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Data from June, 1998 CORE survey on a random sample of 861 students
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WORLD
Page 12
THE BATTALION
Monday. Februar.
Indians and police clasli
over drilling in Columb
LAS CANOAS, Colombia (AP) - Leaders of a Colombian
indigenous tribe said they will not give in to a U.S. company’s
plans to drill for oil in their traditional lands, even after riot po
lice clashed with Indian protesters blocking a road-to the area.
“This is our land. We will not leave it,” Roberto Perez, head
of the U’wa nation’s council of leaders, said on Saturday.
There were reports from tribal lead-
ers that as many as five children fell
into a fast-flowing river and may have
drowned in the confusion after a clash.
But the reports could not be confirmed.
No bodies have been found, and police
have denied reports of deaths in Fri
day’s violence.
Reporters visiting the remote area in
northeastern Colombia during the week
end heard conflicting versions of what
happened when police broke up the
protest, which highlights the intensity of
a long-running dispute over the U’wa
tribe’s claim to land it considers sacred.
"I'm not moving.
This is my land,
and nobody is
taking it from me.
The highway was reopened in the mountainous re.
the Venezuelan border, and on Saturday construct^
rolled past the scene of the previous day’s violence,
for the site where Los Angeles-based Occidental hi
up to 2 billion barrels of crude. The company coi
diately be reached for comment.
Protesters lined the edgeol
facing a picket of riot police
“I’m not moving. This is
and n< >bod> is taking it frotsa
tor Bocota, who said hisfotti-
old daughter died after riot poll
up the protest, said.
Communication with the
sometimes difficult because
them don’t speak Spanish
dian girl, ^-year-old Kesiott-
ta, told reporters through ai
preter that she had lost Pastor
babv w hile trying to crosstl
•luted to the man or the baht
IERT HYNECI
Pastor Bocota
Protester
For weeks, members of the tribe have occupied land just
outside their reservation on which the U.S. oil company Occi
dental Petroleum wants to begin exploratory drilling.
Although the drilling site lies outside tribal lands, the U’wa
said they believe oil exploration would bring violence and de
stroy their culture.
About 150 riot police on Friday flew by helicopter to Las
Canoas, 210 miles northeast of Bogota, to disperse the hun
dreds of Indians who had blocked the dusty road leading to the
Occidental drilling site.
The police fired tear gas at the protesters, who w ere armed
with wooden clubs and bows and arrows. Six Indians suffered
cuts and bruises, while two police agents suffered minor
wounds from the tribe’s metal-tipped arrows.
The girl, who is not rel
infant slipped from her arms.
Activists from the U.S.-based groups Amazon W
Rainforest Action Network previously told reportersil
children had died during the clash.
Regional police commander Col. Raul C opeda.x
the incident would be investigated, but U’wa leader
unimpressed.
“They can say what they like, but it’s their fault.I:
have to pay for these lives.” I baristo Cobaria,theinb
adviser, said.
The clash pits the 8,000-member tribe against tk;
needs of an oil-rich country of 40 million people wk
ers say Colombia will have to import oil within theno.
if it can’t exploit its own reserve
Wahid backs down on IMF
demand for resignation
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — In a
surprise reversal. President Abdurrah
man Wahid suspended his powerful se
curity minister, Gen. Wiranto, from the
Cabinet over his alleged role in last
year’s bloodshed in East Timor, new spa
pers reported Monday.
Upon his return home Sunday follow
ing a 16-day overseas tour, Wahid met
with Wiranto and announced that the min
ister would remain part of the government
while the attorney general’s office con
ducted a new formal inquiry into the vio
lence that fol-
announce that he was keeping Wiranto
— who has refused numerous public
and private appeals from Wahid to re
sign — in the government until the at
torney general finalized the new inves
tigation of Wiranto’s responsibility for
the events in liast Timor.
On Monday morning, presidential
spokesperson Dharmawan Ronodipuro
declined to comment about the Kompas
report but said that Cabinet secretary Mar-
si lam Simanjuntak would make a formal
announcement later in the day.
Wiranto has
gets pit
in face
Ca
i
IS
lowed East
Timor’s vote for
independence.
But late Sun
day night, the
president, who
lias been known
to frequently
make strong state
ments on issues
only to ignore
them later or
change his stance,
told Indonesian
reporters that
"I asked [Wiranto]
to resign, but he said
be preffered to be in
vestigated by law,
and I said 'Okay.'"
— President Abdurrahman Wahid
Wahid would be suspended from the Cab
inet during the new probe.
“While waiting for the attorney gen
eral’s special team to investigate Gen.
Wiranto, 1 have taken a decision to deac
tivate him from duty, and [appoint] inte
rior minister Surjadi Sudirdja as interim
coordinating minister for security and
political affairs,” Wahid said, as quoted
by the Kompas newspaper.
Other Jakarta newspapers carried
similar reports.
Wahid gave no explanation for his
unexpected decision. The announcement
was made to reporters from the Indone
sian media who had been called to the
palace around midnight Sunday, re
porters said.
Several hours earlier, Wahid had
e c an im P r °mptu news conference to
been accused by
separate Indone
sian and U.N. hu
man rights panels
of failing to pre
vent the East
Timor violence
in September as
commander of
the country’s
armed forces.
Hundreds of
people were
killed and much
of the province
devastated in attacks by anti-independence
militants following East Timor’s vote for
independence on Aug. 30. Indonesian sol
diers have been accused of taking part in
some attacks and stepping back and al
lowing many others.
On Sunday afternoon, after meeting
privately with Wiranto, Wahid told re
porters: “I asked | Wiranto] to resign, but
he said he preferred to be investigated by
law, and I said ‘Okay’.”
“I have... the right to change my min
isters,” he said. “After he is inspected by
law, then I will exercise my prerogative.”
Wahid’s trip abroad was to focus on
encouraging investment in Indonesia’s
moribund economy. But that goal was
largely forgotten as the media focused on
the political duel, which sparked fears of
a possible military coup in Jakarta.
BANGKOK, Thailand (A?
Government officials argue::
testers marched and a denv.
threw a pie at the chief ol ttfj
national Monetary fund 0 j
Sunday during a tradesawm
had been touted is & peacefci nw
ing of rich and poor vm\s.
One chapter of the cwenlecon
ic order came to an end as Mi
Camdessus, the IMF’s managing
tor. made a final speech to the
Conference on Trade ;uid Dcvelof
before his retirement Monday.
He said economic global::
does not threaten poor nations 1»
foreign investment w
gaps in wealth.
“Globalization can now be?
a positive light," he said, “astlii
means ol' improving the hum
dition throughout the world.”
But many developing coun
gue they are being left behind .
benefits of economic globalizaw
spread unequally among the w
people, creating bigger divides^ [
the haves and the have-nots.
Ninety-
Rudder
Station
A secoi
ed ano
change
Texas A&IV
The developing ®unlri««4 ySenateha
that debts owed to rich nationsaK« -ri P
pling their ability to — aculu
piiiiy lih.ii aumiy iu grOW, Sjiuâ„¢
complain trade barriers keeping® m ^ iac
products out of some markets afiB/J 10 ^ ra( ^ e (
posed unfairly. M fcaverag,
Critics ofTMF bailout pacb'f eic m 't'ally n
Asian countries during the recenlR urse selectio
noinic crisis claim the fund’s #GPAof6ne
tence on high interest rates torej
financial stability deepenedreceff
leading to heavy job losses.
Social Justice in
Islam
&
Nte& sV °
An Inter-faith Dialogue Presented by the
\ Muslim Students’ Association />
Thursday, Feb. 17th
MSC 224-225 @ 7pm
Dr. IhsanBagby (Shaw University, North CaroU^' 1
Dr. Bob Mayfield (Dir. of Baptist Student Minf s,r ^’
For more info, email islaml01@iamu.edu or call 693-5463
^isit our table in MSC hallway Thurs, Mon, Wed between 1 lam and 2p' n
Parking, Tr
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