Geneva

U.N. expert finds grave violations by Sudanese

A top U.N. human rights investigator blamed the Sudanese government for atrocities against its civilians in the Darfur region, warning Friday that “millions of civilians” could die.

Moving to safeguard the endangered population, a new U.N.-Sudan agreement finalized Friday requires Sudan’s government to create safe areas in Darfur within 30 days so civilians can live without fear of attack.

The “Plan of Action for Darfur” would halt all military operations by government forces, militias and rebel groups in the safe areas.

In the report, Asma Jahangir, the U.N. investigator on executions, said there was “overwhelming evidence” killings in Darfur were carried out “in a coordinated manner by the armed forces of the government and government-backed militias.”

Gaza Strip

Israel reopens only Gaza border post to Egypt

Israel reopened the only crossing for Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt after a three-week closure, but the army would not say Friday whether it found evidence of an alleged plot by militants to blow up the border terminal.

About 1,400 Palestinians crossed into Gaza after the Rafah terminal was reopened, a Palestinian official said. The three-week closure came during the peak summer season, and hundreds of stranded travelers slept on the ground near the desert post, the only crossing for Palestinian travelers in and out of Gaza.

Also, a top aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 2 TV there had been a sharp increase in the level of threats against Sharon.

Ivory Coast

Survivors tell of mass killings by rebel groups

Dozens of boys and men suffocated in an airless, sweltering shipping container in which rebels locked more than 100 people for days, two survivors told The Associated Press, backing accounts of atrocities during factional fighting in Ivory Coast’s rebel-held north.

With detainees packed in too tightly to move — or even breathe — one man, named Siaka, said he survived by gasping air through a small hole in the top of the container.

When the 40-foot-long by 9-foot-high container was opened, 75 bodies were pulled out, a second survivor, Amadou, told the AP on Friday.

The accounts — along with others describing numerous missing men — support U.N. and Amnesty International findings on three newly discovered mass graves in rebel territory.

Egypt

Saudi forces arrest No. 12 terror suspect

An al-Qaida-linked cleric who boasted of his ability to evade capture has been arrested in Saudi Arabia without a shot being fired, Saudi officials said Friday.

Faris Ahmed Jamaan al-Showeel al-Zahrani, who was No. 12 on a list of Saudi Arabia’s 26 most wanted terror suspects, was captured late Thursday with an unidentified militant, an Interior Ministry official told the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

“Due to the swift and efficient actions by security forces, the suspects were apprehended before they were able to use weapons that they were carrying,” a statement issued by Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Washington said.

Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV said police caught them in Abha, a town 500 miles southwest of the capital, Riyadh.

Paraguay

Fire toll lowered to 399 dead, 144 missing

Authorities lowered the death toll Friday from a weekend supermarket blaze, announcing that 399 people were killed and 144 remain missing from Paraguay’s worst tragedy in decades.

Atty. Gen. Oscar Latorre said authorities struck 27 names from the list of the dead after reports filed by hospitals, morgues and rescuers were found to contain duplications and other errors. He said 52 of the 399 bodies hadn’t yet been identified.

Authorities have charged a co-owner of the Ycua Bolanos supermarket and four others with manslaughter after a security guard said he was ordered after Sunday’s fire broke out to lock doors to prevent people from stealing.

Berlin

Officials get probation in Berlin Wall trial

A court found two former top East German officials guilty Friday of failing to stop the killing of people trying to escape across the Berlin Wall and sentenced them to probation.

The trial was likely to be the last high-profile case, closing an era nearly 15 years after the wall was torn down to mark the beginning of the end of Soviet domination in central and Eastern Europe.

Hans-Joachim Boehme, 74, and Siegfried Lorenz, 73, former members of the ruling Politburo of the East German Communist Party, embraced supporters outside the court.

Both were convicted of being accessories to murder in three shooting deaths between 1986 and 1989.