gandhi. ''The Diabush shows where we are headed if Bush's policies continue: to hell,'' said Deputy Carlos Minc, who headed the protest along with his fellow congressman Fernando Gabeira. Both legislators are members of the PT as well as prominent environmentalists. ''Our War is Against Hunger'' and ''Make Love, Not War'' read banners carried by the demonstrators. Organisations of homosexuals, transvestites and transsexuals were represented in the event, and have organised their own anti-war demonstrations in several Brazilian cities. The colourful clothing and costumes worn by members of sexual minorities also brightened up a peace march that took place in downtown Santiago on Saturday, drawing between 1,500 and 2,000 people who urged President Ricardo Lagos to back a call for the United Nations General Assembly to hold a special session to ''adopt moral sanctions against Bush.'' One sign carried by the protesters read ''Thanks, Ambassador Vega'', an allusion to Chile's representative on the UN Commission on Human Rights, which is holding its annual meetings through Apr. 25 in Geneva, Switzerland. Last week, Vega disobeyed instructions from his government to vote against a motion for the Commission to discuss the humanitarian and human rights situation in Iraq. Instead, the diplomat abstained. Recalled to Chile, he resigned Saturday before the Foreign Ministry could remove him. The proposal to debate the situation in Iraq failed to pass because a majority of the 53 countries represented on the Commission adhered to the argument that the issue fell within the sphere of the UN Security Council. There have also been calls in Latin America to join a new global movement to boycott U.S. products, brands and companies. McDonald's franchises were occupied by nearly 150 student protesters from the movement ''No Pasarán'' in the Argentine capital, and targetted by stone-throwers in Caracas as well as peaceful protests in other cities in the region over the past week. In the eastern port city of Veracruz, in the Gulf of Mexico, around 3,000 people chanted ''Yanquis Out of Iraq'' on Saturday. They convened another demonstration under the theme ''Tamales Against Hamburgers'', to be held outside a local Burger King next Thursday. Tamales are a traditional Mexican dish made of ground beef seasoned with chili, rolled in cornmeal dough and wrapped in corn husks. In Uruguay, U.S. flags were burnt in a protest Friday that drew thousands of anti-war demonstrators in Montevideo and was planned by the country's central trade union and student groups. U.S. embassies and consulates were also the targets of hostility in Montevideo, Caracas and other cities, including Valencia, 120 kms from the Venezuelan capital. Venezuela's Arab community, which numbers around one million in that oil exporting country of 23 million, has also joined the mobilisations against Bush.

• Diego Cevallos (Mexico), Gustavo González (Chile), Humberto Márquez (Venezuela) and Marcela Valente (Argentina) contributed to this report. (END/2003)

Source

Chavez has antagonised neighbours with his leftist views

The Venezuelan army has bombed Colombian armed groups operating on its territory after a clash along the border, President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday.

"A short while ago, I ordered an air force operation and we bombed an area where we detected the presence of a group," he said in his weekly radio address to the nation.

He ordered the operation on Thursday after the Colombians, whom he did not identify, attacked a Venezuelan military post, and the action reportedly forced them to retreat back into Colombia.

Mr Chavez also revealed that Colombian President Alvaro Uribe had asked for a personal meeting within days to "clear up" difficulties between the two countries which share a 2,219-kilometre (1,379-mile) border.

"We are working on a presidential meeting which will take place in the next few days - we are deciding the time and place," Mr Chavez said, adding that it would probably take place in western Venezuela.

'Effective air strike'

The Colombian Government has been fighting leftist rebels for decades in a bloody civil war also involving right-wing paramilitaries.

Mr Chavez gave no details of the bombing operation and there have been no reports of casualties among the Colombian fighters.

Neither paramilitaries nor rebels nor the armed forces of Colombia have authorisation... to be on Venezuelan territory

Hugo Chavez

But he insisted that the air strike had been "effective... and caused the group to double back toward Colombian territory".

"Neither paramilitaries nor rebels nor the armed forces of Colombia have authorisation, nor will they have it, to be on Venezuelan territory," he said.

The Colombian irregulars had, he said, attacked a Venezuelan military post in a 90-minute firefight during which they fired a missile at an army helicopter.

Earlier in March, Venezuela announced it would boost its border garrison of 5,000 soldiers.

Mr Chavez's revelations appear to be the first official report of fighting in the border area this week.

A Colombian TV station reported on Sunday that fierce fighting on the Colombian side had caused 20 deaths.

The clashes between leftist rebels and rightwing paramilitaries in the Tibu district of Norte de Santander province forced more than 100 people to leave their homes and seek shelter across the border in Venezuela, Caracol TV said in an unconfirmed report.

Strained relations

Ties between the leftist government in Venezuela and Colombia's US-backed leaders have been strained in recent months:

• The Venezuelan leader has accused Colombian businessmen of conspiring with Venezuelan colleagues to topple his leftist government, which has weathered both a coup and a damaging political strike over the past 12 months.

• The Venezuelan Government has been accused by Colombian media and the Venezuelan opposition of aiding Colombian leftist rebels.

• In February, the Colombian consulate in Caracas was damaged in a mysterious explosion.

Mr Chavez described Colombia as a "sister nation" in his speech on Sunday.

"Now, we are going to put things in their place, show each other mutual respect, work and build together," he said.

Source

Venezuela is guaranteeing supplies of oil to its clients in the United States despite President Hugo Chavez's vocal opposition to the US-led war in Iraq, Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said.

Left-winger Chavez, who has angered Washington in the past by maintaining friendly ties with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, has sharply criticized the US and British military campaign against Baghdad, especially the civilian casualties it has caused.

Venezuela, the world's number 5 oil exporter, is a major provider of crude oil and products to the US market. Iraq's ambassador to Venezuela urged the world's oil producers to halt shipments to the United States and Britain.

Speaking on local television in Caracas, Ramirez said Chavez's anti-war stancewas no different to the positions expressed by other governments in the United Nations and by other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

"The position that we have always maintained in OPEC, and it is the policy of this government, is that oil should not be converted into a political weapon," he said.

"We have guaranteed the supply of oil to all of our clients in the United States," Ramirez added in an interview with the private Televen television channel. Venezuela normally supplies more than 13% of all US oil imports.

Chavez, who has strengthened ties with states seen as hostile by Washington, like Iran and Cuba, infuriated the US government in 2000 by travelling to Baghdad to become the first head of state to meet with Hussein since the 1991 Gulf War.

Any decision by Venezuela on its oil production and exports would be taken within OPEC as a group, Ramirez said.

Venezuela, whose output and exports were slashed by a crippling opposition strike against Chavez in December and January, has been working to get oil operations back to normal since then. Oil exports are the country's economic lifeblood and account for around half of government revenues. Since the anti-Chavez strike fizzled out early in February, Venezuelan officials have gone out of their way to convince the US government that their country will remain a reliable supplier of crude and oil products.

The government insists oil production has been restored to pre-strike levels of 3.1 million barrels per day. Striking oil workers, more than 16,000 of whom have been fired by the government, have put current output at around 2.45 million bpd.

Ramirez said the stoppage, which tried but failed to force the Populist Chavez to resign and hold early elections, cost the country's strategic oil industry $US6 billion in lost revenues and damage to installations.