Rebel Leader

The main rebel leader in eastern Congo said he had withdrawn from a committee set up to monitor a fragile cease-fire deal signed last month, sparking fears that a new wave of violence could sweep the region. Laurent Nkunda accused the U.N. peacekeeping force helping monitor the accord of bias after U.N. investigators said rebels massacred 30 civilians in the village of Kalonge around the time peace talks were being held in January. Rebels denied their fighters carried out the massacre.

Police accused a detained rebel leader from the oil-producing Niger Delta of killings, arms dealing, oil smuggling and other crimes, raising the prospect of a trial that could destabilize the area. Henry Okah was extradited from Angola to Nigeria a week ago, and uncertainty over his fate has already increased tensions in the delta, where people are impoverished despite the oil production. Anger among militants over what they see as government persecution of a man they hail as a freedom fighter risks igniting a new round of violence and derailing peace talks.

A renegade soldier shot and wounded East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta early today, and gunmen later fired on the prime minister's motorcade but missed. Ramos-Horta's guards killed rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, a former military police major, during the assault on the president's home. Reinado was wanted on murder charges in connection with political unrest in 2006, when he led a rebel force of several hundred deserters.

Hundreds of civilians have died in fierce fighting between rebels and government forces here in Chad's capital, Red Cross officials said Tuesday, as the insurgents agreed to a cease-fire. Rebel leader Mahamat Nouri, leader of the biggest of three rebel groups in a coalition, told BBC radio Tuesday afternoon that the coalition accepted a Libyan-brokered cease-fire. Nouri said he did not think that the government had accepted.

Colombian troops backed by warplanes have killed a top guerrilla commander at his jungle camp, authorities said Thursday. Gustavo Rueda Diaz, also known as Martin Caballero, and at least 18 other rebels were killed Wednesday when marines attacked his base near the Caribbean coast, Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said at a news conference. Addressing rebel commanders still at large, Santos said: "I invite you to surrender or end up in jail or in the grave." U.S.

At the moment, the headquarters of Abdel Wahid's faction of the Sudanese Liberation Movement is a cafe in Paris. "I may be in exile, but my people know I am still with them," says Wahid, reaching into his bag and pulling out four cellphones and a chunky Thuraya satellite phone with its thumb-like antenna. "This one is for the commanders, so I can tell them what to do and what not to do. This," he said, holding up a newer Nokia, "is for civil society so we can discuss their next move.

The Justice Department is offering leniency for a Colombian rebel leader if guerrillas release three Americans from a jungle prison camp unharmed. Prosecutors made the offer Tuesday in the courtroom where Ricardo Palmera, a leftist paramilitary commander, was convicted of a hostage-taking conspiracy. Though the government's terrorism case against Palmera ended with a hung jury and a mistrial, he faces decades in prison for conspiracy.

Ivory Coast's president signed a peace accord with the country's main rebel leader, calling for a new government to hold elections by year's end, and for the dismantling of a vast buffer zone separating the two sides. President Laurent Gbagbo and rebel leader Guillaume Soro agreed to form a unity government within five weeks and create a military command that would include rebel and army officials.

Clashes between the Yemeni army and followers of a Shiite Muslim rebel leader have killed 16 troops and 69 guerrillas in the last three days, military officials said. An army official said government forces bombarded areas where followers of Abdel-Malek Hawthi were believed to be hiding out about 112 miles north of Sana, the capital. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said about 50 rebels had been arrested.

Chad's president and a rebel leader pledged during a meeting in Libya to end the fighting in their country and urged other rebel groups to lay down their weapons. President Idriss Deby and Mahamed Nour, leader of rebels who attacked Chad's capital, N'Djamena, in April, pledged to make peace during a meeting in Tripoli.