Augusta focus. ([Augusta, Ga.]) 198?-current, January 15, 1998, Page 2A, Image 2

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2A JANUARY 15, 1998 AUGUSTA FOCUS A [ - & PSRRI "‘)A .“ y :- Ly A ! “ J‘".' Y .".' 1 / % 4 ;Q:‘:‘,’ & 1 , TR ANGOLA Rebel leader agrees to meet with Angolan president LUANDA, Angola A rebel leader has signaled he was ready to revive Angola’s faltering peace process, pro posing a meeting with the country’s president in a push to enforce an accord ending the two decade civil war. UNITA rebel leader Jonas Savimbi proposed the meeting with President Eduardo Dos Santos, a UNITA representative told the Por tuguese news agency Lusa late Friday night. The talks are viewed as crucial to UNITA's compliance with the 1994 U.N.-brokered peace accord. An exact date for the meeting was not disclosed, said a UNITA representative to the peace talks, Isaias Samakuva. A meeting between the two leaders was ini tially scheduled for late November. It was postponed because of Dos Santos’ medical prob lems. On Friday, Savimbi contacted the president and the two agreed to meet as soon as possible in Angola’s capital, Luanda, Savimbiruns UNITA from hisbase at Andulo, 180 miles south of Luanda. Despite officially being the leader of the country’s main opposi tion political party, he has so far refused to move to the capital because of fears for his safety. The United Nations Security Council im posed new sanctions against UNITA last month for its failure to comply with the peace accord. UNITA, whose name is a Portuguese acro nym for the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, is believed to be drag ging its heels on the accord because of mistrust of the Dos Santos government and a desire to maintain control of rich diamond mines on territory it controls. The organization also has yet to demobilize all its forces, some of which are to be incorpo rated into the national army and the police. F g ) = Lverything about he | ] v 5 :“76, exceptional. i ll\'l.vv her upbringn ; Toas the dasthat o | thirteen kads o her fimad i Straight A's. ' w %‘ So when | : | A L 8 ISR ER 3 : Fhurgood Marshall Scholarships Fand ; P | ¢ R Ee T ‘ e : MARSHALL 1] » //‘l‘,fl‘ Western bloc seeks end to slaughter in Algeria MMore than 1,000 civilians have died since the Muslim holy month of Ramadan began Dec. 31. The carnage has jarred foreign govern ments. 8y Deborah Seward ASSOCIATED PRESS Writer PARIS, France As Algeria’s Islamic insurgency enters its seventh year, the number of civilians killed in grisly massacres is mounting and Algerian authorities seem unable — or unwilling — to stop the slaughter. Enter the European Union, with the United States and Canada in tow. They are determined not to appear weak as pressure for action grows, but finding so lutions for a North African conflict that is rooted in hatred and suspicion of the West will be tough. Europeans — especially the French, Algeria’s former colonial rulers — have several reasons to seek an end to the fight ing: ®The fear of new terror attacks within Europe. ®Worries about a flood of refugees cross ing the Mediterranean. BThedesire for secure access to Algeria’s oil and natural gas. Some 75,000 people, mainly civilians, have died in the Islamic uprising that began after Algeria’s army canceled legis lative elections in 1992. The move blocked a victory by Muslim fundamentalists who had campaigned against the country’s secu lar, Westernized social system. Although stung by their failure to react quickly to the violent breakup of Yugosla via, the leaders of Europe and the United States said and did little regarding Alge ria. But the current intensity of the slaugh ter — more than 1,000 civilians slaugh tered since the Muslim holy month of Ramadan began Dec. 31 — has jarred foreign governments. “This is moving into the public con sciousness,” said Andrew Pierre, a Wash ington-based expert on Europe. “It’s re vulsion at what's going on.” The European initiative reflects a new willingness by France, which dominated European policy toward its former coi for years, to let the European Union w:{ out ways to help Algeria. “It’s rather delicate for the French to get out in the lead because of their colonial past,” said Richard Parker, a former U.S, ambassador to Algeria. “French-Algerian ;:il:t”ionlhawbunamhorlow-hn.d- European intellectuals and lawmakers are waking up, too. Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a 1960 s student rebel who is a Green politician in Germany, has proposed meetings between European and Algerian lawmakers to discuss the violence. “It is hard to do something useful, but it is hard not to say something,” said Stephane Hessel, president of the France-Algeria As sociation, which tries to promote under standing between the two les. anhmdAlprianintom-mphn ning a day of rallies across Europe this spring to demand that European govern ments actively tEn'auun the Algerian par ties to resolve their conflict. Just who is behind the killings in Algeria remains at least partly a mystery, and iden tifying the perpetrators will be a key factor in finding solutions — political or military. Benin celebrates traditional OUIDAH, Benin (AP) Benin, which officially repressed voo doo traditions for years, celebrated its annual festival of traditional religions with represen tatives from voodoo communities around the world. The Saturday festival was lead by Daagbo Hounon, the supreme chief of voodoo priests of the West African nation, but representa tives of voodoo temples also came from Haiti, Brazil and France. About 65 percent of Benin practices voo doo, which holds that all life is driven by spiritual forces of natural phenomena like fire and wind, as well as by the dead, and that they should be honored through rituals. Hounon offered animal sacrifices to hun dreds of divinities while praying for peace in the country, health for its people and also for the country's leaders. A Tibetan Buddhist also attended the cer emony in Ouidah, about 25 miles west of Cotonou, the capital. The festival reflects the rehabilitation of voodoo in Benin. H . Ll ' ¥ A o I 2 GENERATE R R MR T g‘w**“?fi?{‘ dfi%% ' : YT T T TS T E?—' g "%ti’:u % %f" i'a*?%"» "fi;f: ;-§ ¥ l,fl i% 3 TR R S T R R R e R N Y Tl I R R Be o j"%@@’«%&%fi o U e S St e ey —— ] : : —~— e \\ R P g{fi&*#w, R e o OB R SeT R R [SEOSOTI ( GET eee B T A W e T R T T DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DEDICATED HIS LIFE TO SERVING OTHERS, PROMOTING ‘ EQUALITY FOR ALL AND EMPOWERING COMMUNITIES EVERYWHERE. : AS A COMPANY DEDICATED TO BEING A CITIZEN WHEREVER WE SERVE, WE AT GEORGIA §- POWER SALUTE HIS LIFE, HIS ENERGY AND HIS DREAM. GEORGIA POWER CELEBRATES THE BIRTHDAY OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR Officer’s trial to draw attention to racist profiling of motorists By Mike Schneider ASSOCIATED PRESS Writer ORLANDO, Fla. As a black man with vehicle tags from South Florida, Maj. Aaron Campbell was a prime candidate to be stopped and searched by sheriff’s deputies as he drove through the Orlandoarea, his law ye{;ylm Orange Count; an nty sheriff’s deputy pulled over the 25-year veteran of the Metro-Dade Police Department as he drove northbound on the Florida Turn pike in his green Ford Explorer. The traffic stop quickly spun out of control, and ended with a confrontational Campbell being doused with pepper spray and stumbling onto the turnpike be fore backup deputies, all white, wrestled him to the ground. Campbell is set to go to trial Monday on charges of felony as sault and resistingarrest with vio lence. His attorney said the stop was illegal, and the only thing Campbell was guilty of was fitting a profile that Orange County deputies use to stop motorists and search them for contraband. The encounter was captured on videotape by acamerainadeputy’s squad car and later broadcast na tionwide on ABC’s Nightline. “I think race is a part of it,” said James Cheney Mason, Campbell’s lawyer. “It’s not exclusively. They stop people with Miami tags head ing north, but minority status is obviously a part of the profile.” Profilingisa technique that uses race, age, dress, vehicle type and other factors identifying people more likely to be involved in crimes. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Constitution protects motorists against selec tive law enforcement based on such factors as race. But the high court also has ruled that police generally éan stop mo torists for traffic violations even when the officers are really look l;nc‘tiv'i?y such d:nfg as use. The Orange County sheriff’s of fice wouldn’t comment on the case before trial but its spokesmen have said previously that tl;:dmrv mt doesi’t use race- pro “lt’snotaraceissue,” said Tracy Sutherland, a spokeswoman for the State Attorney’s Office. However, an Orlando Sentinel analysis last year showed that the Orange County drug squad that patrols the Florida Turnpike car ries out 6 1/2 times as many searches on black motorists pulled over in traffic as on whites. In Campbell’s case, Cpl. Rich ard Mankewich stopped the police major’s vehicle for improper lane changeand for having an obscured license tag. Campbell disputes that he made an improper lane change. A 1996 Orange County court decision, State v. St. Jean, holds that obscured tags are not grounds for a police stop. An appellate court upheld that decision last year. The State Attorney’s office, how ever, said that the lower court ruling wasn’t binding until the appellate court ruling, which oc curred after Campbell’s stop. After he was pulled over, Campbell got out of his car and handed his license to Mankewich, who is white. Campbell identified himself as a police officer and told the deputy he had agun in a pouch around his waist. Campbell also said, according to the police report, “I know you Orange County guys, you're not going to —— with me.” Mankewich informed Campbell that he was going to write him up for a violation. Campbeil blew his cool. See BLACK MOTORIST, page 6A A SOUTHERM COMPANY AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER