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Subject: AROUND THE WORLD=Nigeria Delays Transfer of Power<
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 92 04:53:56 EST
Message-ID: <44.1992Nov18.045356@AmeriCast.com>

AROUND THE WORLD=Nigeria Delays Transfer of Power<

LAGOS, Nigeria - Nigeria's military ruler announced yesterday
that he is pushing back the transition to democracy and will not
yield power to a civilian until August, rather than January as
promised.

President Ibrahim Babangida, who has ruled Africa's most populous
country for seven years, said fraud had spoiled an electoral pro-
cess that had already resulted in the election of a new National
Assembly and was to culminate in presidential elections next
month.

Gen.  Babangida disqualified all 23 presidential candidates who
took part in September primaries and said all cabinet ministers
would be fired Jan. 2, the date an elected civilian president was
to have taken power.

The presidential election had been scheduled for Dec. 5. Babangi-
da said that instead, elected National Assembly members will be
sworn in on that date.

Babangida's critics had warned that he would try to postpone
elections and extend his rule. But the president said Monday in a
speech before more than 100 high-ranking military officers that
he had no desire to remain in office. "I assure you, my col-
leagues, that I will not stay a day longer than is necessary," he
said. "In the name of Allah, I do not have any hidden agenda."

Refugee Ship<SANAA, Yemen - A ship packed with 3,000 refugees
fleeing Somalia's famine and civil war was due in the Yemeni port
of Aden after France and Yemen provided it with food and water,
U.N. officials and diplomats said.

The representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in
Sanaa, Tawfik Ouanes, said Yemen supplied the ship with food and
water when it docked at Al Mukalla, northeast of Aden, for
several hours Monday. The U.N. agency favored moving the
freighter, Samaa-1, to Aden, where better relief facilities were
available.  A Western diplomat said the ship left Al Mukalla yes-
terday escorted by the French warship Commandant Ducuing, which
provided the refugees with more water, food and milk on the way
to Aden.

De Klerk 'Concerned'<JOHANNESBURG - President Frederik W. de
Klerk voiced "deep concern" about revelations of a dirty-tricks
unit operating in the military intelligence wing of South
Africa's security forces. He said his cabinet would take up the
matter today.  Meanwhile, Ferdi Barnard, the agent who admitted
that he concocted a plan to use prostitutes, drug dealers and
homosexuals to compromise leaders of the African National
Congress's military wing, said his proposal was never implement-
ed.<

Havel's Hat in Ring<PRAGUE - Former president Vaclav Havel an-
nounced that he will run for the presidency of the Czech repub-
lic.  According to a recent opinion poll, 57 percent of Czechs
would like Havel to be their president after Czechoslovakia
splits into Czech and Slovak states on Jan. 1.<

Economist Wins in Rio<RIO DE JANEIRO - An economist who has
pledged to fight crime won a narrow victory over Benedita da Sil-
va, the first black woman to run for mayor of Rio, Brazil's offi-
cial election results showed.  Cesar Maia, candidate of the cen-
trist Brazil Democratic Movement Party, won 1.43 million votes
Sunday, only 104,000 more than da Silva of the leftist Workers'
Party.

Maia, 47, based his platform on law and order, promising to crack
down on the growing crime problem. Da Silva, 50, campaigned on
social issues and a pledge of aid for slum dwellers.<

Anti-Mafia Sweep<ROME - The biggest organized crime sweep in
nearly a decade put scores of Mafia suspects in jails from Sicily
to Milan as the nation accelerated its drive against mob activity
throughout Italy.

Police in Caltanissetta, Sicily, where the operation began, said
206 arrest warrants had been issued on the island and the main-
land.<02:34 11-18C9999-----

Copyright 1992, The Washington Post.  This story is from the
Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar-
chived or redistributed.

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poration (usa@AmeriCast.COM)