BBC news 2011-04-06 加文本

BBC news 2011-04-06

BBC News with David Legge

Talks have been going on in Abidjan, the main city of Ivory Coast, to try to secure the surrender of Laurent Gbagbo, who's been refusing to give up the presidency since elections in November. Forces loyal to the man recognised by the United Nations as Ivory Coast's new president Alassane Ouattara have surrounded the presidential compound. One of Mr Ouattara's commanders, Colonel Gausu, condemned Mr Gbagbo for hesitating.

"After all these deaths, it's only occurred to him now to call for a ceasefire. After all these deaths, if Mr Gbagbo does not leave power, we'll carry on. If he steps down today, we'll stop and make the country secure."

Our correspondent Andrew Harding says fear-stricken civilians are still leaving Abidjan.

I'm in the suburbs of Abidjan, very empty, very quiet. There are corpses, many corpses by the side of the road. Although the war does appear to be ending, the battle for Abidjan wrapping up now, there is still a mood of great uncertainty. We've seen a lot of soldiers loyal to Ouattara heading into the city centre, saying they're not going to fight now, they're just going to secure the place and protect civilians. But the concern is, of course, of all the different armed groups in the fear of reprisals, perhaps even massacres.

A Libyan rebel leader, Abdul Fattah Younis, has accused Nato of standing idly by while forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi continuing killing people in the besieged western city of Misrata. General Younis said that without Nato action, Misrata residents faced extermination within a week. Earlier, an oil tanker arrived at the eastern Libyan port of Tobruk to pick up the first consignment of oil to be exported from the rebel-held region. Our correspondent Jon Leyne says the shipment is a considerable success for the rebels.

That gives the rebels, the opposition, around $100m, maybe not in cash. Maybe then Qatar actually who's brokering the sale provides humanitarian assistance of that value. It may sound a lot of money, but it's not really a huge amount when you consider this is almost half of the country they're running, but it also helps the oil industry keep working because they need to keep oil flowing through the pipes here, or else the pipes wax up. And I think, I suppose it gives a degree of respectability to the opposition, to the leadership here. They are now a body in control of a large part of the country with its own source of revenue.

State television in Yemen is reporting that three people have been killed in clashes in Sanaa between supporters of the President Ali Abdullah Saleh and soldiers who sided with those calling for him to step down. It says 15 other people were wounded. A BBC reporter in the city says the number of protesters is growing, and they've erected tents in the road leading to the president's residence.

Some news just in, reports from Sudan say an air strike has destroyed a car near the city of Port Sudan. The head of the state assembly has been quoted as saying two people inside the vehicle were killed. There are few other details.

World News from the BBC

The wife of the Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, who's wanted on genocide charges, has said he's dead. Ratko Mladic's wife Bosiljka is on trial herself for illegal possession of weapons. From Belgrade, here's Mark Lowen.

Ratko Mladic is still at large almost 16 years after his indictment by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He's known by prosecutors to have been in the Serbian capital until 2006. After that, the trail goes cold, but many believe he is still hiding here. His wife, however, says he would have been in touch with the family if he were still alive and that he's probably succumbed to a fragile heart.

Lawyers for a Vietnamese dissident have challenged his seven-year jail sentence, saying the judges broke the law by refusing to make all the evidence public. The human rights campaigner Cu Huy Ha Vu was convicted on Monday of spreading propaganda against the Vietnamese state.

The European Commission has asked European Union countries to submit plans by the end of the year to improve living conditions for Roma people. The commission says action is needed to combat disadvantages faced by Roma in education, healthcare, housing and employment. The EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding has said the priority should be to ensure Roma children finish primary school.

The United Nations meteorological agency says the ozone layer has suffered uNPRecedented levels of damage in recent months. The ozone layer protects life on Earth from harmful ultraviolet rays. But the World Meteorological Organisation says more than 40% of the ozone above the Arctic was destroyed in the months to March. Geir Braathen, a senior scientist with the organisation, says unusually cold weather in the upper atmosphere has accelerated the damage caused by industrial chemicals.

"The problem is that these gases have a long lifetime in the atmosphere. They stay for decades. Some of them have even a lifetime of more than 100 years. So then when you have the cold temperatures, that can then trigger ozone depletion."

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