Lebanon

Syrian presence to conclude today

Syrian intelligence agents abandoned their main headquarters on Monday, leaving the nerve center from which they controlled much of the neighboring country’s affairs for 29 years.

Only a token Syrian force — about 300 soldiers, compared with a force of 14,000 only two months ago — remains for today’s ceremony at a Lebanese airbase in the eastern Bekaa Valley town of Anjar to mark the official end of the Syrian presence.

The headquarters of Syrian military intelligence was a stark symbol of Damascus’ power. From there Syria decided policy in Lebanon, including who ran for office, who became a Cabinet minister and who was arrested.

Anger over the Feb. 14 assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri helped turn the tide against Syria’s longtime presence in Lebanon. The opposition blamed the murder on the Lebanese government and its Syrian backers, accusations both governments deny.

United Nations

Clinton urges donors to continue tsunami aid

The world’s response to the tsunami could serve as a blueprint for future disasters, but only if donors don’t give up on people in Southeast Asia who still need help, former President Bill Clinton said Monday.

Clinton, the U.N. envoy for tsunami recovery, told a conference of U.S. executives that there is still much to be done to help the region after the Dec. 26 disaster. He said now was the most difficult time — initial relief efforts are over but the region has a long way to go until it fully recovers.

“If you do something that works well, then other people will copy it. We need to leave something here that will be copied,” Clinton said. “We have got to prove that we can see this through in an honorable and effective way.”

U.N. emergency relief officials met with the Business Roundtable, an association of 160 leading U.S. chief executives. They discussed coordination among companies that wanted to contribute to relief efforts and the U.N. agencies and non-governmental organizations doing the work.

South Korea

North, South Korea trade warnings

In a rare harsh tone, South Korea warned North Korea on Monday against conducting a nuclear test, and the communist state said it would consider any U.N. sanctions a “declaration of war.”

The South Korean warning comes amid fears the isolated state is trying to harvest plutonium for more weapons after it apparently shut down a nuclear reactor, and that it might be preparing for its first nuclear test.

“Nuclear weapons can never guarantee North Korea’s security and will only bring about and worsen the isolation of its politics and economy,” South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said in Seoul during a speech at a forum, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

North Korea, meanwhile, said Monday that if the United States pressed the nuclear issue at the U.N. Security Council, any sanctions would be regarded as a declaration of war.

Washington is reportedly exploring other options in stopping North Korea from building up its alleged nuclear arsenal.

Togo

Election rivals pledge to pursue unity

Security forces fired tear gas and stun grenades Monday at crowds of angry opposition supporters in Togo’s capital, Lome, as vote counting got under way a day after a tense presidential election in the West African nation.

Key electoral rivals meeting in Nigeria in a bid to avert the mounting violence agreed Monday to abide by the outcome of Sunday’s ballot and form a national unity government.

Togolese ruling party candidate Faure Gnassingbe met Gilchrist Olympio, the main backer of opposition candidate Bob Akitani, in Nigeria.

“We’ve agreed to accept the results and that whoever wins the election will forge ahead with a government of national unity,” Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said.