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Show TheSalt Lake Tribune WORLD As Sunday, May7, 2000 Putin to Officially Take Office Sierra Leone Rebels Advance on Capital, Says U.N: As Russian President Today and ended an eightAttack on peacekeepers_ __ government yearcivil war. follows U.N. loss0 C ~~ RUF Teadér Foday MOSCOW — Russia will inau| gurate the stern, careful Vladimir } Putin as its second democratically singing loudly over the engine contact with 200 soldiers reached for comment, was con- is-elected president today, handing year-old Putin'sfirst experience in elected office, and nobody is sure noise. What happensafter the inaugu- rationis less clear. This is the 47- ‘the former spy a mandateto restore national pride and economic ) health after decadesofdecline. Boris Yeltsin, who dismantled how he will handle the massive task before him. Although he has had all the presidential powers since Dec. 31, Putin has given few signs of whathe intends to do. Yeltsin unexpectedly named Putin prime minister last August, f the Soviet Union and brought Pu- >! tin to the Kremlin before resigning in December,will handhis successor the presidential chain and medal as the last Soviet leader, ‘Mikhail Gorbachev,looks on. Such Ailing and unpopular,Yeltsin then quit and namedPutin acting president, prompting early presiden- “ a‘peaceful, voluntary handover of ‘power is unprecedented in the ’ sprawling nation’s history. Among those Putin invited to “his inauguration at the ornate “Great Kremlin Place were his childhood judo coach and elemen‘tary school teacher. Meanwhile, the Moscow political elite has ceremony. Putin has credited coach Anatoly Rakhlin with having a great _ influence on him asa boy, Putinis ajudoblackbelt andstill practices. He also invited teacher Vera ; Gurevich and boyhood friend Ser~ gei Roldugin, who according to a recent Putin biography cruised the streets ofSt. Petersburg with Putin. in. the future president’s man shields battled U.N.forces in the interior of this West African country Saturday and were advancing onthecapital, a U.N. offi- cial said. Therebels, who had agreed to a U.N.-mediated peace agreementin July, launched the offensive from the town of Lunsar, 45 miles said. ing the economy. He hasyetto release an economic program, “Wetried to stop the rebels using all the resourcesat our dispos- tral planning was replaced by a distorted capitalist system under Yeltsin in which corruption and ' FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Rebelforces using civilians as hu- tial elections in March that Putin easily won. Putin’s biggest tank will be fixthough he says he is committed to market reforms. Thefailed system of Soviet cen- jockeyed for seats at the noon THE ASSOCIATED PRESS bureaucracy reign. A few politically connected tycoons have amassed fortunes while nearly ev- eryone else has seen their living standards plummet. Russia’s economy has seen some growth recently, partly thanksto highoil prices, but economists say it won't last without deeper structural changes. northeastof Freetown, the capital, U.N. spokesman Philip Winslow al,” Winslow said, but declined to characterize the battle any further, except to say that the rebels werenot stopped. Winslowsaid the rebel force numbered between 500 and 1,000 and were carrying “infantry-type” weapons. They were using vehicles they had captured from U.N. peacekeepers, hesaid. Theexact position of the Revolutionary United Front fighters wasnot immediately clear, though the fightingviolates the peace deal that brought the rebels into the could not be “We don’tunderstand howtheycouldbedoingtthis.” KOH, who mufflerless |"Zaporozhets “jalopy, THE ASSOCIATED| PRESS independently Julius Spencer tinuingto insist that no attack was Sierra LeoneanInformationMinister, on rebel attacks === under way, Winslowsaid. U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Saturday, at about 7:30 p.m. MDT,that twoto three clusters of rebels, about 300 per cluster, had been spotted by helicopters about three hours earlier at Masiaka moving towards Freetown. But about 30 minutes later, Eckhard announced that he could not confirm the information he had received from Freetown and relayed to reporters in New York. The United Nations has a Jordanian peacekeeping unit just west of Freetown, but the RUF could go around them, up intothehills, and then descegd into Freetown,~he said. At présent, there are about Dozens of Westernaid workers and missionaries, meanwhile. were gathering with packedsuit cases in the parking lots of the city’s two major hotels, s protection and potential eva tion. Some 90 non-U. and family members ated from id wor were evacu the city Friday. Since Monday, hundredsof U.N personnel have beentaken hostage bythe rebels, andat least four are presumeddead following clashes. OnSaturday, the U:N. said they hadlost contact with a 200-member night, though, it seemed highly doubtful that any such mission would goforward U.N. officials emphasized earlier that the world body had no plans to withdraw fromSierra Le one. The mission had been. dis patched in December to oversee the peace deal ending the civil war, which left tens of thousands of people dead and thousands more maimed nation in this peacekeeperunit near the town of ther holding hostages nor launch- 2,000 U.N. troops in the capital — Makeni about 500 Jordaniansand1,600 Ni- If the U.N. peacekeepers, all of them Zambian, have been captured bytherebels, that would bring the ing anoffensive. The missing U.N. soldiers are simplylost in the jungle, they havesaid. “These people, they are foreign- gerians, Eckhard said. Sierra Leonean Information Minister Julius Spencer confirmed that there had been a battle between therebels and U.N.forces, but had nofurther information on the fighting. Spencer said the peace agree- ment includes a statement that hostilities would stop. “We don’t understand how they could be doingthis,” he said. numberofU.N. staff etenne held by the RUFto near! In_ talks Say involving Sankoh, the United Nations and a ers here, they do not knowtheterrain,” Sankohtold The Associated Libyan delegation, the rebel leader agreed to.a joint delegationto leave Freetown today “to areas where there have been security prob- “As time goes on, I think all of lems,” Winslow said. Given the fighting Saturday Press on Saturday afternoon in front of his heavily guarded home. themwill come out. My men are helping to look for them.” “Tf they are being held by the RUF combatants, I'm surethey will be released,” he added. GIVE MOM BEAUTIFUL SCENTS Receive a FREEcyclamen nr plantwith any purchase $50 or morein our Women’s Cosmetics and Fragrance Departments. While supplies last. dillards.com ae orIs Maybill ELISABETH STa Lt fs BY LIZ CLAIBORNE Wt id SHORTS & TOPS CASUAL DRESSING WITH ELISABETH SEPARATES FOR SUMMER A beautiful choice for Mom, or yourself, Choose from summer solids or pi rints of novelty tops in cotton woven andknit fabrics. 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