At least 61 crushed to death in Ivory Coast stampede

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - At least 61 people were crushed to death in a stampede after a New Year's Eve fireworks display at a stadium in Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan early on Tuesday, officials said.

Witnesses said police had tried to control crowds around the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium following the celebrations, triggering a panic in which scores were trampled.

"The estimate we can give right now is 49 people hospitalized ... and 61 people dead," said the chief of staff of Abidjan's fire department Issa Sacko.

Crying women searched for missing family members outside the stadium on Tuesday morning. The area was covered in patches of dried blood and abandoned shoes.

"My two children came here yesterday. I told them not to come but they didn't listen. They came when I was sleeping. What will I do?" said Assetou Toure, a cleaner.

Sanata Zoure, a market vendor injured in the incident, said New Year's revelers going home after watching the fireworks had been stopped by police near the stadium.

"We were walking with our children and we came upon barricades, and people started falling into each other. We were trampled with our children," she said.

Another witness said police arrived to control the crowd after a mob began chasing a pickpocket.

President Alassane Ouattara called the deaths a national tragedy and said an investigation was under way to find out what happened.

"I hope that we can determine what caused this drama so that we can ensure it never happens again," he said after visiting the injured in hospital.

The country, once a stable economic hub for West Africa, is struggling to recover from a 2011 civil war in which more than 3,000 people were killed.

Ivory Coast's security forces once were among the best trained in the region, but a decade of political turmoil and the 2011 war has left them in disarray.

At least 18 people were killed in another stampede during a football match in an Abidjan stadium in 2009.

(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly and Alain Amontchi; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Michael Roddy)

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Chavez aware his condition complicated: Vice President

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is aware that his condition is complicated following a fourth cancer operation in Cuba, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday, as the OPEC nation watches for clues to the socialist leader's health.

Maduro said he was returning to Venezuela after spending several days alongside Chavez and members of the president's family. That may help squelch rumors his visit was a sign that the former soldier was near death.

"During these days I was able to see him twice and speak with him," Maduro said during an interview from Havana with regional television network Telesur. "He is completely conscious of the complexity of his post-operative state and he expressly asked us keep the people informed."

Maduro, who Chavez last month designated as his successor, said the president had grasped his hand "with immense strength" as they spoke, and asked him about the state of the economy and the swearing-in of newly elected governors.

"After staying in Havana to accompany the family members, we are returning to Caracas tomorrow (January 2) to continue our work," said Maduro, who visited Chavez with his wife, Attorney General Cilia Flores.

The president suffered unexpected bleeding as result of the complex, six-hour operation on his pelvic region December 11, and later had to fight off a respiratory infection.

On Sunday, Maduro had said the 58-year-old Chavez was suffering a third set of complications as a result of the respiratory problem.

Chavez's son-in-law, who also serves as science minister, on Monday said the president was in stable condition and urged Venezuelans to ignore rumors of his impending death.

Chavez has never said what type of cancer he has.

His death or resignation due to illness would roil politics in Venezuela, where his personalized brand of oil-financed socialism has made him a hero to the poor majority but a nemesis to critics who call him a dictator.

If Chavez stepped down, new elections would be called within 30 days. Maduro would be the ruling Socialist Party candidate.

Chavez's condition is also being watched closely by Latin American countries that have benefited from his generous assistance, as well as Wall Street investors who are drawn to Venezuela's lucrative and heavily traded bonds.

He is due to be sworn in again in Venezuela on January 10 after winning re-election in October. But Socialist Party officials have suggested the ceremony could be delayed if he were unable to return in time.

Opposition leaders say postponing it would show Chavez is not fit to govern and that new elections should be held to choose his replacement.

(Writing by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Eric Walsh)

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Central African Republic rebels halt advance, agree to peace talks

BANGUI (Reuters) - Rebels in Central African Republic said they had halted their advance on the capital on Wednesday and would start peace talks, averting a clash with regionally-backed troops in the mineral-rich nation.

The announcement gave only a limited reprieve for President Francois Bozize as the insurgents told Reuters they might insist on his removal in the negotiations in Gabon's capital Libreville.

Seleka rebels, who accuse the president of reneging on an earlier peace deal, had advanced to within striking distance of the capital Bangui after a three-week onslaught.

"I have asked our forces not to move their positions starting today because we want to enter talks in Libreville for a political solution," Seleka spokesman Eric Massi told Reuters by telephone from Paris.

"I am in discussion with our partners to come up with proposals to end the crisis, but one solution could be a political transition that excludes Bozize," he added.

(Reporting by Ange Aboa; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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Syrian rebels attack military airport in northwest

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels, some from Islamist units, fired machineguns and mortars at helicopters grounded at a northern military air base near the main Aleppo-Damascus highway on Wednesday, a monitoring group said.

The al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, Ahrar al-Sham Brigade and other units operating in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib were attacking the Afis military airport near Taftanaz, the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

There was no immediate account of the fighting around the air base from Syrian state media.

Insurgents trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad see his air power as their main threat. They hold swathes of eastern and northern provinces, as well as a crescent of suburbs around the capital, Damascus, but have been unable to protect rebel-held territory from relentless attack by helicopters and jets.

In recent months, rebel units have besieged several military installations, especially along Syria's main north-south artery from Aleppo, its most populous city, to Damascus.

The Observatory's director, Rami Abdelrahman, said Wednesday's attack was the latest of several attempts to capture the base. A satellite image of the airport shows more than 40 helicopter landing pads, a runway and aircraft hangars.

An estimated 45,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict, which began in March 2011 with peaceful protests against four decades of Assad family rule but turned into an armed revolt after months of government repression.

In Damascus, Assad's forces fired artillery and mortars at the eastern districts of Douma, Harasta, Irbin and Zamlaka, where rebels have a foothold, activists living there said.

Syria's civil war is the longest and deadliest conflict to emerge from uprisings that began sweeping the Arab world in 2011 and has developed a significant sectarian element.

Rebels, mostly from the Sunni Muslim majority, confront Assad's army and security forces, dominated by his Shi'ite-derived Alawite sect, which, along with some other minorities, fears revenge if he falls.

U.N.-led diplomatic peace efforts have stumbled. Western and many Sunni Arab states demand Assad's immediate removal, an idea resisted by Russia, China and Syria's Shi'ite ally Iran.

The rebels say they will not negotiate unless Assad, who has vowed to fight to the death, leaves power.

More than 110 people, including at least 31 of Assad's soldiers and militiamen, were killed in Syria on the first day of 2013, according to the Observatory, which tracks the conflict from Britain using a network of contacts inside the country.

(Editing by Peter Graff and Alistair Lyon)

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Central African Republic president urges rebels to let him finish his term

BANGUI (Reuters) - Central African Republic President Francois Bozize on Tuesday urged rebels threatening to enter the capital to lay down their arms and allow him to complete his term.

Fighters encamped within 75 km (45 miles) of the capital Bangui accuse Bozize of reneging on a 2007 deal meant to provide money and jobs for former rebels, and insurgent leaders are now split over whether to accept an offer of new talks.

The rebellion poses the biggest threat yet to Bozize's nearly 10 years in charge of the former French colony - one of the world's poorest nations despite its rich deposits of uranium, gold and diamonds.

"I repeat that I will not be a candidate in the 2016 election, so let me finish my mandate, I only have three years left," Bozize said in a New Year's Day address broadcast on state radio in the country's Sango language.

Bozize also admonished his national army for a string of defeats during the Seleka rebels' three-week assault, and thanked troops from neighboring Chad for reinforcing.

"The army has not played its role. Without the Chadian army we would no longer be here to express ourselves," he said.

Bozize came to power in a 2003 rebellion and has depended on foreign military aid, including from former colonial ruler France, to ward off a succession of rebel assaults.

France said it will not defend Bozize's government this time, and has instead urged Bozize, the rebels, and the country's opposition to seek a negotiated solution.

That appeared to take a hit on Monday when rebel spokesman Eric Massi said the group had "nothing to negotiate" and accused Bozize of executing dissidents in recent days.

Another official for the rebels said on Monday Seleka leaders were divided over whether to accept peace talks, with some factions ready to lay down their weapons.

Regional leaders have agreed to send 360 extra troops to shore up CAR's army this week - adding to a more than 500-strong regional force made up mostly of Chadian troops.

Chad President Idriss Deby, who is also head of the Economic Community of Central African States, warned rebels on Monday not to advance beyond Damara, a government-held town 75 km north of Bangui and the last buffer before the capital.

The rebels meanwhile have called on CAR and regional forces backing them to switch sides and turn on Bozize.

The rebels' rapid onslaught highlights instability in a country at the heart of one of Africa's most turbulent and underdeveloped regions.

Central African Republic is one of a number of countries where U.S. Special Forces are helping local soldiers track down the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group which has killed thousands of civilians across four nations.

Some 1,200 French citizens live in CAR, and France has a 600-strong force in the country which it says it is using to protect its nationals and not to defend Bozize's government.

(Additional reporting by Ange Aboa in Bangui and Richard Valdmanis in Dakar; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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North Korean leader seeks end to confrontation with South

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for an end to confrontation between the two Koreas, technically still at war in the absence of a peace treaty to end their 1950-53 conflict, in a surprise New Year speech broadcast on state media.

The address by Kim, who took over power in the reclusive state after his father, Kim Jong-il, died in 2011, appeared to take the place of the policy-setting New Year editorial published in leading state newspapers.

But North Korea has offered olive branches before and Kim's speech does not necessarily signify a change in tack from a country which vilifies the United States and U.S. ally South Korea at every chance it gets.

Impoverished North Korea raised tensions in the region by launching a long-range rocket in December that it said was aimed at putting a scientific satellite in orbit, drawing international condemnation.

North Korea, which considers North and South as one country, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is banned from testing missile or nuclear technology under U.N. sanctions imposed after its 2006 and 2009 nuclear weapons tests.

"An important issue in putting an end to the division of the country and achieving its reunification is to remove confrontation between the north and the south," Kim said in the address that appeared to be pre-recorded and was made at an undisclosed location.

"The past records of inter-Korean relations show that confrontation between fellow countrymen leads to nothing but war."

The New Year address was the first in 19 years by a North Korean leader after the death of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-un's grandfather. Kim Jong-il rarely spoke in public and disclosed his national policy agenda in editorials in state newspapers.

"(Kim's statement) apparently contains a message that he has an intention to dispel the current face-off (between the two Koreas), which could eventually be linked with the North's call for aid (from the South)," said Kim Tae-woo, a North Korea expert at the state-funded Korea Institute for National Unification.

"But such a move does not necessarily mean any substantive change in the North Korean regime's policy towards the South."

The two Koreas have seen tensions rise to the highest level in decades after the North bombed a Southern island in 2010 killing two civilians and two soldiers.

The sinking of a South Korean navy ship earlier that year was blamed on the North but Pyongyang has denied it and accused Seoul of waging a smear campaign against its leadership.

Last month, South Korea elected as president Park Geun-hye, a conservative daughter of assassinated military ruler Park Chung-hee whom Kim Il-sung had tried to kill at the height of their Cold War confrontation.

Park has vowed to pursue engagement with the North and called for dialogue to build confidence but has demanded that Pyongyang abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions, something it is unlikely to do.

Conspicuously absent from Kim's speech was any mention of the nuclear arms program.

(Additional reporting by Sung-Won Shim; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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About 60 crushed to death in Ivory Coast stadium stampede

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - About 60 people were crushed to death in Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan overnight after a New Year's Eve fireworks display, an emergency official and state radio said on Tuesday.

"There are around 60 dead, and about 200 injured, this is a provisional estimate," a rescue official told Reuters, asking not to be named. He said the incident happened near a stadium where a crowd had gathered to watch fireworks.

(Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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