World Information 8

Talks suspended on Israeli
soldier’s release: Hamas
Agence France-Presse . Gaza City

Hamas said on Friday it had suspended negotiations on the release of a captured Israeli soldier because the Jewish state was not respecting the terms of a truce with the Islamist movement.
‘Hamas has suspended indirect negotiations with the enemy over (Corporal Gilad) Shalit because of the non-respect by the enemy of the terms of the truce, notably the opening of crossing points and authorising the entry of all merchandise” into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, said Osama al-Muzeini, the Islamists’ pointman on Shalit.
Muzeini was speaking as Israel again sealed off Gaza in retaliation for a rocket attack, itself a violation of the June 19 ceasefire between the two sides.
The truce was supposed to lead to the easing of a crippling blockade Israel imposed after the Islamist movement seized power in Gaza more than a year ago, but the military said the crossings would stay closed until at least Sunday.
Egypt has been mediating with the two sides over the eventual release of Shalit, seized in a June 2006 cross-border raid by militants from Hamas and other Palestinian groups.
A Hamas delegation had cancelled plans to travel to Egypt on Thursday for talks on the prisoner exchange deal, Muzeini said.
N Korea says progress on nuke
deal may be delayed
Agence France-Presse . Seoul

North Korea said Friday it would not push ahead with an international deal to scrap its nuclear programme until negotiating partners fulfil their side of the bargain.
The foreign ministry statement appeared to cast doubt on an early resumption of six-party talks aimed at moving on to the final stage of the agreement.
It came only a week after the communist state dramatically blew up the cooling tower at its plutonium-producing Yongbyon atomic complex in front of foreign TV cameras.
‘This showed our commitment to denuclearisation,’ a ministry spokesman told the official Korean Central News Agency.
‘In response to our efforts, other participants in six-party talks should sincerely carry out their obligations.’
The timeframe for the current phase of the deal was set out in an agreement reached last October 3 between the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia.
‘Only when other participants meet their own obligations completely can it be said that the October 3 agreement is implemented,’ said the spokesman. ‘Only after that will we be able to move on to the next stage of the talks.’
Under the current phase the North should get energy aid equivalent to one million tons of fuel oil and the lifting of some US sanctions, in return for disabling Yongbyon and documenting its nuclear activities.
Last week the North — which tested a nuclear weapon in October 2006 — handed over the long-awaited nuclear declaration to China, the host of the six-party talks. The spokesman described it as ‘complete and correct’ and said his country was willing to cooperate in verifying it.
‘However, we stick to the principled basic position that the principle of action for action must be respected,’ he said.
He complained that while 80 per cent of the Yongbyon facility has been disabled, only 40 per cent of the promised energy aid has been delivered.
The spokesman also complained that Washington’s decision to drop the North from a terrorism blacklist has not yet taken effect ‘due to procedural reasons.’
After the declaration was handed over, US president George W Bush notified Congress of his plan to drop the North from a list of state sponsors of terrorism.