DARFUR REBELS GUN DOWN PLANE

Darfur rebels said they shot down an unmanned spy plane over the war-torn region on Thursday, saying the Sudanese government was using it to track their positions.A spokesman for the Sudanese army said an unmanned plane had made an emergency landing in the area. “It could have been shot down,”

The rebel Sudan Liberation Army’s Unity faction said a patrol spotted a drone at about 5:40 p.m. (0240 GMT) in the central mountainous Jabel Marra area and shot it down with an anti-aircraft gun.”It is the first time we have seen this in Darfur,” said Sherif Harir from the rebel Sudan Liberation Army’s Unity faction (SLA-Unity). “Our men told us they had shot it down and were sitting on the wreckage.”

Harir said the fighters saw Chinese writing on the body of the aircraft. “It is Chinese made. The government wants to spy out our positions.”

State media last year announced Sudan had developed unmanned surveillance planes, was producing missiles and was self sufficient in conventional weapons. At the time many analysts doubted the rare public announcement from the military, dismissing it as propaganda.

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UN MEDIATOR QUITS

A U.N. mediator who led slow-moving talks on Western Sahara and angered the territory’s independence movement with comments appearing to favor Morocco, has left his job, U.N. officials said on Thursday.

In an article published on Thursday in Spanish newspaper El Pais, Dutch diplomat Peter Van Walsum said the latest extension of his contract had expired a week ago. U.N. officials in New York confirmed he was being replaced but declined to say at whose initiative he was leaving.

Since last year, Van Walsum, 74, has supervised four rounds of talks near New York between Morocco and the Polisario Front movement over the northwest African territory, which was annexed by Morocco after Spain withdrew from its former colony in 1975.

The talks have failed to break a deadlock over whether the resource-rich Sahara should be an autonomous region of Morocco, as Rabat proposes, or have a referendum of its people to decide whether or not it should be independent, as Polisario wants.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has complained that the two sides are not negotiating, merely restating their starting positions.

Van Walsum, who took on his job three years ago, infuriated Polisario in April by saying in an assessment to the U.N. Security Council that he had concluded “that an independent Western Sahara was not a realistic proposition.”

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TALKS TO END DEADLOCK ON

Negotiators are meeting in South Africa to try and revive Zimbabwe’s crisis talks, which broke up two weeks ago. The negotiations broke up over how to share power between Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who both claim victory in the polls.

President Mugabe says he will form a government alone, while opposition MPs this week jeered him in public. Deputy South African Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said he hoped the negotiation would lead to the “finalisation of… outstanding matters”.

Before the talks broke up earlier this month, both sides agreed that Mr Tsvangirai would be named prime minister but they could not agree on how to divide powers between him and Mr Mugabe. Mr Tsvangirai wants Mr Mugabe to become a ceremonial figure, while the ruling Zanu-PF party wants the president to retain most powers, such as appointing ministers and the security forces.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says that if Mr Mugabe names a cabinet unilaterally, that would scupper the talks.

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NIGERIA/IRAN IN NUCLEAR DEAL

Iran has agreed to share nuclear technology with Nigeria to help it increase its generation of electricity. A senior Nigerian foreign ministry official, Tijjani Kaura, said the technology was not intended for any military use.

The agreement was announced after a four-day meeting between Iranian and Nigerian officials in Abuja. Nigeria is Africa’s biggest petroleum producer, but poor infrastructure has resulted in severe power shortages.

President Umaru Yar’Adua has said that improving Nigeria’s power supply is one of his main priorities. Details of the deal were not announced, so it is unclear what technology Iran would provide to Nigeria.

Iran is under sanctions for defying United Nations Security Council demands to halt uranium enrichment. It insists that its nuclear programme is peaceful and says it has a right to continue uranium enrichment.

Iran, also a major oil producer, is due to bring on stream its first nuclear energy station at Bushehr early in 2009.

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DOZENS FEARED DEAD IN EXPLOSION

A fuel tanker in northern Cameroon has overturned and exploded, burning an unknown number of people to death. A local journalist at the scene in Limani in Far North Province said at least 30 villagers had surrounded the tanker after it crashed.

They were trying to scoop up the petrol escaping from the vehicle, which was en route from Nigeria to Chad. As a bus tried to edge past the tanker, a fire was sparked by its exhaust and quickly engulfed the whole area.

The exact numbers of casualties are not known as the incident happened late on Thursday night and the rescue effort was hampered by the dark. The most severe cases have gone to the hospital in the provincial capital, Maroua, 95km south of Limani.

Others are being treated at five local health centres, the journalist says. The bus was carrying about 20 people.