Mexican president orders aid for Chiapas refugees

The Mexican president, Ernesto Zedillo, has ordered urgent aid to be sent to several thousand villagers who fled their homes in the southern state of Chiapas last month following the massacre of forty-five indigenous people.

Mr Zedillo said those in need of help were suffering from hunger, cold and illness.

The authorities have arrested more than forty people in connection with the massacre -- which has been blamed on paramilitary groups linked to the governing party On Wednesday, the governor of Chiapas resigned over the affair.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service