Briefly

Kashmir solution elusive as talks end

New Delhi, India India and Pakistan failed to make any breakthrough in their long conflict over Kashmir during a foreign ministers’ summit that ended Monday with little progress beyond a commitment to keep trying.

The foreign ministers repeated entrenched views on the 57-year-old dispute over the divided territory of Kashmir, highlighting the wide gulf that remains between the two countries after more than eight months of negotiations.

At the close of the two-day talks, Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh reminded his counterpart, Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri, that Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf agreed in January to make sure no territory under Pakistan’s control is used to support terrorism in any way.

The Pakistani foreign minister had his own reminder for the Indian government: India’s security forces continue to commit human-rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir despite a commitment to end them, Kasuri told Singh.

The Kashmir dispute involves “complex problems,” Kasuri said Monday. “But given the political will, they can be resolved, and they should be resolved.”

Acknowledging that the peace process has produced limited results, Singh said: “Diplomacy provides hope, not salvation. Even modest progress is worthy of respect. And we have made progress in the past few days.”

Second outbreak of bird flu strikes Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Malaysia announced its second outbreak of deadly bird flu in three weeks Monday, the latest occurring near a northern village close to the border with Thailand where the disease first was detected.

The Malaysian Veterinary Department said that the lethal H5N1 strain of avian influenza is believed to have been the cause of death of 10 chickens and 20 quail in Kampung Belian, a village three miles from the site of the first outbreak announced Aug. 17.

The discovery dashed plans to declare Malaysia free of the disease, which has caused massive losses among poultry farmers due to import bans by the European Union, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and the Philippines.

Hawari Hussein, director-general of veterinary services, told a news conference that the dead chickens and quails were recovered by inspection teams Friday and that tests showed H5N1 was the likely culprit.

“The infection is still within the 10-kilometer radius and within the 21-day quarantine period,” Hawari said. “Therefore, we regard this as an isolated case.”

Talks on Sudanese crisis deadlocked

Abuja, Nigeria Peace talks on Sudan’s violence-torn Darfur region are deadlocked, one mediator said Monday as the African Union’s chief, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, appealed to the Sudanese government and rebels to compromise.

The two-week-old talks in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, have failed to move past the crucial question of disarming – with rebels saying they will lay down their guns only after Sudan’s pro-government militia, the Janjaweed, does so.

“It appears deadlocked as the two sides are holding to their hard-line positions,” Brig. Gen. Festus Okwonko, a mediator and commander of the African Union’s cease-fire monitoring troops in Darfur, told reporters.

Negotiations are aimed at ending a 19-month conflict in Sudan’s western region of Darfur that has killed tens of thousands and driven an estimated 1.2 million civilians from their homes. The Janjaweed are accused of carrying out atrocities in attacks on non-Arab African villages, and the United Nations calls it the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Israel’s attempt to launch spy satellite fails

Jerusalem Israel’s efforts to closely monitor Iran’s missile program and to bolster its own early-warning systems suffered a setback Monday when the launch of a sophisticated spy satellite failed.

A rocket that was to have carried the Ofek-6 remote-sensing satellite into orbit crashed into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after liftoff from Israel’s sprawling Palmachim air and missile base south of Tel Aviv early Monday afternoon.

No one on the ground was injured in the failed launch, which was not announced in advance.

It was the second significant failure in less than a week of a high-tech Israeli military system. The missile interceptor Arrow II, in a test-firing off the coast of California Thursday, proved unable to hit its target. However, Israeli officials said it had succeeded in identifying the warhead of the dummy missile it was supposed to have hit.

Villagers flee, fearing attack by Somali warlord

Mogadishu, Somalia Hundreds of residents of southern Somalia are fleeing their homes in anticipation of an attack by the only major warlord boycotting the peace process in neighboring Kenya, witnesses said Monday.

Villagers living in the Gedo and Jubba valleys reached by two-way radio said Mohamed Siad Hersi, better known as Gen. Morgan, is building up troops, weapons and ammunition for a possible assault on the strategic port of Kismayo. The villagers asked that they not be named for fear of retribution.

More than 50 trucks mounted with heavy weapons were seen moving north from the Bai region toward Kismayo, 250 miles south of the Somalian capital, Mogadishu, said a resident in the Diin Door district of Bai.

Adoow Aadan Diriye, an elder reached in Bardhere, south of Kismayo, told the Associated Press that most of the residents of his town have left in anticipation of a battle between Morgan’s militia and troops from the Jubba Valley Alliance, which is mobilizing forces to defend Kismayo.

“When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers most,” Diriye said.