Lessons of Rwanda

Declaring "We have a stake in East Timor" the Vanguard of Nigeria drew a poignant parallel with the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

"Mankind did nothing serious to stop the killings, and we didn't send peacekeepers or enforcers to prevent the massacres, " said the paper.

East Timor: UN accused

"Rather, the world withdrew the few peacekeepers on the ground.....leaving the victims defenceless."

"A not too dissimilar scenario is playing itself out in East Timor. Humanity has a duty to step in quickly to restore order."

The paper said the people of East Timor "need our help - let's offer it, no matter how little the help we can give."

UN "impotent"

In Mozambique - a former Portuguese colony like East Timor - there was a minute's silence in parliament to remember those killed by the militants.

The Pan-African News Agency said all three political blocs in parliament expressed " outrage at the current savagery."

The Mozambican paper Metical accused the UN of failing to guarantee the security of UN personnel in East Timor, and accused it of bias towards US interests.

"In the supposedly global village in which we live, major decisions on international relations should not depend on a United Nations that is so attached to the interests of a single country that does not even pay its dues.

"Rwanda, Angola, Yugoslavia. The list of examples of impotence and of a cult of impotence that has taken possession of the United Nations is long," the paper commented.

Chirac criticised

President Chirac in Canada: no condemnation

The Kinshasa paper L'Avenir criticised those at the Francophone summit held in Canada last week for failing to condemn what it called "Rwandan, Ugandan and Burundian aggression."

"It seems that in the face of the passive attitude of the international community, the DRC has only one alternative: to take its destiny into its own hands and fight the enemy," L' Avenir said.

"French President Jacques Chirac and Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien merely recommended the creation of 'an international watchdog body on human rights and democracy,' but will this umpteenth organization prevent the Tutsis from quenching their thirst for blood?" the paper said.

Rwanda, which backs one of the main rebel factions, accuses President Kabila of DR Congo of sheltering Hutu extremists, including those it holds responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

New century, new flag

Mozambicans are being asked to take part in a competition to design the country's new flag and emblem.

Its got to go

The Mozambican news agency AIM says entrants are to design symbols which seek to reflect