At opening of Outreach Ministries’ new building--
President lauds role of church in Guyanese society
By Chamanlall Naipaul
President Bharrat Jagdeo has lauded the role of the church in helping to resolve Guyana's social problems.

The Head of State also expressed his appreciation and gratitude to the church for its efforts in helping to bring relief to victims of the recent floods, Guyana's worst natural disaster.

The President made these observations last Saturday while declaring open the new building of the Outreach Ministries, situated on D’Urban Street, Lodge.

Headed by Bishop Juan Edghill, who is also the Chairman of the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC), the new Outreach Ministries edifice was constructed at a cost of $15M.

President Jagdeo expressed optimism that the church building would be like a second home to residents, particularly youths, who are today faced with a number of social problems including teenage pregnancy, drug abuse and domestic abuse.

"Many times they cannot turn to their support systems because their families are dysfunctional, and they may need some guidance. The church could provide that guidance, “the President offered.

He also expressed the hope that the church would work in partnership with the Government to help in providing skills training for those persons, who would like to upgrade and better themselves.

With respect to the work by Bishop Edghill in the ERC, the President explained that unlike what some people think the ERC is not to seek out defaulters.

The Commission, he said, has been mandated by the Constitution to help foster greater understanding among Guyanese, something that is vitally needed.

The passing of Pope John Paul 11--
Guyana Government, people extend respect, condolence 
The Government and people of Guyana are greatly saddened by the passing of His Holiness Pope John Paul II, a press statement emanating from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.

The statement continued: “His Holiness was undoubtedly one of the most important and impressive personalities of our time. For a quarter of a century, he shepherded his flock with a sure and steady faith towards the ideals and values, which he and the Church represented. His moral authority, though stern and uncompromising, earned him widespread admiration and respect.

“As a leading actor in international affairs he was an outspoken champion of the poor and the downtrodden. His unfailing advocacy for human rights, social justice, peace and development did much to advance the welfare of the world. Humanity will therefore remember him with great affection.

“At this time of general mourning, the Government and people of Guyana wish to convey to the Holy See and Catholic Church everywhere their profound respect and condolence,” the statement concluded.

U Mobile, Cel*Star, TWTC file US$30M suit against Digicel
U Mobile Incorporated, Cel*Star Guyana Incorporated and their parent company Trans-World Telecom Caribbean (TWTC) Limited have filed a civil suit for damages in excess of US$30M against Digicel Limited allegedly for its attempt to conspire and sabotage the U Mobile/Cel*Star business in Guyana.

"It is unfortunate that we have to go to this extreme measure, but we will take all the necessary steps to protect our business from unfair and illegal actions. The defendants have engaged in these measures to undermine our success and sabotage our business simply for their own gain. We will aggressively pursue all legal avenues to protect our rights in the Guyana Courts. Our longstanding investment in Guyana and the benefits of fair and honest competition are too important to the economic development of Guyana to be jeopardised because of illegal and self-serving acts of the defendants," TWTC President Donald de Laski declared.

Affidavits from witnesses in support of an Ex-parte Summons names Digicel Limited, Mossel (Jamaica) Limited, Ms. Nicole Johnson and Kenneth Mason as defendants.

A senior functionary of the National Communications Network (NCN) is also cited as having attended a meeting pertaining to conducting a market survey on behalf of Digicel.

Digicel Group Vice-President of Business Development, Kenneth Mason, is accused of engaging in strategies to discredit U Mobile, and, at the same, Digicel is accused of misappropriating confidential information and improperly hiring current employees of U Mobile.

Former key U Mobile staff member, Ms. Nicole Johnson, is also charged with violating terms of employment of her contract and conspiring with Digicel to sabotage U Mobile even while she was still employed there.

According to TWTC, Ms. Johnson worked with and had access to U Mobile's most commercially sensitive confidential information, and is bound by a signed confidentially agreement with U Mobile which prohibits her from distributing confidential company information and from currently working for any other company in the telecommunications business.

In addition, U Mobile is seeking injunctions to restrain Digicel from employing U Mobile staff and from continuing with other breaches of contract.

"Digicel's blatant disregard for these agreements and use of confidential information to undermine U Mobile's place in the Guyana marketplace demonstrates unethical, illegal and immoral business practices," TWTC charged.

U Mobile launched its GSM cellular in December 2004 and has successfully introduced a competitive cellular service alternative to the long-standing Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T).

Non-traditional exports increased by 104% between 2001 and 2003
--Says NARI Director
Exports of non- traditional commodities increased significantly during the period 2001-2003 reaching an unprecedented 3,843.47 tonnes compared to 1,884.26 tonnes during 1990-1992. This represents an increase of 104 percent.

According to the Director of the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), Dr. Oudho Homenauth, during the early 1990s, Guyana's exports of non-traditional commodities were higher within the region, but from the late 1990s the situation changed whereby extra-regional exports became substantially higher than regional exports.

He told the Chronicle that regional exports increased from 1,0577.47 tonnes during 1990-1992 to 1,717.35 tonnes during 2001-2003, representing an increase of 63 percent, while extra-regional exports for the same periods were 833.7 tonnes and 2, 126.12 respectively, an increase of almost 155 percent.

Dr. Homenauth said that among the extra-regional exports, which contributed to the increases were heart of palm, which constitutes a significant proportion of Guyana's total exports.

"Between 1992, the year from which data on exports is available, and 2003, the share of heart of palm in total non-traditional exports has ranged between 26 percent and 57 percent in different years. After excluding the exports of heart of palm, total exports of non-traditional commodities from Guyana have increased by around 25 percent from 1,896.61 tonnes from 1992-1994 to 2,361.23 tonnes from 2001-2003. Heart of palm registered an increase of 50 percent during the same period," Dr. Homenauth disclosed.

He noted that while total exports showed a compound annual rate of growth of 4.82 percent, regional exports grew at an annual rate of 3.66 percent with regional exports registering a 6.31 percent annual increase.

Dr. Homenauth said NARI is tasked with advising and developing appropriate systems to promote balanced, diversified and sustained agricultural production through adaptive and investigative research.

He added that NARI is also responsible for transferring the technology it has developed to the farming communities in Guyana in order to increase productivity and improve the quality of crops and livestock for national use as well as export.

In 2004, there were about 50 research and development projects conducted to satisfy the objectives of NARI, and at present, 75 percent of these projects have been completed while others are ongoing, Dr. Homenauth reported. (Chamanlall Naipaul)

Commonwealth Parliamentary Consultant says--
Guyana Parliament could become more vibrant and decisive
By Chamanlall Naipaul
Commonwealth Parliamentary Consultant, Mr. James Pender, who recently completed a six-week stint here, strongly sees the more efficient and effective functioning of Parliamentary Committees as key to ensuring that Guyana's Parliament becomes more vibrant and decisive.

In an interview with the Guyana Chronicle before his departure Pender said that the staff of the Parliamentary Committees are "relatively new to what they are doing". And because of this fact, he provided advice and some degree of training to assist them in executing their functions more effectively.

He noted that as part of the training for parliamentary staff, a mock parliamentary session was held, and this proved to be a useful teaching/learning exercise as well as fun. In addition, Pender said, he compiled a parliamentary operation manual, which he has presented to the Administration Office of Parliament to help guide staff in the execution of their parliamentary duties.

Another area identified by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Consultant for updating and revising is the Standing Orders, which according to him has not been revised since 1969.

He observed that while the parliamentary system among Commonwealth countries has the same genesis it varies with each individual country as a result of national and cultural injections.

However, in Guyana's case he declared: "There is need for Guyana to implant its cultural stamp, as there is nothing Guyanese about it."

As regards parliamentary debates, Pender said he is impressed with their quality, but presentations in some cases need to be more "pointed", and like his predecessor, Sir Michael Davies, he is also suggesting that live broadcasts of debates would help influence Members of Parliament to be more pointed in their presentations.

Overall, Pender said, he is encouraged with the manner in which the Parliament is functioning as it "looks like it is progressing."

He recalled that some good decisions were made with respect to the passage of the Age of Consent Bill, and he commended the parliamentary staff for doing some excellent research pertaining to the issue.

He also commended local newspapers for their reports on parliamentary debates, describing them as being "balanced."

Pender came here as part of a Commonwealth-funded project to help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Guyana's parliamentary system, and was responsible for providing guidance on technical procedural issues and help in the implementation and functioning of the Parliamentary Committee system.

His predecessor, Sir Michael, during his stint completed a needs assessment of the National Assembly and compiled a report, which was presented to the Speaker of the National Assembly Mr. Ralph Ramkarran before his departure last month.

Sir Michael observed that even though the National Assembly is recognised as paramount in the Constitution, "(it) is sadly not playing its proper role in governance."

Among the main weaknesses identified by him are:

* Lack of independence of the parliament and its management from the control of the executive.

* Members who are not sufficiently au fait with their role within the parliamentary framework.

* An Opposition, which is angry and frustrated and therefore does not grasp the opportunities, afforded it by the rules of procedure.

* Standing Orders in need of revision.

* A committee system, which is not properly functioning.

* Insufficient qualified staff, with ill-defined roles and lack of procedural knowledge.

* No awareness of the National Assembly's responsibility to relate with civil society, the private sector and the wider public.

The FACT
Main opposition misrepresents Government's plan to replace Mayor and City Council
A GINA Release
The main Opposition party and its spokespersons continue to misrepresent the Government's intention to replace the Georgetown Mayor and City Council. Minister in the Ministry of Local Government Clinton Collymore has clarified his position on the matter.

Though a number of citizens have been clamouring for the Georgetown City Council's removal, the main Opposition Party continues to maintain that removing the Council would be illegal.

On a recent Nation Watch, PNC/R member Hamley Case, political commentator Christopher Ram and Regional Chairman of Region Four, Alan Munroe argued that there is no way that the Government's proposal to hold public consultations to remove the council could be legal.

However, in a special interview with NCN's Neaz Subhan, Minister Collymore explained what the law stipulates in the Municipal and District Councils Act, pointing out that contrary to what the Opposition has been saying, the President's decision has been more than democratic.

He said that President Bharrat Jagdeo has gone beyond what the law compels by calling on the responsible Minister to hold public consultations. The Municipal and District Council's Act stipulates that the Minister set up an inquiry into the complaints.

Minister Collymore said that a Commission of Inquiry still has to be set up after the consultations are held.

He pointed out that the Opposition party knows fully well the problems being encountered regarding Local Government elections and why they cannot be held now, noting that the party is fully a part of the Task Force on Local Government Reform. During the interview, the Minister was asked about the criticisms by Opposition parties.

Further, the Minister said that the governing legislation was passed during the PNC administration.

Minister of Housing and Water Shaik Baksh exposes CNS 6 report on a structure being demolished at Good Hope by the Ministry as false

The Minister of Housing and Water, Shaik Baksh has refuted allegations made by controversial talk show host, C.N Sharma.

C.N Sharma alleged that the Ministry of Housing and Water demolished houses at Good Hope Phase 2, based on political agenda.

According to Minister Baksh, "the Ministry of Housing and Water nor the Central Housing and Planning Authority demolished any building in the Good Hope housing area," adding that "it is fabricated."

The Minister further said, "Mr. Sharma has a political agenda. He has fabricated this whole situation."

Minister Baksh said, "Mr. C.N Sharma is encouraging squatting in the country. He is breaching the laws of this country." He added that Mr. Sharma has been reported to the Police but so far nothing has been done. The Minister has since written to the Commissioner of Police and the Advisory Committee on Broadcasting (ACB) on the matter. He emphasised that the Ministry "will not tolerate this situation", adding that "C.N Sharma of Channel Six is engaging in a very diabolical agenda, very evil. He is fabricating the demolishing exercises. The Minister noted, "I want to reiterate we have not done that."

Minister Baksh further referred to C.N Sharma's act as "trying to create political and also religious conflicts."

The Minister noted that an issue was presented to the Ministry about two weeks ago, where two squatters squatted at Good Hope Phase Two. Minister Baksh said it was decided by the Ministry that the squatters be granted allocation at the Coldingen housing scheme. "They agreed. All they had to pay was $10 000, which is far less than the prescribed down payment. They have not returned so far," said Minister Baksh.

Minister Baksh pointed out that many people in this country are squatting with the intention of jumping the line, so that they can have house lots. However, the Minister said the Ministry of Housing and Water will ensure that this practice is stopped. He added that "The Ministry has imposed the policy of Zero tolerance to squatting in the established housing schemes across the country."

Government was not properly consulted by Sir Michael Davies

A report prepared by Sir Michael Davies, Commonwealth senior staff advisor, stated that the Government has too much control over the National Assembly.

However, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon said at a Cabinet press brief that Government was not adequately consulted on the report. He said that Government's initial response was one of reservation since Sir Davies had failed to consult with the Executive.

Dr. Luncheon said that this view has been communicated to the Commonwealth Secretary General through his special envoy Sir Paul Reeves.

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Reepu Daman Persaud said that constitutional changes now allow for the Parliament to be more effective.

Four Parliamentary committees have been set up that allow more than one person Government majority. Minister Persaud said that these committees have been set up to resolve important sectoral issues.

He said contrary to Sir Davies' report there are provisions in the new Constitution for Government to work with the Opposition at the decision making level.

Chief Probation and Family Welfare Officer of the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, Ann Green slams 'Stabroek News' on a false report on the Ministry's work to combat domestic violence

Once again there has been a case of irresponsible journalism in some sections of the local media in Guyana. The most recent case involves the local newspaper company, 'Stabroek News'.

On March 30, 2005 the 'Stabroek News' carried an article on the front page captioned "Domestic Violence Act not working." 'Stabroek News' quoted Chief Probation and Family Welfare Officer of the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, Ann Green as saying that the Domestic Violence Act should be reviewed as it is not working.

She was a participant at a one-day session on Domestic Violence held at the Police Officers' Mess, Eve Leary and Georgetown.

The article went on to say that the Act did not work because the Minister of Labour, Human Services and Social Security failed to implement regulations to go with the Act.

Ms. Green said she was very disappointed about the interpretation of her speech carried by 'Stabroek News'. She described it as a piece of irresponsible journalism. Green added that some sections of the media are not portraying the right picture of what are the Ministry's objectives and explained that some media houses have their own agenda.

She emphasised that the Ministry is trying to do its best in offering a service to Guyanese and yet it is being criticised by some sections of the media.

She said the media should realise that their job is to provide their audience with correct information at all times.

Ms. Green recalled a recent case where the public was misinformed by the local media about the counselling session, which is being offered by the Ministry. She explained that the media cannot just turn up and film persons being counselled because counselling is a private thing.

She called on media personnel to use the correct information and not to misrepresent the facts. (Government Information Agency)

The end of an exemplary life
IN one of the numerous commentaries being carried on American television and beamed across the world on cable Saturday, a man in Britain was reported to have said that he was atheist, he did not believe in God, but yet he believed in the Pope, John Paul II, who died shortly after 3.30 local time Saturday.

This was but a glimpse into the tremendous impact the late pontiff had on a generation of people from one end of the earth to the other during the last quarter of a century. In that time, since his ascension to the seat of power in the Catholic church in 1978, he exercised a unique brand of moral, spiritual and even political authority over many millions of people, Catholic and Protestant, Christian, Jew and Muslim, rich and poor, people from the industrialised and from the underdeveloped world alike.

Born in a village in Poland in 1920 and brought up in an era of communist expansion and excesses, this man was to develop a brand of humanism from very early that was to mark his life and provide signals to the absolutely exemplary life he led as a testament of his faith to the millions whom he touched.

He has been called many things by many people. He has been portrayed as a man of contrasts. He stood steadfastly against populism while at the same time changing the papacy by making it more accessible to the world in a way it had never been before. He became history's most travelled pope. His decisions to face crowds and wave to people were aspects of the things which analysts have categorised as breaking with the past. But he was resolute against such popular social dilemmas as same sex marriage, the greater acceptance in many quarters of abortion, abortion rights and birth control, of the idea of women as priests as well as the concept of liberation theology which was sweeping the Catholic Church in Latin America during the 1970's.

He rolled back some of the liberalism of Vatican II while at the same time personally facing down communism and speaking out against the over reaching materialism of capitalism.

These are just some of the issues through which John Paul II defined the leadership he built and continued to crystalise almost right up to the end of his life on earth yesterday, the stoic manner in which he bore his physical suffering not excepted.

He pardoned hundreds of people. He beatified hundreds others from every region of the world. He apologised to people of other faiths for the perceived sins of his own religion. He was the first pope to visit a Jewish synagogue and he equally saluted Islam. He prayed with the man who shot him in an assassination attempt.

That many millions of people in all corners of the world would have stopped what they were doing even for a moment at the first news of his death was simply confirmation of that impact, embodied in the position of the atheist referred to above.

In 1985, when the Pontiff made a seven-hour visit to this country as part of a four-nation Latin American visit, this newspaper commented that the visit brought out the best in us. That could very well serve as his papal epitaph.
(Reprinted from yesterday’s Trinidad Express)

PERSPECTIVES
Where is racial domination in Guyana?
A Book Review of ‘The Cycle of Racial Oppression in Guyana’ by Kean Gibson
By Prem Misir
The Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) has now ruled on allegations of racism against Kean Gibson’s book, ‘The Cycle of Racial Oppression in Guyana’. The ERC’s ruling in part noted: “The Commission stresses that the author of the publication has advanced no facts whatsoever for the contention advanced that there exists an organized, systematic plan of oppression by Hindus/Indo-Guyanese of the Afro-Guyanese citizens of this country. Nor, in the public hearings undertaken by the Commission, was any evidence advanced to this effect, and the Commission is not otherwise aware of any evidence which would so suggest. The Commission emphasizes that the absence of such evidence in foundation of the thesis maintained by the author reduces the arguments advanced to mere hypothesis, supposition and opinion, unsubstantiated in fact and reality” (ERC Report, February 9, 2005).

In light of this development, here is a review of the Gibson book that I presented prior to the inquiry.

The motivation for domination is not whether a racial group is seen as good or evil, but whether the racial group has something that the power-holding group wants. The need to dominate may have a lot more to do with exploiting any means to achieve profit maximization. A class analysis, therefore, dissipates the potency of Gibson’s dualism of good and evil in justifying domination.

Racial oppression conjures up images of African Americans in the Deep South prior to the ending of segregation in education through the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Brown v. Board of Education 1954 case, Africans in South Africa during Apartheid, Africans in Ian Smith’s Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), the genocide in Rwanda, genocide against Native American Indians, and Hitler’s assault on Jews, among others. Some significant forms of racial domination are genocide, involuntary population transfer, forced assimilation, internal colonialism, and forced segregation. Do these forms of racial domination really describe Guyana? I think not.

The oppressed rapidly experience a sustained social and economic disadvantage and stigma, following their dispossession of all meaningful resources. The rewards of society, driving social status upwardly, are denied to the oppressed, producing a low socioeconomic status (SES) for them.

The SES is a measure of a person’s combined score on education, occupational status, and income. The score determines a person’s class position and assumes a continuum of inequality between classes. SES is directly correlated with class. Clearly, then, East Indians and Africans can be high on education, occupational status, and income, and indeed, some can be moderate, low, or even zero on these, as well.

A social class is a group of people who holds a similar position in the economic system of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services in society. Most societies have a class structure for the entire society and another class structure for each ethnic group.

A recent book “The Cycle of Racial Oppression in Guyana” by Kean Gibson claims that East Indians oppress Africans in Guyana through the Hindu caste system. The oppression, she noted, is motivated through East Indians’ desire to secure and sustain power. A justification for oppression, according to Gibson, is the use of the dualism of good and evil where Hindus see themselves as good, and perceive Africans as evil because of their black skin color. In fact, Gibson believes that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has an agenda to create a racial state based on racial criteria, which could result in the extermination of Africans in the same way that Hitler attempted to eliminate Jews in Germany. What are we to make of these sweeping statements? Let’s review the book.

The caste system
Gibson’s book indicts Hinduism as legitimizing racism through the caste system. The term 'caste' was an English derivation from the Portuguese word ‘casta’, used by the Portuguese to explain India's social structure, according to Malhotra. He said that the word 'caste' is not found in Sanskrit or any Indian language. One of the allusions to such a social structure is found in the Gita, chapter 4, verse 13 where the concept of 'varna' is elucidated. Chapter 4, verse 13 says, "The fourfold order was created by Me according to the divisions of quality and work."

Varna initially was mistranslated as 'caste', which subsequently became institutionalized as the explanation of India’s social structure. Later, the British census of India utilized rigid caste boundaries that classified the population. Total communities were categorized into a single occupational category which created a contrived Indian identity. Malhotra further noted, “Later, India's own government continued this caste division as a way to promote affirmative action, thereby exacerbating such divisive identities. Politicians found in the caste categories, what has been called 'vote banks' and this method of harvesting votes has caused social problems. Unfortunately, all this has been blamed on Hinduism by western scholars and their Indian followers.”

Gibson erroneously sees Hinduism as the culprit in East Indian domination of Africans through the Hindu caste system. And Gibson presents caste as a mandatory requirement of Hinduism. This is a false interpretation. Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, a former President of India, explains chapter 4, verse 13 of the Gita as “caturvarnyam: the fourfold order. The emphasis is on guna (aptitude) and karma (function) and not jati (birth). The varna or the order to which we belong is independent of sex, birth or breeding. A class determined by temperament and vocation is not a caste determined by birth and heredity. According to the Mahabharata, the whole world was originally of one class but later it became divided into four divisions on account of the specific duties. Even the distinction between caste and outcaste is artificial and unspiritual. An ancient verse points out that the Brahmin and the outcaste are blood brothers…The fourfold order is designed for human evolution. There is nothing absolute about the caste system, which has changed its character in the process of history. Today it cannot be regarded as anything more than an insistence on a variety of ways in which the social purpose can be carried out. Functional groupings will never be out of date…The present morbid condition of India broken into castes and sub-castes is opposed to the unity taught by the Gita, which stands for an organic as against an atomistic conception of society."

Swami Chinmayananda’s explanation of this chapter 4, verse 13 of the Gita says "This is a stanza that has been much misused in recent times by the upholders of the social crime styled as the caste system in India. Varna, meaning different shades of texture, or colour, is employed here in the Yogic-sense. In the Yoga Sastra, they attribute some definite colours to the triple gunas, which mean, as we have said earlier, "the mental temperaments". Thus, Sattwa is considered as white, Rajas as red, and Tamas as black. Man is essentially the thoughts that he entertains. From individual to individual, even when the thoughts are superficially the same, there are clear distinctions recognizable from their temperaments."

"On the basis of these temperamental distinctions, the entire mankind has been, for the purpose of spiritual study, classified into four "castes" or Varnas. Just as, in a metropolis, on the basis of trade or professions, we divide the people as doctors, advocates, professors, traders, politicians, tongawalas, etc., so too, on the basis of the different textures of thoughts entertained by the intelligent creatures, the four "castes" had been labeled in the past. From the standpoint of the State, a doctor and a tongawala are as much important as an advocate and a mechanic. So too, for the perfectly healthy life of a society, all "castes" should not be competitive but cooperative units, each being complementary to the others, never competing among themselves."

I intentionally provide these long but significant quotes as interpretations of the varnas in chapter 4, verse 13 of the Gita because the essence of Gibson’s book is that Hinduism through the caste system, legitimizes racial domination of Africans. Clearly, Dr. Radhakrishnan and Swami Chinmayananda’s explanations of the caste system as applied in Hinduism, cannot and will not support the view, that Hindus perceive Africans as evil because they are from the lowest caste. The lowest caste can move to the highest caste and each caste is not competing against one another, but infuse cooperative elements among each other. Indeed, Gibson fails to present the philosophical implications of the varnas in expounding the societal division of labor in Hindu theology.

At any rate, the Hindu caste system has nothing to do with skin color. Caste pertains to the qualities and actions of people. In Ancient India, these caste divisions were not based on birth, but on qualifications. Today, after three thousand years and the disintegration of the Aryan family structure, the caste system has deteriorated in India. The caste system in this degenerative form has little or no relevance or application to Guyana today, even among the Hindus themselves. Keep in mind that the Gita did not reference the word ‘caste’; the Gita uses the word ‘varnas’.

Dualism of good & evil
Gibson’s use of dualism, on its own, as a theoretical framework, to provide explanations of racial oppression is inadequate. Why? This pernicious dualism of good and evil is seen as two separate extreme options. These options are not allowed to draw from each other because they are seen as two separate sides. The reality, however, is that those East Indians who see themselves as good also may see other East Indians and other ethnics as evil, and which may have nothing to do with the caste system. Both East Indians and Africans seen as evil, theoretically, can occupy any caste position. The lowest caste is not the only bearer of evil, contrary to what Gibson enunciates; other castes also are carriers of evil. Further, there may be cases where Africans perceived as evil do not experience exploitation, contradicting Gibson’s main argument. Why? Africans seen as evil also may wield power that would prevent any domination perpetrated on them by anyone or group. If these Africans are perceived as evil and have the capacity to dominate others, then to what caste do they belong? These Africans, therefore, cannot belong to the lowest caste, as Gibson suggests, for the lowest caste will not have the capacity to dominate.

Only those East Indians and Africans in positions of power will have the capacity to exploit those East Indians and Africans without power. Further, these East Indians and Africans without power may both be perceived simultaneously as having characteristics of both good and evil. But the caste system and evil are not the sole determinants of power in any society. This capacity to dominate is determined by a person’s class position in society, that is, whether the person is located in the upper, middle or lower classes. Evidently, then, occupancy of a caste and an ‘evil’ typecast are not sufficient preconditions to dominate another group. This argument seriously undermines Gibson’s use of caste as an explanation of domination against Africans.

Do all East Indians also exploit all Africans categorized as evil? Keep in mind working, lower, and under classes of any racial group, by definition, will not have the power to dominate any other group. If any East Indian oppression of Africans occurs, then it will have to emanate from those East Indians in the higher social classes. Using this line of argument, only lower class Africans and not upper class Africans may experience domination. The lower classes of any group will have limited resources to resist exploitation or even to direct oppression at any group or individual. Indeed, this perspective demonstrates that Africans with appropriate resources also could dominate other ethnic groups. Clearly, the group’s capacity is a stronger precondition to dominate than caste and ‘evil’ projection, further deflating the explanatory value of Gibson’s cycle of racial oppression.

Do upper-class East Indians see their African upper-class counterparts as evil? Research findings suggest that classes at the same level, even from different racial and ethnic groups, tend to support and effect greater interaction with each other. Therefore, people with resources from different racial groups, may attempt to dominate others from different racial groups who have little or no resources and also are perceived as having characteristics of both good and evil. The motivation for domination is not whether a racial group is seen as good or evil, but whether the racial group has something that the power-holding group wants. The need to dominate may have a lot more to do with exploiting any means to achieve profit maximization. A class analysis, therefore, dissipates the potency of Gibson’s dualism of good and evil in justifying domination.

Good and evil in dualism are presented in terms of either one option or another and the ‘good’ option is generally presented as the proper option, as exemplified in Gibson’s work. But options presented as competing alternatives are not necessarily in opposition because good and evil are recursive in social life, and together they constantly adjust to each other in accordance with the social class dynamics of behavioral demands. Therefore, good and evil, simultaneously, can be found in any group and be integral to that group’s behaviour. Undoubtedly, Gibson’s quest to make East Indians the paragon of evil in a multiethnic society ignores the simultaneous presence of good and evil in group behavior, a simultaneity well accepted today as a cultural universal in all ethnic groups.

Further, we have established that Guyana has upper and middle-class Africans who are unlikely to be victims of East Indian domination. Indeed, these Africans through their high socioeconomic status, cannot belong to Gibson’s Sudra caste (lowest caste), as this caste, by definition, only will comprise people with low to zero socioeconomic status. Caste as a type of closed structured inequality, as presented by Gibson, is relatively fixed, and allows no social mobility. Clearly, upper and middle-class Africans in Guyana are upwardly mobile and, therefore, are a manifest contradiction to any ‘low caste’ placement of Africans, as used by Gibson. East Indians, too, who lack resources, can be victims of domination, and those East Indians with resources, will experience upward social mobility.
(To be continued)

Zimbabwe: the Caribbean should speak out against Mugabe
By Sir Ronald Sanders
(The writer is a former Caribbean diplomat, now corporate executive, who publishes widely on Small States in the global community)

WHEN Zimbabwe became an independent African nation under majority rule it owed much to the Commonwealth in particular and to the independent Caribbean states at the time.

President Robert Mugabe has now squandered the struggle of the African majority in Zimbabwe for a place of respect in the international community, and Caribbean governments should speak out and act against him.

Mr Mugabe and his political party, the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF), are not only claiming a victory at the March 31st general election, they say that they have secured a two-thirds majority in Parliament which will allow him to re-write the country’s constitution according to his divine will.

The purpose of re-writing the Constitution is to create a second House of Parliament whose members he, as President, would appoint. Should this happen Mr Mugabe could perpetuate himself in power, or, at the very least, continue his influence should he either choose to step down or, miraculously, lose a Presidential election.

The claim that the ZANU PF has won the election fair and square is hotly rejected by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by Mr Morgan Tsvangirai and by independent observer Zimbabwe groups not represented by Mr Mugabe’s government. They assert a series of actions by Mr Mugabe to fix the outcome of the elections. These actions include intimidation of voters, packing the voters’ list with ‘ghost’ voters, and widespread discarding of the votes of opposition supporters.

It is also significant that Mr Mugabe refused to allow both the Commonwealth and the European Union to send missions to observe the elections.

It could be argued that a losing party always claims rigging by a winning party in government. But, the history of Mr Mugabe’s terror tactics against the opposition party is too glaring and too well documented to dismiss.

Mr Tsvanagirai was arrested and tried for treason, and only barely escaped the death penalty because foreign governments and international human rights groups kept a close watch on the proceedings. Other incidents of repressive laws, harassment of opposition supporters, including beatings and false arrests have been researched and recorded by international bodies such as Human Rights Watch.

All of this is a great shame for Zimbabwe and the ordinary Zimbabweans whose freedoms and rights were won by a tough struggle against the infamous Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) from Britain by a white minority government under a Constitution that gave black Zimbabweans little or no rights in their own country. Now, Mr Mugabe is denying African Zimbabweans the right to live in a free and democratic society.

DISGRACEFUL YEARS
UDI was promulgated under a white minority government led by Ian Smith with the tacit complicity of the governments of both the United Kingdom and the United States. It went on for 16 disgraceful years.

The UK government was prey to the argument that the whites in Southern Rhodesia (as Zimbabwe then was) were ‘kith and kin’. And, the U.S. government regarded a white government there as a safety measure against communist activity in nearby Angola and Mozambique.

At the domestic level, this oppression of the majority black people in Zimbabwe provoked a robust response in the freedom-fighting movements of Mr Mugabe and Mr Joshua Nkomo. But, at the international level, the cosseting of the white minority government by the UK and the U.S. found its strongest voice in the councils of the Commonwealth where the governments of the independent Caribbean countries played a strong role with the African front-line states of Zambia, Tanzania and Nigeria to persuade the U.S. and the UK to turn away from the Ian Smith regime and to contemplate independence for Zimbabwe under majority rule.

It was not as easy task. The Conservative government of Britain’s Margaret Thatcher and the Republican administration of Ronald Reagan came to the table only in the face of overwhelming Commonwealth advocacy in every theatre of the world.

When Mr Mugabe assumed the Presidency of an independent Zimbabwe under majority rule, he owed much particularly to African and Caribbean nations to respect and uphold the democracy, freedoms and human rights that were previously denied.

The Caribbean had spoken out and acted against racial discrimination, political oppression, and the denial of political, civil and human rights in Zimbabwe. They expected that Zimbabwe would become the model that South Africa could follow in ending Apartheid and establishing majority rule there.

Instead, Mr Mugabe dashed those hopes. He quickly cut down political opponents in his own government – an early casualty being Joshua Nkomo who led the rival ZAPU PF movement and who was included in the first national government of Zimbabwe.

Then, when an active opposition was created, Mr Mugabe repressed it. Eventually in 2002, Presidential elections were so marred with violence and intimidation that although Mr Mugabe was dubiously declared the winner, the Commonwealth suspended Zimbabwe from the Councils of the Commonwealth.

Ensuing efforts by South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki and Nigeria’s leader, Olesegun Obasanjo, to “encourage the climate of reconciliation between the main political parties of Zimbabwe” floundered, and Mr Mugabe stepped up policies that laid waste to the Zimbabwe economy and reduced his country – once a net exporter of maize – to begging for food aid.

ANCIENT WRONG
In recent years Mr Mugabe set about correcting an ancient wrong – the ownership of the majority of arable land in Zimbabwe by a minority of white farmers. There would be few who would have quarrelled with Mr Mugabe that this wrong needed to be righted. But, the way in which Mr Mugabe handled the problem deserved no support.

His government encouraged the illegal seizure of land by his own supporters. Large tracts of land were handed over to party backers and high officials with no consultation with the owners and no system for land re-distribution and compensation.

In the result, the Zimbabwean economy has declined to a state of almost catastrophe. Continued disregard for property rights and the absence of an agreed system for land re-distribution and compensation has seen a very sharp reduction in agricultural production, capital flight, no new foreign investment, and emigration of much needed skills and talent.

Real GDP declined by 7.9% in 2000, 2.8% in 2001, 11.1% in 2002 and 9.3% in 2003. Between November 2003 and February 2004, year-on-year inflation reached a mammoth 600%, and the value of wages and salaries were eroded significantly. Even worse, Zimbabwe’s unemployment has soared and its arrears to the International Monetary Fund amounted to US$306 million or about 57% of its quota in the IMF.

The Executive Board of the fund is now contemplating the compulsory withdrawal of Zimbabwe from the IMF, and this is likely to happen within the next five months.

Mr Mugabe is making himself and his government pariahs. He withdrew Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth in anger over the decision to suspend his government from Commonwealth Councils. Now, the IMF may ask for the country’s compulsory withdrawal from the fund.

It is sad that a country which offered the prospect of being one of the richest in Africa is today at the point of economic collapse, and is riddled with such widespread disregard for democracy and human, civil and political rights.

Caribbean governments who did so much to bring Zimbabwe to independence and democracy under majority rule should speak out and act against Mr Mugabe’s excesses.

Sanctions and isolation were once applied to make Ian Smith change his ways in Southern Rhodesia, sanctions and isolation directed at Mr Mugabe’s government should be applied to make him change his ways for the sake of the people of Zimbabwe.
(responses to: ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com)

Main suspect in NDC $28M fraud has migrated
- Ramdass
POLICE are investigating a $28M fraud allegedly committed on the Kilcoy/Chesney Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) in Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne).

The probe was recommended in an auditor’s report, Regional Chairman Kumkarran Ramdass said Friday.

He disclosed that members of the local authority are being interrogated by detectives but the main suspect has already fled the country and is living in the United States.

Ramdass said the sum was discovered missing after an official of the Bank of Guyana alerted the Regional Administration, last December 22, that its account was in overdraft.

A letter from the bank followed, disclosing that the overdrawn amount was $2.8M and a check of the records revealed that $26M had been collected through irregularities at the particular NDC.

Woman charged with will forgery granted bail
FORTY-YEAR-OLD Diane Singh, of Lot 10 Brickdam Georgetown, was granted $30,000 bail by Acting Chief Magistrate Cecil Sullivan Friday, after she pleaded not guilty to forging a document with intent to defraud.

Police Inspector Kevin Adonis alleged that the defendant lived with Patrick DeSouza at the Brickdam address prior to his death and attempted to probate a will, dated March 9, 2005, purporting to have been signed by the deceased.

The Prosecutor said De Souza and Company Limited objected to the testament and a report was made to the Police.

But, before the case was put off to May 17, Defence Counsel Llewellyn John argued that it is civil matter and should not have engaged this Court.

Case adjourned, woman on drugs charge further remanded
THE trial of businesswoman Murlyn Bacchus, of Smythfield, New Amsterdam, Berbice, who is charged with illegal possession of narcotics, was last Friday adjourned to April 5.

Until then, the defendant was further remanded to prison on charges that she had two grammes of cocaine and four grammes cannabis (marijuana) at her home last January 29.

At New Amsterdam Court, where the case continued Friday, Magistrate Kim Kyte was told that Police, acting on information received, went to the house and found the drugs in a black plastic bag, a plant pot and a speaker box on the verandah.

Police Lance Corporal Rawle Ferreira is prosecuting opposite Defence Counsel Michael Baird.

Warrant for one...
Three charged with Stabroek Market weekend burglaries
THREE men have been charged with the burglaries at Two Stabroek Market stalls over the Good Friday holiday.

Two of the defendants, Harold Sampson, of Lot 637 Mocha Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara and Madray Mootoo, of Lot 15 La Bonne Intention, East Coast Demerara, appeared before Magistrate Maxwell Edwards Thursday and were granted $50,000 bail each.

But an arrest warrant was issued for co-defendant Anthony DeCruz and the case was put off until he is arrested.

It is alleged that the trio broke and entered the business place of Sherez Surujpaul and stole cosmetics valued $1,066,905.

However, nothing was apparently stolen when the burglars broke into the other stall belonging to Khalim Baksh.

The virtual complainants had secured their premises on March 24 but returned on March 25 to discover the breakages.

A terrible excess?
THE media seized upon two stories to bombard the interested, and the disgusted, over the past several days.

In view of the non-stop saturation, a not unreasonable question is whether the media has been guilty of terrible excess?

First, the now dead woman in Florida. May God rest her soul.

It appears that even after death, the family feuding continues, with an excited media in close pursuit and sharing every word, and angle with the rest of the world. When she was alive, we were treated to almost every medical development – and opinion - on her deteriorating condition.

She is breathing; she is sinking; she is comatose; she is dead.

What a sorry situation, when the vultures of the press descend to rip every shred of dignity from the dying. Perhaps, some need to know all of this.

Nevertheless, at its most elementary level, this was less about the decedent’s well being, and more about the enduring bitterness, and hatred, that can characterise family relationships. Especially, “in-law” relationships.

To be sure, there were other issues – some authentic, others questionable - about freedom, religion, politics, law, and medicine.

But, at the beginning and end, this was more about family than anything else. We should all pray that ours be spared such public acrimony.

Second, the Pontiff who died Saturday. His story is on a different plane because the office and the man are such monumental public institutions.

One must respect the vigil of the faithful, and not only those who were physically present in St Peters Square.

However, was it really necessary to have an accompanying media “death watch” also?

Surely, it is excessive to be treated to: the Pope is worsening; he is breathing shallowly; he is losing consciousness. And how about that premature announcement of his death?

Let it be said that the role of the press is vital and must be respected; but has our age and technology and expectations become such that every breath and moment and agonising detail must be distributed for public consumption?

At the risk of sacrilege, is the imminent departure of a great figure to be treated on the same tasteless level that characterises, say, the Jackson trial?

I would surely hope not, but I see no end in sight regardless whether it is war, or death, or utter foolishness. The evidence indicates that there is no longer any appreciation for dignity, privacy, balance, or class.

These two examples have been on the international scene.

On the local front, there was an uproar over pictures of a headless corpse in a section of the media.

When all of this is glued together, the question arises as to whether the media has not lost its own head in turn.
GHK LALL

Ignoring the real problem
MUCH is being made of Kaieteur News' publication of a rather graphic picture of a murder victim, and while I understand the outrage by readers and even an editorial comment by your newspaper, I am at a complete loss as to why there is such a visibly absent outrage at the very heinous act itself?

It cannot be just me who noticed a sudden surge in deadly attacks involving people who are close to or familiar with their victims, (some may be drug-related, while others may be robbery-related), but as I follow the daily reportage of these events, I keep wondering what sort of spirit is permeating the atmosphere in Guyana that people have to resort to deadly violence as a means to resolving disputes or disagreements?

No human being is perfect and mistakes are therefore liable to take place in relationships that hit an occasional sour note.

But when mistakes such as those making news start becoming a way of life or a pattern in a small society like Guyana's, it calls for urgent measures to arrest this ugly development.

Sometimes we try to pin the responsibility for such corrective measures on the government, but the government, as an institution, can only do so much.

Religious and social organisations have to get increasingly involved and mount electronic media blitzes to educate, inform and encourage people to diffuse tensions between and among themselves by taking the high road and walking away, by refusing to always want to have the last say, by learning to identify early warning signs of a potentially explosive situation, and being open to attending counselling sessions with a person or with persons capable of mediating and mending situations.

I can testify to being a beneficiary of a public service television ad frequently aired some time ago in New York featuring former Knicks basketball star, Patrick Ewing, in which he role-played in a confrontation with another person, but instead of taking it to the next level, the ad zoomed in on his clenched fist then showed him walking away leaving the other person standing.

He was not a weakling or a ‘softee’ or a chicken for walking away, but he took charge of the situation by leaving it alone. He was, indeed, the bigger man.

When subsequently confronted with potential road rage situations, I have flash backs of that ad and simply move on.

It works. And in New York, where life can be treated cheaply, longevity is definitely a hallmark of maturity and self-control.

While I am at it, let me encourage greater use of the media to promote role-playing television ads and talks featuring professional counsellors on ways of resolving typical domestic violence issues.

Trust me, if 10 per cent of viewers are educated and changed as a result of these steps, success has been achieved, even if in a small way.

Still, I want to see people expressing outrage against all types of human violence in Guyana, not just outrage against a newspaper's editorial judgment call on what is or isn't in good taste, when the real problem is being openly ignored.
EMILE MERVIN

A Pope for all
PERMIT me a few lines to express myself on the death of our Holy Father, John Paul II.

Our world has lost a great leader to say the least. Over the past years of me knowing the Pope, I’ve heard so many persons speak of his true love for the Church that Christ’s Apostles left on Earth.

There is absolutely none who can say that John Paul wasn’t a good human being and more so a strong Father of the Church. He was one of the longest-serving Popes of the Catholic faith and one of the most, if not, at least in my book, the most influential human being who ever lived in the past century.

He went forward in mission to proclaim the Gospel even where the message was rejected and he knew that it would be rejected, yet he was bold. Even coming to the end of his earthly life, he taught us lessons of perseverance and determination.

I was really struck at this Pope’s charisma to do what he had to do. Although very ill, he struggled and by ‘hook or crook’ the job was done; and for that he would be missed.

Oh, and he had a great sense of humour. He was also a technologically inclined pope; the first to send an email.

He traveled more than 700,000 miles throughout his papacy - that is about the distance of three trips to the moon.

He transcended all religious and social barriers during his papacy. This man was the first pope to have entered a synagogue and a mosque.

He stood bold on his grounds on certain global issues like his opposition of the Yugoslavia war and the war on Iraq. He stretched out his hands literally to the poor and neglected.

He entered territory that any other leader dreads to tread. As one Catholic Priest puts it, John Paul had the mind of John (the Apostle) and the heart of Paul. All in all he was a truly a leader who inspired the world because his heart was filled with love.

He touched every life he came in contact with and so this Vicar of Christ, born Karol Wojtyla, has left a strong legacy for us Catholics to carry on and the world to be inspired by. He was a Pope not only for Catholics but for all and for the world.

May he now rest from his labours.
LEON J. SUSERAN

Onward with the stadium
I COMMEND the government for its commitment to sport development in Guyana.

Recently, I heard that the contract has been awarded for the construction of the World Cup Cricket Stadium. Congratulations Guyana!

I know that the stadium will not only host WCC but other one-day internationals and test matches.

The foreign exchange will do a lot for Guyana.

With the continued commitment by the government to develop Guyana, I am sure that one day we will move from being a Third World country.

God bless Guyana.
ALEX HILTON

On the right track
I AM not a fan of cricket but I take this opportunity to commend Minister Gail Teixeira for her continued commitment to youth development.

It is great to see that the future of cricket is on the right track. Our Guyanese youths are getting the necessary experience needed to make the West Indies team.

Many countries develop not only economically but also through sport.

My view on the government developing youths in sport is one that I will readily support.
JOHN MCDONALD

Buxton needs more
THERE are certain issues in life with which no one can argue sensibly against.

One of these unassailable tenets is the one that all citizens regardless of their colour, class, religion, ideology etc. expect, and must be guaranteed protection under the law.

That protection may be in response to myriad threats, be it from the common criminal, the activities of drug barons, or the policeman looking for a raise or “cheese” to borrow from the lexicon of “Concerned” in the letter columns of the Guyana Chronicle (March 29, 2005 issue).

Is it a coincidence that three condemnatory letters of the police all appeared in the same edition or what? For the enlightenment of persons who may have missed them, they were captioned respectively – “Why no photo of wanted cop?”, “Police and ‘cheese’”, and “Nothing new”.

I will be dealing with aspects of all three letters.

It is indeed sad when in the life experience of a 53-year-old, one of the significant things that he remembers is policemen accepting bribes since the sixties. Chet hopefully thinks that we can see a destruction of this culture in -- I would opine -- the not too distant future.

The fact that generally speaking John Q Public shares his feelings with respect to the practice of bribery is indeed cause for concern and serious thinking on the part of the police top brass to address this festering sore that is contributing to the low level of public confidence.

The issue of corruption will remain with us if the force does not resist and wrest itself from the type of control previously exerted by elements with ulterior motives.

Monitor the moonlighting activities of off duty ranks as far as circumstances permit. I have stated before that the photos of wanted persons should be made public, but, being no attorney, my opinion on that mate is purely personal as indeed are all my opinions thus far.

I am glad that the police have explained their actions in Buxton in response to the allegations of residents regarding the use of villagers as human shields.

In the absence of any contradictory evidence I am prepared to accept the explanation of the police.

There seems to have been no practicable Plan B for persons on their way to work. But then again, who can say for certain in those circumstances that those persons were who they said they were? (I myself might have erred on the side of caution).

Without meaning to justify the Buxton situation I will say this to what I perceive to be a small gaggle of detractors.

The Buxton scenario did not suddenly emerge during the current police administration. It was not sensibly dealt with in any strategic sense and was left to grow into the monster it became.

The current administration headed by a resolute commissioner who seems unafraid to get things done, is making some headway towards reclaiming for Buxtonians some measure of normalcy.

A school of thought has it that Commissioner Felix has been given a basket to fetch water, but, to his credit, he has succeeded to the point where there is growing but grudging admiration for the man and his approach to his profession by even his most ardent critic.

I would like to see that admiration transformed with the same zeal into moral and material support for his progressive ideas.

Shooting down crime in Buxton will not resolve the deep seated psychosocial and economic problems that beset the village.

There is need for a coming together with the other social partners who are readily available and apparent in other sections of society at the drop of the proverbial hat.
NEIL MASDAMMER

More on war
I THANK Mr Clinton Urling for his helpful comments in his letter “The frequency and violence of wars have not decreased” (Stabroek News March 29).

It was a somewhat easily-misinterpreted choice of words I used in my letter of March 25 captioned “The world is becoming a more peaceful place.” Upon further reflection, I should have instead written, “If we are to be truly objective and examine the overall world scene, the scope and magnitude of wars have decreased dramatically since 1945.”

This, I believe, should cover both inter-state and intra-state wars.

During the World War I, 1914 – 1918, some 8.5 million soldiers died. On even a quiet day on the Western Front, hundreds of soldiers were killed.

The heaviest loss of life for a single day occurred on July 1, 1916, during the Battle of the Somme, when the British Army suffered 20,000 dead and 40,000 wounded.

It has been estimated that the number of civilian deaths attributable to the war was about 13 million.

World War II, 1939 – 1945, by conservative estimates, resulted in about 20 million military deaths and 18 million civilian deaths. Included in the civilian deaths are the six million Jews murdered by Nazis in the Holocaust.

The German city of Dresden was almost completely destroyed by massive Anglo-American bombing raids on the night of February 13-14, 1945. The city continued to be bombed until April 17.

The raids obliterated the greater part of one of Europe's most beautiful cities, killing between 35,000 and 135,000 people. The atom bombs that America dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed about 113,000 Japanese and injured a like number.

The 40 million–50 million deaths (some estimates are as high as 50 million to 64 million) incurred in World War II make it the bloodiest conflict as well as the largest war in history. In terms of destructiveness, human misery, violence, total battle fatalities and battle fatalities per year, World War II has never been surpassed by any armed conflict since, and hopefully never will.

The Korean War, 1950–1953, resulted in the deaths of about 1.3 million South Koreans, many of them civilians, one million Chinese, 500,000 North Koreans; and about 54,000 Americans. North Korea was utterly devastated by American bombing campaigns.

Any wonder why the DRPK does not trust America?

The Vietnam War, 1955–1975, caused the deaths of more than 58,000 Americans. Estimates of South Vietnam deaths range from 185,000 to 225,000.

North Vietnam lost about 900,000 troops. Both North and South incurred an unknown, but huge, number of wounded. In addition, more than one million Vietnamese civilians were killed.

Apart from the 1980-1990 Iran-Iraq War, conflicts in the Middle East, Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia have been mostly limited and low-level.

No inter-state or intra-state war since 1945 has ever reached the level and extent of the violence of the two world wars.

So judging from the four major armed conflicts of the 20th century, it is evident that the scope, magnitude and attrition rate of wars have decreased dramatically post World War II.

Since the 1960s, researchers have been noticing this trend.

According to Harold Titus and Morris Keeton, “War, in the opinion of the authors, is a phenomenon that can be eliminated. It is a social phenomenon, like dueling and slavery. Just as these have been eliminated from most of the earth’s surface, so war can be eliminated. In fact, war already has been eliminated from considerable areas – in the fifty states in the United States and among the nations within the British Commonwealth, for example”. (Ethics for Today, 1966).

Jonathan Power, in two International Viewpoints published in Stabroek News last year, also discussed this trend and provided evidence that it is accelerating. “Yet, for all that war in the world is diminishing…For the first time in history a not insignificant number of states has been free from war for the best part of two centuries…Looking back over a vast historical panorama, Oxford historian Evan Luard, in his meticulous book on the history of war, showed that over time wars have become less frequent and the number of years in which an average country has been involved in war has declined over the centuries…This latter fact reflected a trend that was worldwide. Between 1993 and 2001 the number of wars of self-determination was halved. During the 1990s sixteen separatist wars were settled by peace agreements and ten others were checked by ceasefires and negotiation, according to the Minority at Risk Project of the University of Maryland.” (“Beslan and the crude instinct of solving problems by warfare” Sept. 12, 2004).

In the second viewpoint “New evidence against the war of civilizations” (SN Oct. 31, 2004), Mr. Power went on to say, “Now with a new report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute we have well-researched evidence to back up the argument. With its annual 14-year rolling study of major armed conflicts, the institute tells us that for each of those years the number of civil wars (the overwhelming majority of present-day conflicts are not inter-state) in the world has been declining, and that of those that still exist most are Marxist-led or are a conflict over territory, of which only a handful have an Islamic ingredient.”

I am now diligently studying version three of the Correlates of War data sets as per Mr. Urling’s advice. He said that there were 204 armed conflicts, including 104 wars, during the period 54-year period 1945-1999.

I have found that the data sets give information on wars from 1816-1997. It would be interesting to compare the figures quoted by Mr. Urling with the number of armed conflicts for the 54-yr period 1885-1939 when America, Great Britain and the other European nations ruled the unruly natives across the world.

For example, during the Spanish-American War, 1898-1901, the U.S. alone annexed Samoa, Guam, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and parts of Cuba, and from 1901-1929 sent troops to Latin American countries 32 times.

The Filipino-American War, 1899-1902, took the lives of 250,000 Filipino civilians and 20,000 true freedom fighters, as well as 5,000 American soldiers. The U.S. also fought numerous bloody wars to subdue the Native Americans. More on the COW later.

As for the present crisis in Lebanon, I have as much information as is available to Mr. Urling. The explosion that killed the former Lebanese prime minister was no spontaneous chemical reaction; it was masterminded and carried out by an obviously small but deadly cabal, who, from childhood, were taught that violence is the solution to problems. Time will reveal the beneficiaries.

I close with the words of one of my favourite authors, Ashley Montagu, from his classic work Man’s Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race (1997), “Humankind is moving, in spite of occasional appearances to the contrary, toward greater understanding.”
M. XIU QUAN-BALGOBIND-HACKETT

`Big Truck’ loses world cruiserweight title to Mormeck
WORCESTER, Massachusetts, (CMC) - Guyanese boxer Wayne ‘Big Truck’ Braithwaite lost his World Boxing Council (WBC) cruiserweight title and his unbeaten label when Frenchman Jean-Marc Mormeck beat him on points in their unification bout at the DCU Centre on Saturday night.

Mormeck retained his World Boxing Association (WBA) belt and seized Braithwaite's WBC crown with a clear unanimous decision, winning 114-112, 115-111, 116-110.

With the result, the 29-year-old Braithwaite’s record slipped to 21 wins (17 knockouts) against one defeat, and Mormeck improved to 31 wins (21 knockouts) against two defeats while becoming the first unified world cruiserweight champion since Evander Holyfield.

Mormeck, who outweighed Braithwaite by ten pounds, pressed the action in round two after the hard-hitting Guyanese had enjoyed a promising first round.

Both landed big shots in rounds three and four, but Mormeck began pinning the previously undefeated Braithwaite on the ropes and punishing him in rounds five and most of round six, although Braithwaite closed the sixth with a flurry.

Mormeck, 32, floored Braithwaite with a big right hand in round seven. Braithwaite held on to last the round.

Braithwaite was deducted a point for holding in the eighth and came back to his corner with a cut over the left eye.

Mormeck continued to punish Braithwaite in round nine.

The action slowed considerably, especially on Mormeck's end, through rounds ten and eleven but the European emphasised his authority with some big shots in the final round.

Braithwaite, one of three Guyanese -- Andrew Lewis and Vivian Harris being the others -- to win world boxing titles, had captured the belt in October 2002, when he defeated Italian Vicenzo Cantatore.

Braithwaite's defeat leaves WBA super-lightweight boss Harris as the Caribbean country’s only world champion.

Dour South Africans battle for survival
By Fazeer Mohammed
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, (CMC) - Dispensing with their debonair demeanour of the previous day and opting instead for dour, defensive tactics, South Africa crawled through 63 overs in reaching 85 for two in their second innings after being forced to follow-on 355 runs behind the West Indies first innings total on the fourth day of the First Digicel Test yesterday.

Having failed miserably to come to terms with the peculiar nature of the Bourda pitch as they slipped to 130 for six on a rain-ruined third day, the tourists’ greater application was too late to prevent them from being dismissed for a paltry 188 just before lunch on a sunny fourth morning.

With West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul sending the opposition back in, as was widely anticipated, South Africa made an about-turn and opted for an almost complete defensive mode in the hope of defying the home team for fully five sessions to avoid going behind in the four-match series.

Their efforts were somewhat successful as they only lost the wickets of openers AB de Villiers and skipper Graeme Smith.

But with Jacques Rudolph living a charmed life in his unbeaten 19 and Jacques Kallis curbing his attacking instincts in scoring just one run in 44 deliveries, the tourists will need more than discipline and dedication to deny the West Indies on a pitch that has become increasingly two-paced.

That they still face a deficit of 270 runs with eight wickets in hand going into the final day seems inconsequential to the pre-series favourites as they have obviously decided to defend their way to safety.

Chastened by the experience of losing six wickets for 80 runs on Saturday in the first innings, Mark Boucher and Nicky Boje extended their seventh-wicket partnership to 63 an hour into the day when pacer Reon King got the breakthrough, breaching Boje’s defence and hitting the top of his off stump to end his resistance at 34.

His demise increased the pressure on Boucher as Makhaya N’tini showed little inclination to defend, hoisting left-arm spinner Ryan Hinds to the mid-wicket boundary to get off the mark and then swatting the same bowler through the fingers of the leaping Wavell Hinds at mid-off for another four in the same over.

It was hardly surprising therefore, when Darren Powell trapped N’tini lbw for eight in his first over of the day to reduce to South Africa to 169 for eight.

Boucher then perished for 41, the joint topscore of the innings with de Villiers, slashing at a wide delivery from Pedro Collins for Chanderpaul to take the catch at first slip.

The new captain, fresh from a double-century in the West Indies’ massive first innings of 543 for five declared, seemed incapable at that stage of doing any wrong as it was also the introduction of the left-arm seamer that brought the immediate success.

To top it off, he tossed the ball to Narsingh Deonarine in the midst of some resistance from South Africa’s last-wicket pair and the debutant obliged, Charl Langeveldt slapping a low full-toss from the part-time off-spinner into the hands of Ryan Hinds at short extra-cover to end the innings 20 minutes before the interval.

Collins, Powell and King shared the honours in leading the team off the field with three wickets each, but the three pacers would not have been under any illusions that Smith’s squad would fold as quickly as 66.5 overs the second time around.

Yet they may have been taken aback by the degree to which the captain and de Villiers opted to defend.

Only 40 runs were scraped together in the two hours between lunch and tea although, to their credit, the pair never really looked troubled as they eschewed the cross-batted stroke in repeated preference for a straight defensive bat.

As often happens, it took a break in play to interrupt their intense concentration. To the last ball of the first over after tea from King, de Villiers attempted a forcing shot off the back foot and was bowled off the inside edge for 20 to end an opening partnership of 46.

A light shower threatened to deny the West Indies valuable time, but as a near-capacity Bourda crowd screamed for play to continue, the umpires waved the covers off after a few minutes and the war of attrition continued. Rudolph, dismissed for a first-ball duck the day before, lived a charmed life, pulling a Deonarine long-hop just short of King on the backward square-leg boundary before he had scored and being dropped twice.

The left-hander drove at Deonarine and edged through Devon Smith’s fingers at slip while Ryan Hinds failed to hold on to a sharp chance off his own bowling diving to his right as the left-hander struggled to put away a high full-toss.

But there was no luck for Smith, who, after defying everything for 139 deliveries in gathering 34 runs, was drawn into the off-drive by Collins and the Barbadian pacer celebrated his dismissal for the second time in the match as the ball brushed the inside edge of his bat before crashing into the stumps.

Kallis, who also failed to score the day before, joined Rudolph at 68 for two and the pair soldiered on defiantly until fading light brought an end to the proceedings eight minutes before the scheduled close.

The third-wicket pair, and the other batsmen to follow, will be preparing themselves for more resolute defence today.

It will be no surprise, however, if they are also looking to the skies early in the morning for some assistance from Guyana’s notoriously fickle weather.

WEST INDIES first innings 543 for 5 decl. (W. Hinds 213; A. Nel 3-93)

SOUTH AFRICA 1st innings (o/n 130 for 6)

G. Smith c wkp. Browne b Collins 2

A. Villiers c wkp. Browne b King 41

J. Rudolph c R. Hinds b Powell 0

J. Kallis b Powell 0

H. Gibbs lbw Collins 5

M. Boucher c Chanderpaul b Collins 41

A. Hall c Collins b King 2

N. Boje b King 34

M. Ntini lbw b Powell 8

C. Langeveldt c R. Hinds b Deonarine 10

A. Nel not out 6

Extras: (lb-6, nb-31, w-2) 39

Total: (all out - 66.5 overs) 188

Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-16, 3-16, 4-30, 5-71, 6-95, 7-158, 8-169, 9-172.

Bowling Collins 18-5-39-3 (nb-13), Powell 18-2-61-3 (nb-5, w-2), King 16-2-48-3 (nb-11), R. Hinds 13-5-29-0, Deonarine 1.5-0-5-1.

SOUTH AFRICA first innings (following on 355 behind)

A. Villiers b King 20

G. Smith b Collins 34

J. Rudolph not out 19

J. Kallis not out 1

Extras: (b-5, lb-1, nb-5) 11

Total: (for 2 wickets, 63 overs) 85

Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-68.

Bowling Collins 9-6-12-1 (nb-1), Powell 12-7-15-0, King 8-0-18-1 (nb-4), W.Hinds 8-4-4-0, R. Hinds 13-6-13-0, Deonarine 12-5-17-0, Chanderpaul 1-1-0-0.

Yamaha Caribs take Banks DIH Sevens lien trophy
By Isaiah Chappelle
YAMAHA Caribs again notched their name on the Banks DIH Sevens lien trophy in the rugby season opener at the National Park, yesterday.

Caribs played unbeaten to amass the maximum 20 points from five matches, with the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) ‘A’ team ending second with 16 points from four victories in five matches and Hornets ‘A’ third with 12 points from three wins in their allotted matches.

Caribs’ Claudius Butts was voted the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

Some six teams competed, with Hornets fielding three, GDF two and Caribs one, thus producing 15 matches in the tournament. For each victory, a team earned four points and for a draw, two.

The title was decided in the final game of the day, in which Caribs defeated Hornets ‘A’, 22-12, to take the title - their second consecutive win in the season’s opening tournament.

Claudius scored the first try for Caribs but the conversion was no good. Captain Theodore Henry then took the score to 12-0, scoring a try and accurately kicking the conversion.

Towards the close of the first half, Hornet’s Albert La Rose collected the ball from the 10-metre line and raced for the southern try line. He was brought down about five metres from the line, through a high tackle. The team was given a penalty because if the foul had not occurred he would have reached the line. Ryan George made good the conversion and the score was 12-7 in Caribs’ favour.

Caribs kept the pressure on and Ryan George missed a pass, which Henry collected and raced for the try, taking the score to 17-7. Hornets pulled back a try as Kevin McKenzie reached the try line after a series of passes and tackles. They were now one try behind and minutes ticked away to the final whistle.

The champions sealed the title when Walter George got the final try in the match and the tournament.

Caribs opened their defence with 26-0 whipping over Hornets ‘C’ and followed that up with a 19-7 victory over Hornets ‘B’. They then put away GDF ‘A’, 22-7, and next demolished the army ‘B’ team, 51-0, to set up the final showdown with Hornets ‘A’.

Hornets ‘A’ beat their ‘B’ team that consisted mainly of Under-18 players, 19-10, to start the day. The juniors jolted the seniors by scoring the first two tries through Dane Parks and Satesh Samaroo.

But British Virgin Islands-based Franklin Victor used his tremendous speed to pull one back and Ryan George made good the conversion. The score was 10-7 at halftime.

West Indies player Troy Arjoon used his vast experience to close the gap with a try, which Mateo Friendz converted and Kevin McKenzie sealed victory with the closing try.

Hornets ‘A’ then disposed of GDF ‘B’ 35-0, and their ‘C’ team 33-5. But the Army’s ‘A’ team halted their winning streak, edging them out by a conversion 7-5. Their hopes for the title rested on a victory over Caribs which would have put them, Caribs and GDF ‘A’ on 16 points each and Hornets ‘A’ would have claimed the title on the number of converted tries. They have 11 going into the closing match and Caribs eight.

Other victories for GDF ‘A’ came from their games against their ‘B’ team (12-0), Hornets ‘B’ (19-0) and Hornets ‘C’ (10-5).

Hornets ‘B’ defeated GDF ‘B’ (29-7) and Hornets ‘C’ (15-0), while Hornets ‘C’ beat GDF ‘B’, 12-5.

Banks DIH Public Relations Officer Ian Hercules presented the prizes.

Windwards and Leewards draw U-15 development match
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, (CMC) - The two-day developmental match in the CLICO West Indies Under-15 tournament between the Windward Islands and Leeward Islands ended in a tame draw at the National Cricket Centre yesterday.

Resuming on their overnight position of six for one, going after the Windwards’ first innings total of 235, the Leewards were dismissed for a paltry 70 in 46.3 overs and the Windwards reached 110 for two in their second innings when the game was called off.

All-rounder Oscar Scotland top-scored with 19 for the Leewards in their first innings reply, while medium-pacer Oscar George (4-8) and leg-spinner Kerron Cottoy (3-15) were the top bowlers for the Windwards.

Batting a second time, the Windwards moved 275 runs clear after Wayne Harper stroked an unbeaten top score of 56 -- his second half-century of the match.

Harper, who had scored 57 in the first innings, hit nine fours in his innings.

The match was called off with nine of the 15 mandatory overs remaining.

Today is a rest day in the tournament and the competition will resume tomorrow with Barbados and the Leewards meeting at Inshan Ali Park in Preysal, while Jamaica and Windwards will square off at the NCC in Balmain.

Hosts and tournament leaders Trinidad & Tobago face Guyana in their two-day development match at Gilbert Park tomorrow and Wednesday.

The development games are not a part of the championship and carry no points.

In the championship series, Trinidad and Tobago have maximum eight points from four games, to lead the Windwards, who also have a 100 per cent win record for six points, with a game in hand.

Summarised scores:

WINDWARD ISLANDS 235 all out off 89.4 overs (Dalton Polius 60, Wayne Harper 57, Dilorn Johnson 26, Shelton Hooper 22; Chesney Hughes 2-36, Joseph Williams 2-38, Oswald Scotland 2-41, Jeron Jones 2-54) & 110-2 (Wayne Harper 56 not out).

LEEWARD ISLANDS 70 all out off 46.3 overs (Oswald Scotland 19; Oscar

George 4-8, Kerron Cottoy 3-15.

Windies Women formally exit World Cup
PRETORIA, South Africa, (CMC) - West Indies women formally exited the 2005 Women’s World Cup tournament yesterday when all the final round matches in the group stage were rained out and they finished one place outside the top four semi-final range.

A win over England in their un-played last match at Harlequins would still have been insufficient, as even maximum points would have placed them behind the fourth-placed English.

West Indies ended the championship with a record of two wins, three losses and two no-results and although they failed to make the semis, they earned a three-place climb up the world rankings and a guaranteed spot in the next World Cup.

“I think we had quite a good tournament although we did not get into the final four,” coach Ann Browne-John told CMC Sport yesterday.

“Everyone in South Africa is saying that West Indies played at a very high standard and that the team has improved a lot,” she added.

West Indies had failed to qualify for the previous World Cup in 2000 and earned their spot here by taking the runner-up position in the qualifying series two years ago.

“We came into the tournament (ranked) in eighth position and we are leaving in fifth position, so we are now the fifth-ranked team in the world, which has been great for us,” Browne-John said.

Australia will now face England in the first semi-final tomorrow and then defending champions New Zealand take on India on Thursday.

West Indies should have been departing today but the unavailability of flights will keep them in South Africa until April 12 and local officials have invited them to play three official One-Day Internationals against South Africa, who also failed to make the semis.

West Indies, who beat Sri Lanka and Ireland, lost to Australia, South Africa (by one run), and India, and had no-results against New Zealand and England, will face the South Africans tomorrow, Thursday and Saturday.

Final preliminary standings:

1. Australia 35 points

2. India 30

3. New Zealand 29

4. England 26

5. West Indies 19

6. Sri Lanka 12

7. South Africa 11

8. Ireland 6

Questions needing answers over WIPA's position ...
Just who does Ramnarine represent?
By Martin Williamson
THE general raison d'etre of any trade union or association is to act in the best interests of its membership. The recent behaviour of Dinanath Ramnarine, the president of the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), appears to suggest that it does not adhere to that school of thought.

Ramnarine's own playing career ended prematurely when he quit after it was made clear his international future was bleak. He quit to set up WIPA, a little more than a year ago. The intention was admirable, and brought West Indies into line with most other countries in having a body representing their players.

But fairly soon it became apparent that Ramnarine did not intend to work quietly behind the scenes and that he wanted a far more high-profile role than that. The current contract crisis thrust him into the limelight, and his increasingly erratic behaviour has raised questions as to who exactly he is representing.

Those who have crossed him speak of him being a fiery and egotistical figure. In the infamous leaked report on the recent Australian tour, Richard Nowell, Digicel's representative, described WIPA a "a terrorist organisation". That was clearly over the top, but it highlighted just how much the association was perceived to be interfering and troublemaking.

The behaviour of some individuals in Australia - and that relates to their contractual obligations rather than other non-cricketing incidents - made it clear to the board that it could not just ignore the Cable & Wireless situation and that it had to protect its new deal with Digicel. But rather than trying to broker a solution, WIPA just seemed to be out to fan the flames of unrest.

It is now fairly obvious that six of the seven personal contracts with C&W - the exception being Lara's which is a long-standing arrangement - were signed once it became clear that Digicel would replace them as the WICB's sponsor. It was fairly blatant ambush-marketing in a bitter, pan-Caribbean battle between the two telecommunications giants.

And the terms of those deals stipulated that they would be deemed void if the player was dropped from the side for two consecutive matches. C&W did not want the individual so much as a member of the West Indies squad, thus ensuring maximum potential for embarrassment.

But WIPA have consistently backed C&W and those six players - often, it would appear, to the detriment of all its other members. WIPA has been instrumental in presenting the dispute as a clear battle: themselves and C&W in one corner, the WICB and Digicel in the other. Caught in the middle have been the very people that Ramnarine should be representing - players - and they have been treated little better than cannon fodder in an increasingly personal battle.

It is widely reported that last week's unrest and talks of strikes inside the West Indies camp have largely been engineered by Ramnarine.

With cricket in the Caribbean in a far-from-healthy state, what is to be gained by a strike which would massively dent the game's profile and cost the WICB millions? And all supposedly to back six players who signed deals to benefit nobody but themselves? One senior figure told me that "WIPA has been looking to lead rather than represent," adding that Ramnarine had "done the players a great disservice".

And former West Indies fast bowler and now TV commentator Michael Holding was equally outspoken, accusing Ramnarine of "fighting his own private battles and using the WIPA to do so".

Just who Ramnarine represents is further clouded by reports that, last spring, he was acting on behalf of certain players in negotiations with potential sponsors, raising the question of whether he is a representative or an agent?

Digicel's deal with the board appears to be a good one, and will actually result in the players receiving more from their central contracts. Commonsense suggests that a trade union would welcome that. So why hasn't WIPA?

Friday’s scattergun attack on the board, Digicel and the region's politicians could be a rant too far from Ramnarine. It has made people sit up and ask what and who exactly is he speaking on behalf of. But an answer is unlikely to be forthcoming. While Ramnarine is willing to spout vitriol, he is less inclined to sit down and face more direct questioning.

But his head has now popped too far above the parapet. He is in the sniper's sights and likely finally to be called to account. People have a right to know just why the C&W contracts are deemed important enough to jeopardise the future of West Indian cricket, why the players were encouraged to strike, and exactly who WIPA represent. (Cricinfo)

Exciting end to first Test anticipated
By Allan La Rose
THE West Indies are confident of winning while the South Africans are equally sure that they will bat out and draw the first Test on the final of the Digicel Home Series on a flat and slow Bourda pitch.

Needing to score another 270 runs to make the Windies bat again the visitors who are still acclimatising to the slow-natured pitches in the Caribbean will be depending a lot on two of their most experienced batsmen who are at the crease.

“At the wicket we have Jacques Kallis and Jacques Rudolph who both didn’t score any runs in the 1st innings. They are two of our most experienced batsmen and they don’t miss out twice in a row. I’ve got full faith in them to take it through for us.” batsman AB deVilliers warned.

On a personal note the 21-year-old de Villiers claims that he is happy with his form but disappointed with his scores and the way he got out trying to force the shots.

When quizzed on whether South Africa can save the match he responded in the affirmative, ‘I think definitely so.’

Fast bowler Pedro Collins who also faced the Media at the end of the day’s play was just as positive when asked if WI can get the remaining eight wickets in the required 90 overs on the last day.

“Definitely! That’s the plan because we are looking to win the game. It’s not going to be easy but everyone has to pull his weight. Whoever has the ball should try and do his best so that we can get them out as quickly as possible.”

Collins, who has so far picked up one of the two wickets to have fallen, agrees that the pitch is a difficult one to bowl on. “It’s a fifth-day worn pitch but I guess you would learn as you go along. It’s a wicket that can be helpful in a way.”

In concluding Collins declared, “Hopefully, tomorrow we can win and show everyone that this West Indies team can beat South Africa.”

Sri Lanka's one-day series in India postponed
NEW DELHI, India (Reuters) - India's cricket board has postponed a visit by Sri Lanka for a one-day series this month, officials said yesterday.

"There is uncertainty in the Sri Lankan board and till today we have not received any confirmation of the trip," Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) joint secretary Goutam Das Gupta said.

Sri Lanka, currently in New Zealand for a Test series, had been scheduled to arrive in India on April 19 for a five-match series.

Sri Lankan cricket is in turmoil after the government dissolved its board last month and appointed an interim administration, saying there had been complaints of financial mismanagement.

The BCCI decided to postpone the Indian tour at a meeting in Bombay where officials had hoped to finalise the venues for the series.

"We thought it would be proper to reschedule the series to a later date, probably around September-October when there is a break in our schedule," Gupta said.

Ruiz confident over Toney fight
JOHN Ruiz says a win over James Toney will end the doubts about his standing as a world heavyweight champion.

The WBA title holder faces Toney on April 30 at Madison Square Garden, New York, knowing questions are still being raised about his credentials.

But he said: "This is not a turning point, this is a stepping stone for me to achieve greatness and become the undisputed heavyweight champion."

But Toney countered: "I am going to be the WBA heavyweight champion."

The fighters faced off at a news conference in New York to promote the bout, with Ruiz (41-5-1, 28 KOs) claiming:

"This will be a good fight, but it will not be the toughest fight for me.

"I take my hat off to Toney for stepping up to fight the real man in the heavyweight division.

"I am the best in the world. Come April 30, Toney is going to regret ever signing that contract."

Toney (68-4-2, 43 KOs), nicknamed 'Lights Out', remained unfazed by Ruiz's fighting talk.

"I give John Ruiz credit for stepping up to the plate, but come April 30, I am going to nail him good. I cannot wait."

Toney, 36, is a former champion at three different weights.

He moved up from the cruiserweight ranks 18 months ago with a victory over Evander Holyfield, who lost his crown to Ruiz.

But Toney suffered a torn left Achilles tendon last year, delaying his heavyweight title quest. (BBC Sport)

Alonso completes Renault hat-trick
By Alan Baldwin
MANAMA, (Reuters) - Championship leader Fernando Alonso won the Bahrain Grand Prix yesterday to hand Renault their third win in three races while Ferrari failed to score a point.

The 23-year-old Spaniard, triumphant for the second race in a row, was unstoppable as Ferrari's hopes of winning on their new car's Formula One debut evaporated in the shimmering desert heat.

Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, who had raised Ferrari's hopes by qualifying on the front row alongside pole man Alonso, retired after 12 laps.

Brazilian team mate Rubens Barrichello was ninth.

Italian Jarno Trulli crossed the line 13.409 seconds behind Alonso to take Toyota's second top three finish in succession, with Finland's Kimi Raikkonen following for McLaren's first podium of the season in third place.

As a mark of respect to Pope John Paul, who died on Saturday, none of the drivers sprayed the sparkling fruit juice that replaces champagne at the race in Islamic Bahrain. Ferrari also raced with blackened nose cones.

HOT RACE
"This was probably the hottest race I ever did," said Alonso. "The car was again perfect, especially after the first pit stop. We found again that our strong point is the long runs."

"This is now three consecutive races that I have nothing to say, no problems at all not only in the race but the whole weekend."

Until his departure, Schumacher had hounded Alonso but his exit took the pressure off the Spaniard in a race full of incident and overtaking.

"I think I picked up debris on the circuit following Fernando which may have caused some radiator to be broken," he told television reporters.

"We were in good shape with the car. I'm quite confident. I can't blame anyone. That would be mistaken. I think our strategy was absolutely the right strategy. It was just a piece of something that got into the car."

The failure ended a streak for Ferrari, whose new car had won on its debut in every year since 1998. They had rushed it into service, after starting the season with last year's model, in a vain bid to halt Renault's rise.

Germany's Ralf Schumacher was fourth for Toyota to enable the Japanese team to close on Renault, who failed to score points with Italian Giancarlo Fisichella.

Alonso leads the championship with 26 points to Trulli's 16, thereby ensuring that he will still be championship leader at his home race in Spain after Imola on April 24.

Michael Schumacher, winner of 13 of the 18 races in 2004, has just two points after two retirements in three races -- his worst start to a championship.

Renault, celebrating their 100th win as an engine-maker, lead the constructors' standing with 36 points to Toyota's 25 and McLaren's 19. Ferrari, champions for the past six years, are sixth with just 10.

Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa, standing in for injured Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, was fifth for McLaren after overtaking Australian Mark Webber's Williams two laps from the chequered flag. Webber had run third before he spun off.

De la Rosa's aggressive performance provided one of the highlights of the race and the Spaniard also registered the fastest lap.

Ferrari's woes were compounded five laps from the finish when Brazilian Felipe Massa, in a Ferrari-powered Sauber, passed Rubens Barrichello for seventh place.

Barrichello was then lapped by Alonso and passed by Red Bull's Briton David Coulthard on the last lap -- leaving both Ferrari drivers out of the points for the first time this year.

BAR's season continued in the doldrums, with neither Briton Jenson Button nor Japan's Takuma Sato finishing for the third race in a row.

Red Bull's hopes of a third successive double points scoring finish ended when Austrian Christian Klien was stranded on the grid and failed to start.

Schumacher puts brave face on pointless weekend
By Alan Baldwin
MANAMA, (Reuters) - Michael Schumacher put a brave face on his worst start to a Formula One season after a pointless weekend for champions Ferrari in Bahrain.

The German, who has a meagre haul of two points from three races after winning the first five last year, suffered his first mechanical retirement since July 2001 while Renault chalked up three wins in a row.

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, who had wrestled with gearbox problems all weekend, trailed in ninth -- the first time since the Brazilian Grand Prix of April 2003, that the Italian team has come away from a race empty-handed.

Ferrari, beaten in the 2004 Brazilian season-ender, have also now racked up a four-race losing streak for the first time since Schumacher broke his leg at Silverstone in 1999.

The German, winner of 13 of last year's 18 races on his way to a seventh title, was disappointed but refused to be downcast.

Instead, he justified the team's decision to rush their new car into service ahead of schedule to counter the rise of Renault and Spaniard Fernando Alonso.

"Today it was disappointing. The result was bad but you have things like this," Schumacher said.

"You can always look at something from different ways and I prefer to look at this from the positive side.

"To bring the new car here was a fantastic effort. Seeing the car racing, it was very competitive and from now on I think we will be very competitive. That's the way I look at it."

HYDRAULICS FAILURE
Schumacher qualified on the front row and gave winner Alonso a hard time until he suffered a hydraulics problem on the 11th lap.

He drove slowly back to the pits and retired.

"What we have seen coming here is it pays off to work hard and that is exactly what we will do -- keep on working hard until the next race," he said.

"(Bringing the new car) was the best decision we could have taken. There is nobody to blame -- it was absolutely the best strategy to bring it.

"It (the car) really looked good but that's why I think we will fight back."

Schumacher believed the car could not be blamed for a problem probably caused by debris on the track.

"I don't think it has anything to do with the new car, it is just that something like this can always happen," he said.

Team boss Jean Todt echoed his comments.

"The race was as tough as it was disappointing," he said. "But we have also learnt that the F2005 is competitive.

"It is clear that we have a lot of work to do to improve its overall reliability, along with our partners, first and foremost Bridgestone."

Cars with Michelin tyres took all the points.

Five players eligible for selection
ST JOHN'S, Antigua - The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has advised the selectors that Christopher Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Bravo and Fidel Edwards are eligible for selection on the West Indies team for the Second Test in the Digicel 2005 Home Series against South Africa.

Brian Lara has also indicated that he is willing to accept the Board’s invitation to make himself available for selection.

The advice with respect to Gayle and Sarwan followed the review by the Board’s legal counsel of correspondence from legal representatives of the two players.

With respect to Bravo and Edwards, the Board received correspondence from Cable and Wireless to the effect that the company had terminated their personal endorsement contracts.

The Second Test Match begins in Port- of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on April 8.

ICC will oversee women's cricket
CRICKET'S world governing body has taken over the running of the women's international game.

The International Women's Cricket Council, founded in 1958, will be replaced by an ICC advisory committee, chaired by Holland's Betty Timmer.

Timmer, the former IWCC vice-president, hailed the move as "a very big step forward for women's cricket globally".

"We have to get used to the structure of the ICC - but it's great and exciting," she told BBC Sport.

"Hopefully we will get in a few years an Under-21 World Cup and more development of women's cricket.

"Now we can use all the 94 ICC members in the development programme.

"I hope we can use the ICC sponsorships and in selling television rights, women's cricket can be a part of it."

Timmer paid tribute to the level of organisation at the eighth Women's World Cup.

But the former Netherlands manager fears a gulf is opening between semi-finalists Australia, New Zealand, India and England and the rest.

"It's a big step forward since the last World Cup in New Zealand but I'm a bit disappointed about the level of play," she continued.

"I always thought there was a top five but after this World Cup it is more of a top four - South Africa are not performing.

"It's good that the tournament is in South Africa so the UCB can see what the level of play is and that they need to spend money.” (BBC Sport)

Factbox on New Zealand v Sri Lanka
WELLINGTON, NZ (Reuters) - Factbox for the New Zealand v Sri Lanka first Test starting in Napier today:
- - -
Head-to-heads: The two teams have met 20 times since 1983. New Zealand hold the advantage with seven victories while Sri Lanka have won four, with nine draws. New Zealand's last series win over Sri Lanka was in 1997. Sri Lanka's last series win over New Zealand was in 1998.
- - -
Recent form: New Zealand have lost their last five Tests, all against Australia. Prior to that, they beat Bangladesh 2-0. Sri Lanka won four, lost five and drew two of their 11 Tests last year. Four of their five losses were against Australia. They have not played a Test this year.
- - -
Key players:
New Zealand - Stephen Fleming. The New Zealand captain struggled against the Australians after promoting himself up the order to open the batting. However he made an instant return to form with a fine half-century in the last Test after dropping back to number four and should find things more to his liking against the Sri Lankan bowlers.

Sri Lanka - Chaminda Vaas. With Muttiah Muralitharan unavailable because of injury, Sri Lanka's chances of winning will heavily depend on Vaas, their outstanding fast bowler.

Vaas has captured more than 300 one-day international wickets and is nearing the same mark in Tests. He also boasts two hat-tricks in limited-over internationals. A handy batsman, he has eight Test half-centuries to his credit with a high score of 74 not out. He was selected to represent Asia against Rest of the World earlier this year.
- - -
Venue:
McLean Park, Napier. Only three Tests have been played at McLean Park. The first, between New Zealand and Pakistan in 1979, ended in a draw. The second match between New Zealand and India in 1990 also ended in a draw.

The most recent Test, against Sri Lanka a decade ago, was won by the tourists, by 241 runs.