Libya to increase pay to families of UTA victims

TRIPOLI, Libya -- A Libyan charity said Monday it would increase payments to families of those killed in a 1989 terror attack on a French airliner, a gesture Libya hopes will persuade France to agree to lift U.N. sanctions.

In a statement Monday, the Gadhafi International Association for Charitable Organizations said a private "fund for the victims of terrorism" it had established would pay unspecified compensation to the families of the 170 victims of the French UTA airliner explosion over the Niger desert.

In response, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin indicated France might now be ready to see U.N. sanctions lifted.

Liberians greet Nigerian president as 'savior'

MONROVIA, Liberia -- President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria received a hero's welcome in Liberia on Monday, walking with the country's new leader through cheering crowds celebrating a peace deal forged largely with Nigerian military muscle.

Tens of thousands came out to see him, hanging off second-floor balconies and darting through his motorcade to scream, "We love you, Obasanjo!" and "Thank you, Obasanjo!"

"We want peace!" the crowd roared as Obasanjo walked in blue traditional robes through one stretch of Liberia's shelled and war-impoverished capital.

"You will have peace!" Obasanjo shouted back, waving alongside Liberian President Moses Blah.

At a state banquet marking his first visit since the peace deal, Obasanjo said, "In Africa, you don't stand and stare and wring your hands when the house of your neighbor or your brother is on fire."

"You do everything humanly possible to put out the fire," Obasanjo said. "That's what we've done."

Ugandan rebels ambush bus and kill 25 people

KAMPALA, Uganda -- Rebels shot or clubbed to death 25 people on a bus in northeastern Uganda on Monday and then set the vehicle ablaze, a government army spokesman said. Nine others were injured in the ambush.

The brutal attack followed a wave of violence in recent days in which rebels hacked to death 19 civilians and abducted an unknown number of others, said Maj. Shaban Bantariza.

The Lord's Resistance Army rebels ambushed the 65-seat bus on its way from Lira to Soroti, 174 miles northeast of the capital, Kampala, Bantariza said. He did not provide any other details.

Bantariza said the rebels hacked eight people to death Sunday in Soroti and 11 others from Okwaga refugee camp in Lira district on Friday.

Protesters call for Turkey, rebels to declare peace

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey -- Waving banners and chanting "Peace!", 15,000 people rallied Monday in the largest city in southeastern Turkey, boldly calling on the government to make peace with the Kurdish rebels it regards as terrorists.

The demonstration -- one of the largest in recent years -- comes amid rising tensions in southeastern Turkey, which borders Iraq.

Turkey has ruled out any talks with the rebels, which it regards as a terrorist force trying to divide the country along ethnic lines. Some 37,000 people have died in the fighting.

-- From wire reports