INDIA

INDIA
The Hindustan Times, Delhi, March 31: There's a subtle but sure shift taking place in Sino-Indian relations: from political grandstanding to a sort of quiet pragmatism. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's six-day sojourn in China last year was clear enough indication of this. And now the visiting Chinese Defense Minister General Cao Gangchuan thinks aloud about China and India becoming "eternal good neighbors, good partners and good friends". And establishing defense ties.
China's wish for a multipolar world where it occupies prime position in a unipolar Asia was never a best-kept secret. So the post-9/11 U.S. war on terrorism must have made Beijing uneasy. Beijing must also be concerned by the growing Indo-U.S. military partnership.
Counterweight
China must be banking on military cooperation with India to be a counterweight in such an eventuality. And, Gen. Cao may add, even if there's little political progress made, trade relations that include defense establishments never hurt anyone.
EGYPT
Egyptian Gazette, Cairo, March 30: Surprised at a unilateral Tunisian decision to scrap an Arab summit hours before its scheduled opening, Egypt, being the country of the Arab League's headquarters, has stepped in to offer to host the deferred gathering. The Egyptian offer has drawn warm welcome from an Arab world disappointed at the inability to convene a prescheduled summit under such crucial circumstances.
Contacts are under way between Cairo and other Arab capitals to set the scene for this urgent conference, which will be aimed, among other things, at undoing the damage wrought by the sudden decision to postpone the Tunisian gathering indefinitely. The Palestinian-Israeli dispute, Iraq and a controversial U.S. plan for reforms in the Arab world topped the agenda of the aborted Tunisian event.
Cold-blooded slaying
The Palestinian problem was moved to the top of the agenda after Israel's cold-blooded slaying of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of the resistance movement Hamas. The killing of the wheel-chair-bound Yassin in an airstrike in Gaza last week fired up sentiment across the Arab nation.
KENYA
The East African, Nairobi, March 29: Rwanda next week commemorates 10 years since the 1994 genocide in which more than 800,000 people were killed in the space of 100 days. The government will spend $7 million on the weeklong festivities that will see several heads of state and government converge at Kigali from April 7.
In the past 10 years, the country has made giant strides toward economic revival, which even critics of President Paul Kagame's government cannot ignore.
Growth rates averaging 6 per cent have been recorded, inflation kept under 5 per cent and the exchange rate brought under control. Tea output has increased and the privatization process is described as a success.
Peace has returned to the nation of 8.2 million and thousands of troops that had been deployed to the Congo are back in the country. Some Interahamwe commanders have also given up their rebellion and returned to Kigali.
Challenges ahead
However, we urge the government in Kigali to use the celebrations to reflect on the challenges ahead. Among these are the high level of poverty, which currently stands at 60 per cent; the incidence of HIV/Aids, which is estimated at more than 13 per cent; unemployment; and the issue of returning refugees from neighboring countries like Tanzania and Uganda.
AUSTRALIA
The Age, Melbourne, March 27: The consequences of the US-led coalition's invasion of Iraq for the wider war against terrorism remain a matter of contention. What ought to be beyond contention is that, having taken part in that invasion, members of the coalition have thereby incurred an obligation to the people of Iraq.
When Australian troops return from Iraq should be determined by when that obligation is fulfilled. Civil order must be restored and essential infrastructure rebuilt, and the Iraqi people must be supported in establishing democratic structures of government.
It has been generally recognized that this process will not be completed by the time Iraqi sovereignty is restored. ... Now, however, Opposition Leader Mark Latham has pledged that if Labor wins office later this year he will ensure that the remaining Australian troops in Iraq are home by Christmas.
Popular mood
Perhaps Mr. Latham believes that the popular mood is shifting, and that the Howard Government is increasingly vulnerable because of its commitment to the Iraq war. That may be so, but it does not remove Australia's responsibilities in Iraq.
The time to go will become clear as events unfold in Iraq. So Labor's policy used to be, and so Mr. Latham should have left it.