Serbia: Low voter turnout voids election

Serbia’s first presidential elections since Slobodan Milosevic’s ouster failed Sunday because of a low voter turnout, setting the stage for a protracted power struggle in Yugoslavia’s dominant republic.

Widespread apathy produced a voter response below the legal minimum of 50 percent, forcing the Serbs to relaunch the entire election process by Dec. 5.

Zoran Jancic of the State Electoral Commission said 45.5 percent of those eligible cast ballots. The low turnout was blamed on the slow pace of government reform, quarreling between pro-democracy leaders who ousted Milosevic and low living standards.

Exit polls showed that Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica won 66.7 percent of the votes and that deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus had 31.3 percent.

Labus is not expected to fare any better in the rerun and is likely to bow out. That would open the door to Vojislav Seselj, an extreme nationalist and former paramilitary leader who finished a strong third in the first round of voting two weeks ago.

Ivory Coast: Rebels capture key city in cocoa belt

Rebel fighters captured a major city in Ivory Coast’s cocoa belt Sunday, dealing a heavy blow to the government as West African peace envoys worked to negotiate an end to the fighting.

The fall of Daloa, a western city of 160,000 people, was a major symbolic victory for the rebels because it is the heartland of embattled Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo’s Bete tribe. Frightened residents said rebels told them they planned to continue south toward Gbagbo’s home village.

The capture of Daloa came as mediators from the West African nation of Senegal flew north on Sunday to meet rebel leaders. The mediators have not divulged details of their peace proposals, but they sounded upbeat as they took a French military helicopter for the central rebel-held city of Bouake.

The rebels “have given us all the reasons not to be pessimistic,” said Senegalese Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio.

Afghanistan: Rebuilding plan wins pledge of aid

The interim government won an exuberant endorsement Sunday from donor countries for a reconstruction plan, setting the stage for it to receive another $2.5 billion in promised aid to rebuild the shattered country.

Still trying to prove itself 10 months after taking office, the administration of President Hamid Karzai got a much-needed morale boost at the weekend donor meeting in Kabul.

Representatives of the donor countries praised the management expertise and teamwork of the Afghan government, which laid out plans to focus on six urgent development projects, including the rebuilding of roads and the construction of schools and government buildings.

“We believe the government has taken a giant step forward with the presentation of its national budget and the presentation of priorities by a wide range of ministers, who obviously have discussed this together and share a vision for Afghanistan,” said Nigel Fisher, the United Nations deputy special representative to Afghanistan.

Colombia: Police dismantle ring smuggling immigrants

Colombia’s secret police said they broke up a ring that was smuggling migrants into the United States.

Five Chinese citizens and a Colombian man were arrested on charges they led a crime ring that smuggled people into the United States, the secret police, known as the DAS, said in a press release.

If convicted, the men face six to eight years in prison.

The DAS said it carried out 14 raids throughout Bogota after identifying the ring and determining that its leaders were sending immigrants to the United States, sometimes for as much as $17,500 per person.

The gang provided transportation, food and false documentation and funneled the illegal aliens through cities such as Bogota, Moscow and Madrid en route to the United States, the DAS said.

The DAS also detained seven other Chinese citizens in Bogota waiting to go to the United States.