Algerian president upbeat over Moroccan ties despite years of tension over Western Sahara Algeria's president says there are no problems between his country and neighbouring Morocco, burying with words at least years of tensions over the disputed Western Sahara territory. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, on a visit to the border city of Tlemcen, said Sunday that “Morocco is a neighbour and brother. We must co-operate.” Bouteflika said the Western Sahara issue which has divided the two North African nations since 1975 “is a U.N. problem.” Morocco, which has laid claim to the vast territory, wants large autonomy for the region while Algeria wants a referendum by the region's natives whom it supports in southern camps. Hundreds of Tunisian immigrants block Italian-French border Hundreds of Tunisian immigrants have blocked the Italian-French border. Thanks to the Schengen visas provided by the Italian authorities, the immigrants tried to cross the border to France but have been stopped, informed Austrian Kurier daily. All the permits issued for the Tunisians in the Italian city of Ventimiglia have been annulled by the police prefecture in Nice. There is stepped-up police presence at the border. French authorities refused to accept the immigrants after Italy's decision to issue permits for temporary residence to Tunisian refugees, which allow them to travel freely in the Schengen area. Libyan civilian casualties rise in Misurata Seventeen people had died Sunday in Misurata, the doctors said, many of them victims of rocket attacks from government forces loyal to longtime Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi. The doctors called it a relatively quiet day, with no roaring battles. Still, the civilian death toll had increased once more in this besieged, rebel-held western Libyan city, which has been attacked repeatedly by Kadafi's forces for much of the two months since protests began against his ruthless four-decade rule. The misery in Misurata, Libya's third-largest city, has become symbolic of the war between Kadafi loyalists and rebel forces, who have established their de facto capital in the eastern city of Benghazi. If the rebels keep Misurata, they hold the major port in western Libya and block the leading coastal highway connecting the nation's capital, Tripoli, with Kadafi's home region of Surt. A rebel-held Misurata thwarts any chance for Kadafi to cling to power by pushing for a future partition between eastern and western Libya. NCP-NUP dialogue fails to agree on government-participation Sudanese president Omer Al-Bashir who chairs the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) will meet with the leader of the opposition National Umma Party (NUP) Sadiq Al-Mahdi to discuss the pending issues in their dialogue over the political reforms in the country. Despite calls for political mobilization to overthrow the regime of the ruling NCP, Sadiq Al-Mahdi engaged a peaceful process for political transition saying an uprising might lead to the dismantlement of the Sudan. The ruling NCP in North Sudan announced on Sunday the conclusion of ground-level dialogue with the opposition NUP, saying that the results will be referred to a meeting between its leader President Omar Al-Bashir and the NUP leader Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi. The NCP's political secretary Ibarhim Gandoor told reporters today that the agreements reached during the dialogue “do not include participation in a broad-base government,” adding that this issue, among other pending points, would be discussed during Al-Mahdi-Bashir summit whose date is yet to be fixed. North Sudan's political arena is rife with tension due to worsening economic conditions manifested in rising inflation, soaring food prices and a shortage of foreign currency. The standoff has been exacerbated by the secession of south Sudan, for which the opposition holds the NCP responsible.
