World

DONETSK, Ukraine — Rebels in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region appealed on Monday to join Russia after what they claimed were resounding victories in independence referendums.

Moscow said it “respects” the result of the weekend votes on self-rule, which were denounced by authorities in Kiev as a “criminal farce” and by the West.

But Moscow left the door open to a negotiated solution, calling for talks between Kiev and the rebels in the industrial regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, home to seven million of Ukraine’s 46 million people.

The Kremlin’s move allayed fears Moscow might move to quickly annex the territories, as it did earlier this year after a similar vote in Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.

But tensions remained high in the worst crisis in relations between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War, and Germany announced plans for a diplomatic mission to Ukraine.

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was to travel on Tuesday to Kiev and eastern Ukraine to support efforts to mediate a “national dialogue” between the interim pro-Western leadership in Kiev and pro-Moscow groups.

“Proceeding from the expression of the will of the people... and in order to restore historical justice, we ask the Russian Federation to consider the issue of the Donetsk People’s Republic becoming part of the Russian Federation,” the self-styled rebel governor of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, told reporters.

Rebel officials in Donetsk had earlier said 89 per cent of voters backed breaking away from Ukraine in Sunday’s referendum, with a turnout of 75 per cent. Separatists in Lugansk said 94 per cent had backed independence.

Pushilin also said Ukraine’s May 25 presidential election, seen as vital to restoring order, “will not happen” in Donetsk.

Moscow endorsed the separatist votes on Monday, with President Vladimir Putin’s office saying in a statement: “Moscow respects the expression of the people’s will in Donetsk and Lugansk.”

The Kremlin called for “the results to be implemented in a civilised manner, without any repeat of violence, through dialogue between representatives of Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk”.

Ukraine’s interim President Oleksandr Turchynov said Kiev was willing to “continue dialogue with those in the east of Ukraine who have no blood on their hands” but dismissed the votes.

“The farce that terrorist separatists call a referendum is nothing more than propaganda,” he said.

Both European and US officials denounced the referendums, with EU Council president Herman Van Rompuy calling them “illegal, illegitimate and not credible” on a visit to Kiev.

US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the voting “was an attempt to create further division and disorder” in Ukraine.

On the streets of Donetsk, meanwhile, confusion reigned.

“For me, I am still in Ukraine but who knows where we will be tomorrow — it is a mad house,” pensioner Anna told AFP in Donetsk.

“I was born in this country, my children were born here and my grandchildren, and I just want there to be peace.”

The crisis has raised fears of a violent breakup of Ukraine and the possibility of a civil war on Europe’s eastern edge.

An agreement between Moscow, Kiev, Washington and the EU in Geneva last month did little to ease tensions and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday there was no point in further discussions without the separatists.

“Holding another four-way meeting makes little sense,” Lavrov said. “We do not want to repeat what has already taken place... but to move on to talks between Kiev and its opponents in the eastern regions of Ukraine.”

Kiev and Western leaders have accused Moscow of backing the rebels and on Monday EU foreign ministers announced new sanctions against Russians and Crimeans involved in the crisis.

A further 13 people and two companies were listed as subject to a European Union asset freeze and visa ban, EU diplomats said.

There were no immediate details available but sources said two Ukrainian firms in Crimea confiscated following the March annexation of the peninsula by Russia were on the list.

 ‘Far-reaching’ steps 

Van Rompuy warned the EU was ready to take “additional, far-reaching” steps “in a broad range of areas” if Russia failed to help resolve the conflict.

The EU has so far imposed asset freezes and visa bans on 48 Russians and Ukrainians for violating or threatening Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

Highlighting the stakes for the EU, Russia’s state gas giant Gazprom warned on Monday it may halt shipments to Ukraine on June 3 in a repeat of previous energy wars that hit Europe.

Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller said Ukraine must pay upfront for its June deliveries because of debts totalling $3.51 billion (2.55 billion euros).

Kiev had until the morning of June 3 to make the payment “or Ukraine will receive zero cubic metres [of gas] in June,” he added.

Nearly 15 per cent of all gas consumed in Europe is delivered from Russia via Ukraine and previous disputes in 2006 and 2009 disrupted supplies to parts of the EU.

On Monday, sporadic explosions and gunfire could be heard in the flashpoint town of Slavyansk, as Ukraine’s military pressed its siege of the rebel-held town.

Isolated violence flared during voting in some parts of eastern Ukraine on Sunday, where troops have been waging an offensive against well-armed rebels in control of several towns.

Anti-Kiev sentiment was riding high in the regions after a fierce firefight between troops and rebels that left several dead in the city of Mariupol on Friday.

Ukrainian officials have said 49 people have died in the Donetsk region since the start of the unrest, and deadly clashes and an inferno in Odessa killed at least 42 people earlier this month.

LAGOS — Boko Haram’s leader said in a new video obtained by AFP on Monday that more than 200 abducted Nigerian schoolgirls would only be released if the government freed militant fighters from custody.

Abubakar Shekau made the claim in a 27-minute video, which he claimed showed about 130 of the girls who were kidnapped from their school in the remote northeastern town of Chibok nearly a month ago.

The girls’ disappearance has triggered global outrage, in part due to a social media campaign that has won the support of high-profile figures from US First Lady Michelle Obama to Pope Francis.

The militant leader said the girls shown in the video had converted to Islam and all were shown in Muslim dress, reciting the first chapter of the Koran and praying at an undisclosed location.

Boko Haram has made prisoner exchange demands before without success and Nigeria’s government again dismissed the request outright.

Asked if the government would reject Shekau’s suggestion, Interior Minister Abba Moro told AFP: “Of course.”

“The issue in question is not about Boko Haram... giving conditions,” he added.

A total of 276 girls were abducted on April 14 from Chibok, which has a sizeable Christian community. Police say 223 are still missing.

Nigeria’s government has been criticised for its lack of immediate response to the kidnapping but has been forced into action as a result of international pressure.

President Goodluck Jonathan has accepted help from the United States, Britain, France, China and Israel, which have sent specialist teams to help in the search effort.

French President Francois Hollande has also called for a West Africa security summit to discuss the Boko Haram threat, which could be held as early as Saturday.

The United States and Britain have been invited, he said.

 ‘We have liberated them’ 

The latest footage shows girls in black and grey full-length hijabs sitting on scrubland near trees.

Three of the girls are interviewed. Two say they were Christian and had converted while one said she was Muslim.

All three pronounce their belief in Islam dispassionately to the camera, sometimes looking down at the ground and apparently under duress.

Most of the group behind them were seated cross-legged on the ground. The girls appeared calm and one said that they had not been harmed.

There was no indication of when the video was taken, although the quality is better than on previous occasions and at one point an armed man is seen in shot with a hand-held video camera.

Shekau does not appear in the same shot. Instead, he is seen dressed in combat fatigues, carrying an automatic weapon in front of a lime-green canvas backdrop.

Boko Haram has been waging an increasingly deadly insurgency in Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north since 2009, attacking schools teaching a “Western” curriculum, churches and government targets.

Civilians, though, have borne the brunt of recent violence, with more than 1,500 killed this year alone while tens of thousands have been displaced after their homes and businesses were razed.

Speaking in his native Hausa language as well as Arabic, he restates his claim of responsibility made in a video released last Monday and said the girls had converted to Islam while others had not.

“These girls, these girls you occupy yourselves with... we have indeed liberated them. These girls have become Muslims,” he said.

“There are still others who have not converted and are holding on to your belief. There are many of them,” he added.

“You are making so much noise about Chibok, Chibok, Chibok. Only Allah knows how many women we are holding, the infidels who Allah commands us to hold.”

‘Free prisoners’ 

On the prisoner release, Shekau said Boko Haram’s brothers in arms had been held in prison for up to five years and suggested that the girls would be released if the fighters were freed.

“We will never release them [the girls] until after you release our brethren,” he said.

Boko Haram has used kidnapping of women and young girls in the past and Shekau indicated that more were being held.

Eleven girls were abducted from the Gwoza area of Borno state on May 4.

President Jonathan has previously said that he believed the girls were still in Nigeria and would be freed soon.

There have been fears that the girls may have been taken into neighbouring Chad or Cameroon, from where Boko Haram is said to have launched attacks in the northeast and may have camps.

Nigeria’s army is currently concentrating its efforts on the Sambisa forest of Borno state while international assistance involves specialist surveillance and intelligence teams.

Washington said on Sunday that no US troops would be used in any rescue mission while the leader of the world’s Anglicans, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, urged for negotiations to start.

But he admitted that back-channel talks would be fraught with danger because of Boko Haram’s disparate structure, its “extremely irrational” action and their “utterly merciless” history.

JALALABAD, Afghanistan — The Taliban began their annual “spring offensive” Monday with attacks across Afghanistan, including a suicide assault on government offices that killed seven people and multiple rocket strikes on two airports.

At least 10 people were killed in a series of attacks after Taliban leaders vowed last week that the offensive would target US-led foreign forces and government facilities.

Afghanistan’s instability was underlined by an International Crisis Group (ICG) released on Monday that said “the overall trend is one of escalating violence and insurgent attacks”.

The report added that residents of Ghorak village in the southern province of Kandahar had resorted to eating grass after being blockaded for months by Taliban fighters.

On the first day of the Taliban offensive, officials said three suicide bombers entered the provincial justice department in the eastern city of Jalalabad, triggering a firefight with security forces that lasted several hours.

“All of the attackers were killed and their bodies displayed at the building,” Abdul Rauf Uruzgani, chief police investigator, told reporters.

“The dead were three justice department employees, two policemen, a 15-year-old boy who was caught up in fighting and another visitor.”

Two rockets exploded near Kabul airport at 5:00am (0030 GMT), the exact time that the insurgents had pledged to start a nationwide operation to cleanse “the filth of the infidels” from the country.

Four rockets were also fired at Bagram airport, the biggest NATO military base in Afghanistan, which lies north of Kabul.

There were no casualties in either airport attack. But two women and a policeman died in Ghazni province southwest of Kabul, when Taliban insurgents targeted several police checkpoints.

Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, Ghazni’s deputy governor who gave the casualty figure, told AFP that two police officers and six civilians were wounded.

The Taliban’s “Khaibar” offensive, is named after an ancient battle between Muslims and Jews. This year it has begun in the run-up to a second round of elections next month to choose a successor to President Hamid Karzai, who has ruled since the Taliban regime was toppled in 2001.

About 51,000 US-led NATO troops still deployed in Afghanistan are set to withdraw by December, ending a long and costly battle against the Taliban, who launched a fierce insurgency after being ousted from power.

A small number of US troops may stay on from next year on a training and counter-terrorism mission, if a long-delayed deal is struck between Kabul and Washington.

Monday’s ICG report warned that the absence of a continuing US force “could prove extremely problematic”.

The report also detailed how residents of Ghorak, a pro-government enclave under a long Taliban siege, “have resorted to boiling and eating grass”.

It cited an unnamed resident who was interviewed by telephone last month.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force confirmed it was investigating Monday’s airport attacks.

“A vacant building and some equipment were damaged at Bagram,” a spokesman said. “There were no casualties.”

Sediq Sediqqi, the interior ministry spokesman, confirmed that two rockets fell outside Kabul airport but caused no casualties.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the spate of attacks on Monday via a recognised Twitter account.

The group said ambushes, bombings and firefights in provinces including Nimroz, Kapisa, Zabul, Patika and Paktika had killed US soldiers, and Afghan police and soldiers during the day.

The Taliban often exaggerate attacks and death tolls.

The insurgents’ statement last week said that attacks during the offensive would target US military bases, foreign embassies and vehicle convoys, as well as Afghan officials, politicians and translators.

Afghanistan’s fighting season traditionally begins in April or May as snow recedes from the mountains, and the Taliban mark the occasion with an annual declaration to attack foreign forces and unseat the Kabul government.

DONETSK, Ukraine — Pro-Russian rebels claimed a massive turnout in a vote they held Sunday to split east Ukraine into two independent republics, though Kiev slammed it as a “farce” amid Western fears it could lead to civil war.

Thousands of people queued in front of a limited number of polling stations in the restive provinces of Donetsk and Lugansk to cast their ballots, AFP journalists in several towns reported.

“I want to be independent from everyone,” said ex-factory worker Nikolai Cherepin as he voted yes in the town of Mariupol, in Donetsk province. “Yugoslavia broke up and they live well now”.

Insurgent leaders asserted that more than 70 per cent of the electorate in the two regions — home to seven million of Ukraine’s total population of 46 million — had slid voting slips into transparent ballot boxes.

There was no way to verify that assertion however. No independent observers were monitoring the vote, which took place in the absence of any international support — even from Moscow, which had urged it be postponed.

No violent incidents were reported during polling, but tensions remained high amid an ongoing military operation ordered by Kiev against the rebels.

Early Sunday, an isolated clash occurred on the outskirts of the flashpoint town of Slavyansk as militants tried to recapture a TV tower, but polling in the centre was unaffected.

Roman Lyaguin, the head of Donetsk’s self-styled electoral commission, told reporters that voter turnout across the province was 70 per cent four hours before polls were to close at 8:00pm (1700 GMT). Lugansk’s rebels put their province’s turnout at more than 75 per cent.

Lyaguin added that results would not be in until Monday, but already appeared confident that the outcome would be in favour of independence. After the results, he said, “there will likely be a period of negotiation with the authorities in Kiev”.

‘Financed by the Kremlin’ 

The hastily organised poll fell short of Western balloting norms. Notably, curtained booths were not set up in every town taking part, and polling staff lacking electoral rolls registered anyone who turned up to vote.

Kiev called the process a “criminal farce” that had no legal or constitutional validity.

It said the vote was “inspired, organised and financed by the Kremlin”.

Western nations backing the Ukrainian government also dismissed the regional “referendums”.

They were “null and void”, French President Francois Hollande said on a visit to Azerbaijan.

Britain’s Foreign Office issued a statement calling the “illegitimate, so-called referendum” regrettable.

It added that a nationwide presidential election Ukraine is scheduled in two weeks that will give “all Ukrainians... a democratic choice”.

Britain also added its weight to a French and German warning of “consequences” against Russia if that election were to be scuppered.

The United States and the European Union see Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hand in the unrest that has gripped eastern Ukraine since early April. They believe he is seeking a repeat of the scenario that led to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March.

If Ukraine’s May 25 presidential election is stymied, the West has warned of immediate sanctions to cripple broad sectors of Russia’s economy.

Independence ‘will be hard’ 

But questions over the vote’s validity or the geopolitical consequences appeared far from the minds of those lining up to vote in Ukraine’s east on Sunday.

Tatiana, a 35-year-old florist voting in the regional hub of Donetsk, told AFP: “If we’re independent, it will be hard at the beginning but it will be better than being with the fascists.”

The “fascist” epithet she used was the one separatists and Russian state media use to describe Ukraine’s Western-backed government.

Mariupol, a city of 500,000 inhabitants, saw some of the longest voting lines because only four polling stations were operating.

Anti-Kiev sentiment was riding high there after a fierce firefight between troops and rebels that killed up to 21 people on Friday.

Coupled with deadly clashes and an inferno in Odessa a week earlier that killed 42 people, many Russian-speaking Ukrainians who had been wavering decided to vote their anger against the government.

“I know many people who were strongly anti-Russian but after what happened in Ukraine with the slaughter of people, with what happened in Odessa, a lot of them changed their position to pro-Russian,” said Yaroslav, a post-graduate student who gave only his first name as he queued to vote in Donetsk.

Others, though, were strongly opposed to the rebels and the referendums.

“It’s an illegitimate action carried out by an unknown group of people who took over the administration buildings and run around with weapons in their hands,” growled one Donetsk resident, Anatoli Kozlovskiy.

Another, Alice Skubko, added: “I understand why they are going to vote, because there was propaganda, illegal propaganda. People don’t understand what they are doing, they don’t understand the consequences of their action if they vote in this referendum.”

One 20-year-old fireman in Mariupol, Ivan Shelest, told AFP: “If this goes through and they really become the Donetsk Republic it will be a disaster. What sort of people will lead it? It will be chaos — even worse than now.”

The chief of staff for Ukraine’s interim presidency, Sergiy Pashinskiy, told reporters in the Kiev: “This isn’t a referendum, this is a pitiful attempt of the terrorists and murderers to use people of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions to cover up their crimes.”

The US State Department said the referendums were illegal and “an attempt to create further division and disorder”.

A poll released Thursday by the Pew Research Centre in the United States suggested 70 per cent of Ukrainians in the east want to stay in a united country, while only 18 per cent back secession.

LONDON — Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby warned Sunday of the difficulties of negotiating with an “utterly merciless” group like Boko Haram, but called for active contact with the Nigerian Islamists over their abduction of scores of schoolgirls.

Welby has experience of negotiating with violent groups in the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria, and with a predecessor to Boko Haram around Maiduguri, the capital of northeastern Borno state where the group started out.

In an interview with BBC radio about the fate of more than 200 schoolgirls seized by the Islamist group last month, the archbishop said the girls faced a “colossal” risk.

“They’re in the hands of a very disparate group which is extremely irrational and difficult to deal with, and utterly merciless in the example it’s shown in the past and it must be a huge concern,” he said.

Asked if it is possible to talk to groups like Boko Haram, he said: “They’re in many layers. You have a very, very difficult inner core. And I think negotiation there is extremely complicated, though it needs to be tried.

“Then it goes out and out in different layers of commitment and understanding and involvement.

“There needs to be active negotiation, active contact with all the different layers.”

He said Boko Haram has “always been a mixture of groups united as much by a common enemy as by a common cause”.

Supporters turn to them because of immense poverty, high youth unemployment and the group’s promises of social change delivered through the barrel of a gun, he said.

The kidnap of 276 schoolgirls on April 14 by Boko Haram in the northeastern Nigerian town of Chibok has sparked a wave of international outrage.

US, British and French experts are working on the ground in Nigeria to help trace the schoolgirls. China has also offered to share “any useful information acquired by its satellites and intelligence services” with Nigeria.

Pope Francis is among the latest high-profile figures to weigh in on the search. He tweeted: “Let us all join in prayer for the immediate release of the schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria #BringBackOurGirls.”

History of conflict 

Welby, a former oil executive who joined the church in his 30s, was careful not to criticise too strongly the response of the Nigerian government security forces.

The leader of the world’s Anglicans noted their loss of control over large parts of northeastern Nigeria, despite a huge commitment of force.

“There needs to be effective police and security action across that area, and that is a huge challenge for the Nigerian government and one that we should not underestimate,” he said.

He added: “We’re talking about a massive area and a longstanding history of ethnic difference, of conflict with other Muslim groups.”

Asked about allegations of human rights abuses by the military, he said he had no firsthand evidence but viewed the reports “with great concern”.

He also said that it was “always a worry” that more Christians in Nigeria might take up arms to defend themselves against the group.

“They have a right to defend their lives, and the lives of their children and their families,” he said.

“But at the heart of Christian teaching is the example of Jesus who said forgive your enemies and forgave his own enemies on the cross.”

Boko Haram militants were blamed for another attack on Friday night that completely destroyed the north-eastern village of Liman Kara.

Villager Usman Alaramma said residents managed to flee before the attack after being warned that a convoy of gunmen in military uniform were approaching by people from nearby villages.

“We immediately realised we were going to be attacked by Boko Haram and the whole town evacuated,” he said.

“They almost burnt the whole town. When we returned yesterday... we counted 301 burnt homes... All shops on the major streets in the town were looted and burnt.”

JUBA — South Sudan’s government and rebels accused each other Sunday of breaching a ceasefire just hours after it came into effect, dealing an early blow to hopes for an end to the five-month civil war.

The rebels accused government soldiers loyal to President Salva Kiir of launching ground attacks and artillery barrages against their positions in two oil-rich northern states, including near the key hub of Bentiu.

The government insisted the rebels attacked first and that it killed around 27 fighters in the morning fighting. President Kiir also accused rebel leader Riek Machar of having been opposed to the peace deal signed in Addis Ababa on Friday.

“The violations... shows that Kiir is either insincere or not in control of his forces,” rebel military spokesman Lul Ruai Koang said of the president.

Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar met in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Friday and agreed to halt fighting within 24 hours — or by late Saturday evening.

Independent witnesses said fighting broke out by dawn Sunday around Bentiu — the Unity state capital which has changed hands several times in recent weeks — but that was impossible to say which side fired first.

The rebels said government troops also attacked in neighbouring Upper Nile State, and that they reserved “the right to fight in self-defence”.

But South Sudan’s defence minister, Kuol Manyang, told AFP that it was the rebels who attacked first in Bentiu and that the opposition suffered heavy casualties.

“They attacked first thing this morning. They attacked our position and 27 of them were killed. They have a policy of attacking then going to the media,” he said.

Kiir also insisted he wanted peace, telling a crowd in Juba that “we have ordered our forces not to lift a foot from where they are to attack rebels”. He said, however, that Machar only signed the deal “under pressure”.

The two sides had agreed to a ceasefire in January, but that deal quickly fell apart and unleashed a new round of fierce fighting.

International pressure 

Observers have said both side will face challenges in implementing a truce, with the rebels made up of a loose coalition of army defectors, ethnic rebels and, allegedly, mercenaries from Sudan. On the government side, the command structure under Kiir is also seen as weak.

The peace deal signed on Friday came after massive international pressure on both sides to stop a war marked by widespread human rights abuses, a major humanitarian crisis and fears the world’s youngest nation was on the brink of a genocide and Africa’s worst famine since the 1980s.

The war in the world’s youngest nation has claimed thousands — and possibly tens of thousands — of lives, with more than 1.2 million people forced to flee their homes.

The conflict, which started as a personal rivalry between Kiir and Machar, has seen the army and communities divide along ethnic lines, pitting members of Kiir’s Dinka tribe against Machar’s Nuer.

UN rights chief Navi Pillay, a former head of the UN genocide court for Rwanda, said she recognised “many of the precursors of genocide” listed in a UN report on atrocities that was released during the week.

These included broadcasts urging rape and “attacks on civilians in hospitals, churches and mosques, even attacks on people sheltering in UN compounds — all on the basis of the victims’ ethnicity”.

Testimonies in a report this week by Amnesty International describe civilians, including children, executed by the side of the road “like sheep” and other victims “grotesquely mutilated” with their lips sliced off.

The war erupted on December 15 with Kiir accusing Machar of attempting a coup. Machar then fled to the bush to launch a rebellion, insisting that the president had attempted to carry out a bloody purge of his rivals.

LAGOS — US First Lady Michelle Obama on Saturday denounced as an “unconscionable act” the kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls by Islamic militants as a mobilised international community helped Nigeria search for them.

For the first time standing in for President Barack Obama on his weekly Saturday morning address, Michelle Obama said she and her husband were “outraged and heartbroken” over the mass abduction of the girls from their school dormitory in a remote corner of north Nigeria last month.

Their sentiments were shared by “millions of people across the globe”, she said.

This violence “was not an isolated incident... it’s a story we see every day as girls around the world risk their lives to pursue their ambitions”, Michelle Obama said.

“This unconscionable act was committed by a terrorist group determined to keep these girls from getting an education — grown men attempting to snuff out the aspirations of young girls.”

On April 14, 276 schoolgirls were abducted in the northeastern Nigerian town of Chibook, with eight more seized from Warabe on May 5. Three weeks later 223 girls are still missing.

The Islamist militant group Boko Haram claimed responsibility, and threatened to “sell” the girls into slavery.

The abductions have sparked offers of help from the United States, Britain, France and China.

Seven military officials from the US Africa regional command AFRICOM along with a State Department expert arrived in Nigeria on Friday, and three FBI personnel and four others from State and the USAID aid agency were due in the country on Saturday.

“They’ll be providing technical and investigatory assistance, helping with hostage negotiations, advising on military planning and operations, and assisting with intelligence and information,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

Among the help on offer would be intelligence-sharing as the teams work to track down the girls, who range in age from 16 to 18.

Britain said Wednesday it would send a small team to Nigeria to concentrate on planning, coordination and advice to local authorities rather than operations on the ground to look for the girls.

France also has offered to send a specialised team while China promised to supply “any useful information acquired by its satellites and intelligence services” to Nigeria.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, whose long silence after the abductions was sharply criticised, said Friday that a search team was already at work in Sambisa forest, near Chibok, with remote sensors trying to locate the kidnappers and their victims.

The United States and officials in Chibok voiced concern that the girls might have been moved to neighbouring Chad and Cameroon to be sold.

But Jonathan said Friday that he believes the girls were still in Nigeria, possibly in the Sambisa forest.

Global media campaign 

The abductions have also led to a growing social media campaign with the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls joined by public figures and celebrities.

The Financial Times on Saturday published an open letter signed by 50 leading personalities, including former world leaders as well as the singer Bono, Bill and Melinda Gates and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus who have called on the international community to do everything to ensure the return of the pupils.

“We urge all local, national and regional governments, with the full support of the international community, to dedicate their expertise and resources... to #BringBackOurGirls,” it read.

Other signatories of the letter were the former presidents of Brazil, Mexico, Mozambique, Mauritius, Tanzania, Botswana, Liberia, Cape Verde and Ireland along with CNN founder Ted Turner, Virgin founder Richard Brandson, Unilever CEO Paul Polman and Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu.

Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala also signed the letter, as have numerous United Nations officials.

The UN Security Council said Friday the mass kidnappings “may amount to crimes against humanity” under international law, but made no explicit reference to charges in the International Criminal Court.

The 15 members of the council said they would follow the situation and consider “appropriate measures” to take against Boko Haram.

The statement urged their immediate release, without conditions.

JUBA — A ceasefire between South Sudan’s government and rebels was due to come into effect Saturday following a deal to end a brutal five-month war that has pushed the country to the brink of genocide and famine.

President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar, a former vice president, met in the Ethiopian capital on Friday, shook hands and prayed together, and agreed to order a halt to fighting within 24 hours. Army and aid sources said frontlines appeared to be quiet.

The deal came as the United Nations food agency said there was only a “small window of opportunity” to avert famine, and appealed for relief agencies — who have been subjected to armed attacks and looting — to be allowed unfettered access.

In their deal, the rivals “agreed that a transition government offers the best chance to the people of South Sudan” with the promise of fresh elections for the world’s youngest nation, said Seyoum Mesfin, head mediator with the East African regional bloc IGAD.

Both sides also “agreed to open humanitarian corridors... and to cooperate with the UN” to ensure aid is delivered, he added.

Military officials from both sides said frontlines appeared to be quiet ahead of the deadline to implement the truce. A ceasefire had been agreed to in January but quickly fell apart.

South Sudanese army spokesman Philip Aguer told AFP that the truce appeared to already be in place, information that was echoed by several independent aid sources.

“As far as the information I have there are not any skirmishes today. The rebels are under Riek Machar and it was Riek Machar who declared war against the government,” he said, adding however that he feared “other forces not under the control of Riek Machar”.

Need for ‘mammoth 

aid effort’ 

The peace deal, which followed intense lobbying from world leaders and Washington slapping sanctions on senior military commanders, came amid new reports of war crimes committed by both sides and fears that a wave of ethnic killings could result in genocide.

The war has claimed thousands — and possibly tens of thousands — of lives, with more than 1.2 million people forced to flee their homes and South Sudan said to be on the brink of Africa’s worst famine since the 1980s.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who was in South Sudan earlier this month to push for peace, said the “agreement to immediately stop the fighting in South Sudan and to negotiate a transitional government could mark a breakthrough”.

“The hard journey on a long road begins now and the work must continue,” Kerry said in a statement, urging “both leaders to take immediate action now to ensure that this agreement is implemented in full and that armed groups on both sides adhere to its terms”.

European Union foreign affairs head Catherine Ashton warned that “humanitarian calamity beckons” and that “the rapid implementation of this agreement is the only way large numbers of South Sudanese can be spared from violence and famine”.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who also visited the country last week, appealed to Kiir and Machar to “immediately translate these commitments into action on the ground, in particular the cessation of all hostilities”.

Oxfam, one of a handful of aid agencies working in the worst-affected areas of the country, said the deal was a “timely breakthrough” but warned that South Sudan still needed a “mammoth aid effort”.

“Civilians caught up in this bloody conflict need to have full confidence that they can return to their homes without fear of violence,” said Cecilia Millan, Oxfam’s local head.

“They need to get back to their fields to plant their crops as soon as possible or they will lose the chance of feeding their families.”

Gruesome violence 

The World Food Programme (WFP) said “a hunger catastrophe can still be avoided, but humanitarian agencies must be allowed to reach tens of thousands of people in need before it’s too late”.

UN rights chief Navi Pillay, a former head of the UN genocide court for Rwanda, said she recognised “many of the precursors of genocide” listed in a UN report on atrocities that was released during the week.

These included broadcasts urging rape and “attacks on civilians in hospitals, churches and mosques, even attacks on people sheltering in UN compounds — all on the basis of the victims’ ethnicity”.

Testimonies in a report this week by Amnesty International describe civilians, including children, executed by the side of the road “like sheep” and other victims “grotesquely mutilated” with their lips sliced off.

The conflict, which started as a personal rivalry between Kiir and Machar, has seen the army and communities divide along ethnic lines, pitting members of Kiir’s Dinka tribe against Machar’s Nuer.

The war broke out on December 15 with Kiir accusing Machar of attempting a coup. Machar then fled to the bush to launch a rebellion, insisting that the president had attempted to carry out a bloody purge of his rivals.

Observers believe implementing the truce will be tough for both sides.

“Of course this is a very difficult issue. Some of the field commanders tend to be behaving in their own way without any instructions from above. So we can still expect some rocky roads ahead,” said Simon Monoja Lubang, a lecturer at the University of Juba.

MARIUPOL, Ukraine — France and Germany Saturday threatened Russia with “consequences” if Moscow disrupts Ukrainian presidential election later this month, stepping up diplomatic pressure on the eve of “illegal” referendums the West fears will split the country apart.

In a joint statement, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel also urged Ukraine’s security forces to stop their offensive on rebel-held positions in the run-up to the planned May 25 presidential part.

The warnings suggested the West might soon move to broaden its sanctions regime to include whole sections of the recession-threatened Russian economy.

But the call for the pro-Western government in Kiev to roll back its military action echoes a similar statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, who set that as his condition for backing the presidential election.

“If the internationally recognised presidential elections do not take place on May 25, this would destabilise the country further. France and Germany believe that in this case, appropriate consequences should be drawn,” indicating tougher sanctions, Hollande and Merkel said.

Paris and Berlin said “proportionate” force should be used to protect people and buildings as Kiev battles to wrest back control of more than a dozen towns and cities in eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russian insurgents.

However, they stressed that “the Ukrainian security services should refrain from offensive actions before the election”.

The two leaders also called for a “visible” withdrawal of Russian troops from the Ukrainian border after NATO disputed Putin’s claims he had pulled back his estimated 40,000 servicemen.

Ukraine’s interim president Oleksandr Turchynov said that Kiev was “ready for negotiations” with representatives from the eastern region but “not terrorists whose mission is to destroy the country”.

He said voting for independence would be a “step into the abyss” for these regions and lead to the “total destruction” of the economy there.

But the head of the separatists in the flashpoint eastern town of Slavyansk, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, told reporters that “if the junta [the Ukrainian government] doesn’t withdraw its troops, there will be no discussions”.

The crisis “for now” would not prevent France selling two Mistral warship to Russia, Hollande said.

‘Illegal’ referendums planned 

Meanwhile, preparations were in full swing for the disputed referendums in the two eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, home to 7.3 million of Ukraine’s total population of 46 million.

Merkel and Hollande dismissed the referendums as “illegal”, amid Western fears they will hasten the break-up of Ukraine and could lead to all-out civil war on Europe’s fringes.

Voters in Sunday’s referendums will be asked if they support the creation of two independent republics that many see as a prelude to joining Russia, as happened in Crimea.

“I think that the turnout will be 100 per cent,” Ponomaryov told reporters in Slavyansk.

Immediately after the referendum, “the Republic of Donetsk will begin to function” and cultivate “friendly relations” with Russia, he added.

But another rebel leader, Roman Lyagin from Donetsk, said: “If the answer is yes, it does not necessarily mean that we will be joining Russia.”

A poll released Thursday by the Pew Research Centre in the United States suggested 70 per cent of Ukrainians in the east want to stay in a united country, while only 18 per cent back secession.

In a sudden about-face Wednesday that stunned the world, Putin called on the rebels to postpone the referendums to allow dialogue to take place to ease the worst East-West crisis since the end of the Cold War.

But the insurgents immediately snuffed out the brief glimmer of hope, vowing to press ahead with the votes.

One rebel manning barricades in Donetsk where there was a sign reading “the referendum is the will of the people”, told AFP his job was to stop pro-Kiev “provocateurs” from spoiling the vote.

“We are going to kill them, we are going to cut them, they are bastards, we are going to kill them and hang them from the lamp posts,” said the man, who gave his name as Nikolai.

Underscoring the tensions, rebels briefly detained a group of Red Cross staff in Donetsk, believing them to be spies.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague said that recent events had shown that Putin had lost his grip on the Ukrainian situation.

Putin “seems to have unleashed forces that he cannot control. Armed thugs with modern weapons are stirring old tensions and stoking new hatreds”, Hague said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph.

Burning barricade 

While the diplomatic pressure on Russia intensified, the situation on the ground in Ukraine remained combustible as the southern city of Mariupol observed a day of mourning for up to 21 people killed in clashes on Friday between Ukrainian authorities and pro-Russian separatists.

An AFP reporter in Mariupol said passions were running high as the rebels set alight a captured Ukrainian army armoured vehicle, causing the ammunition inside to explode.

A crowd of several hundred pro-Russians had gathered around the town hall and smoke billowed from a barricade of burning tyres.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on his official Facebook page that the chief of the city’s police force had been captured and snipers had been active during Friday’s violence, which occurred as Ukraine commemorated the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

He put the death toll from the near-two-hour combat at 20 rebels and one policeman, while another four policemen were wounded and four rebels were captured.

That sent the death toll from recent unrest to more than 100.

In addition to the 21 dead in Mariupol, some 14 troops have been killed and 66 servicemen wounded in Ukrainian army assaults on the rebels.

The fighting has also claimed the lives of more than 30 insurgents.

Clashes that resulted in a horrific inferno in the southern port city of Odessa last week claimed another 42 lives, most of them pro-Russian activists.

DONETSK, Ukraine — Pro-Moscow rebels fighting in east Ukraine vowed Thursday to press on with disputed independence referendums, defying a call from President Vladimir Putin to postpone the vote in a bid to ease tensions.

“The vote will happen on May 11,” the leader of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, declared to reporters.

“The people’s desire to hold the referendum is becoming even greater. There was a vote and a 100 per cent decision was made not to change the date of the referendum,” Pushilin said, to applause from members of the “republic’s” ruling council.

On Sunday, people in the restive eastern region will be called to answer one simple question: “Do you support the declaration of independence by the Donetsk People’s Republic?”

Insurgents in the other main rebel-held towns of Slavyansk and Lugansk also declared they would hold a plebiscite.

“Since the fascists came to power we are left with no option but to separate from them,” said retiree Olga, a resident of beleaguered Slavyansk, using the epithet many in the east use for the interim leaders in Kiev.

The move dashed hopes of an easing in the crisis sparked on Wednesday by Putin’s surprise call to the rebels to postpone their referendums.

In a stunning about-face, the Kremlin strongman also backed a presidential election planned by Kiev’s interim leaders on May 25 that Moscow had only recently described as “absurd”.

But the Cold War-style tension was ratcheted up another notch on Thursday as Russia conducted military drills, including test-firing ballistic missiles.

Russia’s defence minister also warned that the country’s nuclear capable forces remained on “constant combat alert”.

‘Undeclared war’ 

Putin had said that Kiev must cease its military operations in the east in return for his backing the May 25 election.

But on Thursday, Kiev vowed to press forward with what it calls an “anti-terrorist” operation against insurgents holding a dozen or so towns and cities in the east.

“The counterterrorist operation will go on regardless of any decisions by any subversive or terrorist groups in the Donetsk region,” Andriy Parubiy, secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defence council, told reporters.

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said in a speech marking the Soviet victory against Nazi Germany that the former Soviet republic was facing “a real albeit undeclared war”.

Putin had also said Wednesday after his meeting with OSCE chair and Swiss President Didier Burkhalter that Russia had withdrawn its estimated 40,000 troops from the Ukrainian border.

But NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters in Warsaw he had yet to see “any indications” that Russia had actually done so.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow needed time to study the rebels’ snub. “This is a new development... it needs to be analysed,” Russian news agencies quoted him as saying.

The European Union, whose foreign ministers meet on Monday to consider further possible sanctions against Russia, said the referendums “could have no democratic legitimacy and would only further worsen the situation”.

As diplomatic efforts intensified to defuse the worst crisis between Moscow and the West since the Cold War, the secretary general of the OSCE flew into Kiev to continue mediation.

 ‘Talking through his hat’ 

Putin’s proposals had appeared to offer the first glimmer of hope that the seemingly inexorable decline into war might be averted.

But they sparked mixed reactions from a sceptical West.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier welcomed the “constructive tone” of Putin’s comments, but Yatsenyuk said the Kremlin strongman was “talking through his hat”.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry issued a statement saying Putin’s call to push back the referendums was “just a mockery and by no means a sign of goodwill” because the votes were illegal.

While the government wants to have a “full-scale national dialogue... a dialogue with terrorists is impermissible and inconceivable,” the ministry said.

Ukraine has lost 14 troops and three helicopter gunships with 66 servicemen injured in the assault on the rebels. The fighting has also claimed the lives of more than 30 on the insurgent side.

The majority of the fighting has taken place around the town of Slavyansk, where explosions and small-arms fire could still be heard overnight, according to an AFP reporter there.

Clashes that resulted in a horrific inferno in the southern port city of Odessa last week claimed another 42 lives, most of them pro-Russian activists, pushing the death toll over the past week to nearly 90.

The violence has prompted many Western politicians to warn that the country of 46 million people was slipping towards a civil war that would imperil the peace in Europe.

The unrest also shattered a peace deal struck in Geneva on April 17 that called for the insurgents to lay down their arms.

But politicians have stressed that diplomacy is still the preferred way to solve the crisis and Putin accepted an invitation from French President Francois Hollande to attend D-Day celebrations in June.

More sanctions 

US President Barack Obama has, however, vowed to step up his sanctions strategy to hit whole areas of the recession-threatened Russian economy.

There were fears that Ukraine could still erupt in fresh violence on Friday when both it and Russia celebrate the Soviet victory in World War II.

While Putin plans to mark the occasion with a show of patriotic fervour and military might on Red Square, Ukraine is holding muted celebrations amid tight security for fears of “provocation” from pro-Russian militants.

There have been some reports that Putin could make a triumphant entry into Crimea, annexed by Russia from Ukraine in March.

Steinmeier said German Chancellor Angela Merkel had warned him against making the trip to the peninsula.

“Were Putin to take part, it would make things more difficult than they already are,” the minister told German television.