India, Pakistan Call Peace Process Irreversible
http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=CEE045:2F72C9DPakistani president says Kashmir dispute must be resolved before
nuclear rivals can achieve permanent peace
President Pervez Musharraf, left, shakes hands with Syed Ali Shah
Geelani, a representative of All Parties Hurriyat Conference,
Kashmir's main separatist allianceIndia and Pakistan have pledged to
increase cross-border links in the divided territory of Kashmir,
saying their peace process is now irreversible.
The leaders of India and Pakistan on Monday outlined a range of
measures to open up the heavily militarized Line of Control dividing
the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
The measures listed in a joint statement include further travel, trade
and cultural links, and more opportunities for contact between divided
families by the de facto border.
Coming shortly after the start of the first cross-border bus service
in Kashmir in almost 60 years, the new measures are expected to give
the peace process fresh momentum.
The statement was issued as Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf ended
a three-day visit to New Delhi to watch a cricket match, and meet with
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Reading the statement, Mr. Singh said the two countries have a
historic opportunity to resolve their disputes. He called the peace
process between the two countries "irreversible."
"In this spirit, the two leaders addressed the issue of Jammu and
Kashmir and agreed to continue these discussions in a sincere and
purposeful and forward-looking manner for a final settlement," said
Mr. Singh.
Earlier, talking with Indian newspaper editors, the Pakistani
president said the "time is ripe" for the countries to resolve their
disputes.
But he warned that the Kashmir issue could erupt if the two countries
do not settle their conflicting claims to the territory. The dispute
has led to two of their three wars.
"Agreement means nothing in a different environment and different
leadership. Therefore we must go for resolution of all disputes and
the core dispute of Kashmir," said Mr. Musharraf. "There should be no
doubt in anyone's mind. We have to resolve this dispute amicably, to
the acceptance of Pakistan, India and the people of Kashmir. "
India has said it will not accept the redrawing of Kashmir's existing
boundaries, but wants to create a situation where "borders are
irrelevant."
President Musharraf has stressed that the Line of Control cannot be a
final solution.
Despite the persisting differences between the two sides, analysts say
the tenor of the talks was positive, and the two sides are displaying
flexibility in trying to resolve a dispute that has bedeviled their
relations for decades.
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Ivory Coast Factions Ready for Disarmament
[http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=CEE03C:2F72C9D
Army spokesman Jules Yao Yao says there will be another meeting in
early May to confirm and elaborate on the disarmament plan Warring
sides in Ivory Coast's conflict agreed late Saturday to move forward
in the long-delayed disarmament process. Both rebel forces and the
army are optimistic that the divided country is moving toward peace,
and say they will begin to pull heavy arms away from frontlines.
During talks in the rebel-held city of Bouake, the army and rebel
forces agreed to provisional dates for the disarmament, from May 14 to
July 31. They also said they would start moving heavy arms away from
frontlines starting April 21.
Army spokesman Jules Yao Yao, who participated in Saturday's talks,
says there will be another meeting in early May to confirm and
elaborate on the disarmament plan, but he is optimistic that
disarmament would really begin May 14.
Mr. Yao Yao says that a feeling of trust was established in Saturday's
meeting between the two sides, which is necessary to make both sides
stick to their agreement to give up their weapons. He says it is
important as a show of good faith that both sides are moving their
heavy arms away from frontlines.
Both the army and the so-called New Forces rebels have agreed in the
past to withdraw weapons from frontlines, but the final step of making
fighters give up their weapons has never taken place.
A New Forces rebel spokesman, Amadou Kone, said the meeting put
forward plans to disarm only the principle belligerents of the
conflict, and the New Forces could not proceed with disarmament, until
they had at least an answer on the issue of militias.
Mr. Kone says, if everyone disarmed and militias still had weapons,
the New Forces would have a security problem.
A peace accord signed by the major parties of the conflict at the
beginning of April in the South African town of Pretoria said that the
disarmament and dismantling of militias should proceed immediately,
but the government has not addressed the issue of the militias.
The New Forces group has accused the government of recruiting foreign
mercenaries to attack them, despite signing the Pretoria accord.
Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo called a Cabinet meeting Friday
for all sides to implement the Pretoria accord, which declared an end
to war in Ivory Coast.
Conflict has split the country since 2002, when rebels from the north
tried to launch a coup against the government. Many Ivorians fear that
if the Pretoria peace deal fails, the country could break out into
ethnic civil war.