World digest 4/15/03

Britain, Ireland want IRA peace commitment

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Britain and Ireland will not publish their plans for Northern Ireland's future until the Irish Republican Army offers more proof that it's committed to peace, the province's British governor said Monday.

Paul Murphy confirmed that the two governments received a draft statement from the IRA on Sunday night, and "have asked the IRA to clarify a number of questions arising from it."

Efforts to get the IRA to confirm it will fully disarm and stop hostilities -- key demands by Britain and Ireland -- have held up publication of a much wider Anglo-Irish document on promoting Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord, known as the Good Friday Agreement.

The governments' proposals are generally known to include British commitments to cut troop levels and close army bases in the province, reform the police and justice systems and commute the prison sentences of about 30 IRA fugitives.

Reports:Philippine army kills 12 Muslim rebels

COTABATO, Philippines -- Muslim rebels fired rocket-propelled grenades at the army in the southern Philippines, triggering a firefight that left 12 guerrillas dead and two soldiers wounded, officials said Monday.

The guerrillas claimed to have killed three soldiers in the clash Sunday, which began when 40 guerrillas from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front attacked soldiers in the town of Barira, 530 miles south of Manila.

The military responded by firing 105 mm artillery, said Army Maj. Gen. Generoso Senga, commander of the 6th Infantry Division. Senga said troops counted 12 rebel bodies.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu acknowledged the rebels launched the attack, and said they killed three soldiers. He said the rebels suffered fewer casualties than the military claimed.

The 12,000-strong MILF has been fighting for almost three decades to establish an Islamic state in the southern Philippines.

Japanese abductee pleads for family reunion

TOKYO -- A Japanese woman who returned home six months ago after decades of captivity in North Korea urged Tokyo to resolve its dispute with Pyongyang so she could reunite with her American husband and two daughters.

Hitomi Soga, one of the five Japanese who were allowed to come home after being kidnapped by North Korean spies in the late 1970s, was glad to be back but said she cannot enjoy life until she is reunited with her family.

"Who will bring together my separated family, and when would that be?" she said in a brief statement to reporters. "Please give me back the true happiness of life as soon as possible."

Soga's case is extremely complicated because her husband is Charles Robert Jenkins, of Rich Square, N.C. He is accused of deserting his U.S. Army unit in 1965 to defect to the North and faces possible extradition to the United States if he returns to Tokyo.

Hijacked helicopter frees French prison inmates

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France -- A hijacked helicopter swooped low over a prison yard in southern France and three inmates climbed aboard Monday, the latest in a string of bold escapes from overcrowded French prisons.

The escape began as assailants seized control of the helicopter and forced its pilot to fly to the Luynes prison in Aix-En-Provence. Police and prison union officials said the aircraft hovered over the exercise area while a rope ladder was lowered to the prisoners.

The aircraft landed shortly afterward in a sports stadium in the nearby city of Aix-en-Provence and the prisoners, all described as dangerous, fled by car. The pilot was freed unharmed.

It was the second time a helicopter was used for an escape at the Luynes jail in less than 18 months. Two men who escaped in October 2001 were quickly recaptured.

-- From wire reports