Brazil to mediate
Venezuelan-Colombian rift
Brazil will mediate a diplomatic
and commercial crisis between
Colombia and Venezuela over the
controversy surrounding the
arrest of a Colombian rebel
leader, Brazilian Presidential
spokesman Andre Singer said on
Thursday.
"Foreign Minister Celso Amorim
will make efforts to help
normalize Colombian-Venezuelan
relations," Singer said.
Singer's remarks came after
Amorim said on Wednesday that
"we believe there are natural
conditions for Colombia and
Venezuela to start a dialogue."
After a summit between Brazilian
President Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva and his Colombian
counterpart, Alvaro Uribe, at
the border city of Leticia in
Colombia on Wednesday, Amorim
said Brazil played down the
seriousness of the political
impasse between Colombia and
Venezuela, defining Brazil's
role as facilitator instead of
mediator.
"I believe we should not talk of
a mediation as this is not a
conflict requiring such a role
from Brazil, or its president.
Lula could be a facilitator of
the dialogue between friends."
Relations between Colombia and
Venezuela soured after the
alleged arrest of Rodrigo Granda,
foreign relations chief of
Colombia's rebel group, the
Revolutionary Armed forces of
Colombia, in December by
Colombian law-enforcement
personnel. Venezuela accused
Colombia of abducting Granda on
Venezuelan territory, while
Colombia insisted the capture
took place within its borders.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
recalled the ambassador from
Bogota and froze diplomatic and
commercial relations with
Colombia and demanded a public
apology from Colombia.
Chilean senator to participate
as observer in Iraqi elections
Chilean Senator Sergio Paez,
president of the
Inter-Parliamentarian Union (IPU),
will participate as observer in
the Jan. 30 elections in Iraq.
The senator said he was
confident of order in the
process, although there were
objective difficulties due to
prevailing violence in the Arab
country under the US-British
occupation.
He said the voting of those
expatriates will be coordinated
by the World Migrants
Organization and verified by the
IPU and other organizations in
Germany, Iran, Jordan, The
Netherlands, Sweden, Syria,
Turkey, the United Arab
Emirates, Britain and the United
States.
A total of 18,104 overseas
Iraqis have registered to vote
by absentee ballots in the
elections on the first day of a
week-long such service for
overseas Iraqis. The rest of the
estimated 1.2 million overseas
Iraqis eligible for the
elections will have to register
before Sunday.
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Forest fire causes huge losses
in Uruguay
A
forest fire that broke out
Sunday in Uruguay's southeast
department of Rocha has resulted
in about 10 million US dollars
in losses, the EI Pais daily
reported Thursday.
The fire, which has been
partially controlled, destroyed
450 hectares of trees and forced
an evacuation of 3,000 people in
the small town of La Esmeralda,
about 280 km from the capital.
Commander of the fire brigade,
Roque Alvarez, said the fire
waspartially controlled, but
vigilance was necessary to avoid
the recurrence of the fire by
wind.
The daily also said firemen have
extinguished two other forest
fires in the country.
Specialists attributed the
forest fires to high
temperatures, strong winds,
drought and human
irresponsibility.
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