Ivory Coast

Warring factions agree to end hostilities

Ivory Coast’s warring factions agreed Wednesday to end hostilities, start immediate disarmament and make plans for new elections in a bid to prevent a renewed explosion of violence in the world’s leading cocoa producer.

The agreement followed four days of talks in Pretoria mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki, who summoned all sides to his country’s capital to try to rescue the peace process. The negotiations were the factions’ first face-to-face meeting since civil war flared up again last fall in the West African nation.

“The parties … hereby solemnly declare the immediate and final cessation of all hostilities and the end of the war through the national territory,” said the agreement signed in Pretoria.

Berlin

Al-Qaida suspect acquitted of terrorism

A Tunisian man accused of planning attacks in Germany for al-Qaida was acquitted of terrorism charges Wednesday but found guilty of illegal weapons possession and tax evasion. He was sentenced to three years, nine months in prison.

The verdict marked another setback for the German government, which has had difficulty making charges stick in several post-Sept. 11, 2001, terror cases.

Federal prosecutors alleged that Ihsan Garnaoui, 34, planned attacks on American or Jewish targets to coincide with the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. They had sought a six-year prison sentence on charges that included attempting to form a terrorist group.

The Berlin state court found Garnaoui guilty only of the lesser charges, which also included immigration violations.

Garnaoui was arrested in Berlin on March 20, 2003, the day the invasion began in Iraq. Prosecutors had claimed he started training at one of Osama bin Laden’s camps in Afghanistan in 2001 and later received orders from an unknown al-Qaida member to plan attacks in Germany and recruit others.

India

Gunmen storm tourism complex in Kashmir

Two gunmen attacked a government tourism complex Wednesday on the eve of the first bus service across divided Kashmir in nearly six decades, but the waiting passengers escaped unharmed and both India and Pakistan vowed the buses would run as planned.

Authorities said the two suspected Islamic militants died in a gun battle with Indian security forces and six people were reported injured in the clash, which set off a ferocious fire that destroyed the main building along with historic documents and photographs of the divided Himalayan territory.

Four Muslim separatist groups that had vowed to disrupt the bus service claimed responsibility for the attack aimed at one of the clearest positive steps so far in stumbling efforts by India and Pakistan to find peace after 58 years as enemies.

Both countries claim all of Kashmir and have fought two of their three wars over it, but officials said they would press ahead with opening bus service today.