Relief Workers Security

Twelve aid workers helping thousands of refugees in southern Sudan were withdrawn Wednesday, and a U.N. official said they will not be returned until warring factions can guarantee their safety. On Tuesday, officials confirmed that rebels had killed a U.N. employee and a Norwegian free-lance journalist. Two other relief workers were missing. Thomas Ekvall, the head of U.N.

Four Somali women sat half-buried in a pile of American wheat in a seaside neighborhood here the other day, guarded by U.N. soldiers stationed on nearby rooftops. And, for the first time in two weeks, they resumed the job of giving food to the beleaguered citizenry. "I was afraid to come today," admitted one aid recipient, Kadijo Hassan Mohamud, a 25-year-old mother of four who collected her ration of five pounds of wheat in a plastic bag. "But for food, we must trust in God.

Four Somali women sat half-buried in a pile of American wheat in a seaside neighborhood here the other day, guarded by U.N. soldiers stationed on nearby rooftops. And, for the first time in two weeks, they resumed the job of giving food to the beleaguered citizenry. "I was afraid to come today," admitted one aid recipient, Kadijo Hassan Mohamud, a 25-year-old mother of four who collected her ration of five pounds of wheat in a plastic bag. "But for food, we must trust in God.

Twelve aid workers helping thousands of refugees in southern Sudan were withdrawn Wednesday, and a U.N. official said they will not be returned until warring factions can guarantee their safety. On Tuesday, officials confirmed that rebels had killed a U.N. employee and a Norwegian free-lance journalist. Two other relief workers were missing. Thomas Ekvall, the head of U.N.

Indonesian army units are burning their compounds as they withdraw from East Timor with tons of goods looted during the territory's month of living dangerously, peacekeepers said Thursday. The withdrawing units--composed mostly of locally recruited East Timorese--in recent days have intimidated refugees and burned houses in this territorial capital, including the home of Dili's mayor, said officers with the multinational peacekeeping force.

An agreement in principle has been reached with the Iraqi government to place U.N. guards in Iraqi refugee camps, a U.N. official said here Saturday. The first 10 men have already arrived in Baghdad, he said. Announcing the breakthrough on a U.N. security presence in the camps for Kurdish refugees, Bernt Bernander told reporters at a hastily called news conference that enough progress has been made in the talks with Iraqi officials for the United Nations to decide to field the first group.