Hanoi sets the date

It's been announced in Hanoi that the much-delayed Vietnamese Communist Party Congress will be held next month.

But, announcing the date April the nineteenth a senior official implied that after much debate, it had finally been decided not to replace the elderly and conservative top members of Vietnam's leadership.

The official -- Huu Tho, the head of the cultural and ideology department -- said continuity and stability would be the keynotes of the Congress, adding that the hotly-debated issue of an age limit for the party politburo must not be implemented too rigidly.

He also disclosed that the central committee had reprimanded five senior officials: they included the head of the committee for ethnic minorities Hoang Duc Nghi in the wake of unrest by indigenous people in the central highlands. Among the others censured were the Vietnamese defence minister, Pham Van Tra, and the army chief of staff, Le Van Dung, apparently after an incident last November when a hijacked plane dropped anti-government leaflets over Ho Chi Minh City, just before the arrival of President Bill Clinton.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service