Coup Leaders Want Broad Talks

Leaders of the recent coup in Sierra Leone said Friday they want all-party talks, to find a peaceful solution to a standoff with Nigeria -- which wants to restore elected President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah to power. Officials in Ghana say Sierra Leone's West African neighbors are consulting on a common approach to the crisis, which was sparked by the May 25 coup. An emergency summit is planned for Nigeria's capital, Abuja, sometime next week. The new government in Sierra Leone says it wants to stay in power for 18 months to two years to consolidate the peace it now has with rebels who fought previous governments.

U.S. Envoy in Congo

U.S. envoy Bill Richardson arrived Friday in the Democratic Republic of Congo to discuss American aid. Richardson, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, says the level of U.S. assistance for new Congo President Laurent Kabila depends on his respect for refugees, human rights, democracy and free market economic policies. Richardson plans to discuss with Kabila assistance to the new government and U.S. concerns, including the reported massacres of Rwandan Hutu refugees.

First Algeria Vote in 5 Years

Close allies of President Liamine Zeroual swept to victory Friday in Algeria's new parliament after the first general election in more than five years of bloodshed -- bloodshed that officials blame on Muslim fundamentalists. The outcome, which ensures that the president's paramount powers will be largely unchallenged in parliament, brought cries of foul from parties trailing the dominant National Democratic Rally. Members of opposing parties say they plan to lodge official protests. Authorities say the vote is a key step toward ending violence -- in which some 60,000 people have died -- and toward laying the foundation for building a multi-party democracy.

Kuwaiti Political Figure Shot

Parliamentary sources in Kuwait say a leading opposition parliamentarian is in stable condition after being shot in an assassination attempt. Pro-democracy veteran Abdullah al-Naibari, 61, was rushed to a hospital near Kuwait City after being shot twice, in his jaw and shoulder. His wife was also injured, suffering a bullet wound to the shoulder. A political source says of al-Naibari, "I think he will make it. I do not think that he is in a life-threatening situation." An Interior Ministry spokesman denounced the attack and vowed swift action to arrest the attackers. Naibari is a leading critic of the Kuwaiti government.

Tanker Blast Shakes Nigeria

A tanker exploded and caught fire in the bay off Lagos Friday, sending hundreds of workers in the Nigerian city center rushing from their offices in panic. A shipping source in Lagos says it is not clear if there have been casualties. Navy Capt. Shuaibu Amodu, head of security at the Lagos port, said the huge explosion was caused by welding work. He told the News Agency of Nigeria that a gas cylinder being used for repair work on the tanker exploded, tearing off the bow and setting the ship on fire. Workers in the city center had feared that the blast was another in a series of bombs that have rocked politically volatile Nigeria's commercial hub in recent months.

Mexico Aide Says He's Clean

In a letter published Friday, an aide to Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo denied having any ties to the killers of a top politician. The allegations were made Thursday by the newspaper Reforma, which said prosecutors were investigating Carlos Altamirano Toledo, director of administration at the President's Office, for supposed links to the assassination. But Altamirano, a former classmate of Zedillo and an Education Ministry official when Zedillo was minister, strongly denies any role in the killing. "All the assertions and suppositions" in the story are "false and absolutely baseless," Altamirano wrote. He did not mention whether he is under investigation.

Guerrillas Kill Colombian Cops

Leftist rebels killed at least four policemen in a pre-dawn attack Friday in a small town in southwest Colombia and reduced the local police station to rubble, authorities said. Spokesmen for National Police Chief Gen. Rosso Jose Serrano said two other policemen were wounded in the attack by about 100 Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Two others are officially listed as missing. Agents holed up in the police station in Barbacoas in a rural area of Narino province held off the rebels for several hours until they finally ran out of ammunition, the police spokesmen said, adding that the building was eventually destroyed by rocket-propelled grenades and heavy gunfire. They said more police might have been killed, but army reinforcements arrived and forced the guerrillas to pull out.

US Vietnam Envoy Visits Crater

Pete Peterson, Washington's first ambassador in Hanoi, paid an emotional visit to a Vietnam War excavation site today and said the search for America's lost servicemen should continue for 100 years. Peterson, a former fighter pilot and prisoner of war, peered into an impact crater on a barren hillside where archaeologists and workers have recovered suspected human remains and parts of an A1-H bomber downed almost 32 years ago. Searchers at the site marked Peterson's visit by giving him a brick from his former place of captivity in Vietnam, the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" jail.

Gambia Millionaire at Hearing

A U.S. State Department protocol officer testified Friday that a West African millionaire who pleaded guilty to a charge of bribing a U.S. Customs officer has no claim to diplomatic immunity. Foutanga Dit Babani Sissoko, a citizen of Mali and Gambia, pleaded guilty in January to paying a $30,000 bribe to a U.S. Customs agent in a bid to ship two military helicopters to Gambia. Gambia has petitioned the Miami U.S. District Court to overturn Sissoko's conviction on the grounds that he was serving as a special envoy for Gambia and had diplomatic immunity from criminal prosecution. Many African nations have condemned the case against Sissoko, a millionaire known for his largesse in West Africa and Miami.

Pope Sees School Friends

Pope John Paul II, making a sentimental journey home, had an emotional reunion Friday with some of the surviving classmates who attended elementary school with him in pre-war Poland, some 70 years ago. The 13 friends who grew up with John Paul in his hometown of Wadowice traveled to the mountain resort town of Zakopane to visit with the most famous son their school, their town and their country have produced. Some of the old friends brought photo albums of their school days in the small town of Wadowice, where the pope was born Karol Wojtyla on May 18, 1920. The pope signed some of them. "It was very moving," said chief Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls. "There were hugs all over the place."

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