Region

CAIRO — Egypt suffered a massive power outage that halted parts of the Cairo subway, took TV stations off the air and ground much of the country to a halt for several hours Thursday, as officials offered no clear explanation for how the country suddenly lost 50 per cent of its power generation.

The blackout comes barely three months after Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, a former army chief, was elected president on promises to restore order after three years of turmoil following the 2011 uprising that toppled long-ruling autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

The government's inability to pay for enough imported fuel, debts to foreign oil companies, and old and poorly maintained equipment have all contributed to a monthslong power crisis in which rolling blackouts have plunged entire neighborhoods into darkness for several hours a day.

The government had recently promised to end the blackouts by the end of the year, partially blaming the outages on saboteurs. Over the past week there had been a noticeable reduction in the power cuts, coinciding with slightly cooler temperatures after a scorching August.

But the mass outage on Friday was far more severe and wide-ranging than any of the previous cuts.

Egypt's Electricity Minister Mohammed Shaker described Thursday's blackout as a rare event caused by a technical failure which occurs every 15 years and said authorities hoped to restore power within hours. Earlier, officials claimed that the outage was a result of an experiment in redistributing electricity, saying a technical failure during the "maneuver" caused the blackout.

Two senior security and electricity officials told The Associated Press that the crisis erupted when one of the country's main power generating stations, Al Kuraymat in southern Cairo, went out of service either because of human error or technical failure. That led to the collapse of the rest of the main power stations, since Egypt's stations are all connected in one network.

The sudden power outage at 6:00am Cairo time (0300 GMT) caused paralysis in many areas across the country, including southern provinces. Widespread frustration led TV commentators to urge Egypt's prime minister to sack the electricity minister. Others blamed the event on a plot by Islamists in the ranks of the ministry, something officials ruled out.

As army chief, Sisi led the overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi last year amid massive protests against his yearlong rule. The protests against Morsi were in part fueled by the decline in living standards following the 2011 uprising as the economy cratered and security deteriorated.

The minister told Egypt's official news agency MENA that the country lost nearly half of its capacity Thursday and suffered a sudden drop from at least 20,000 MW to 11,000 MW. He stressed that the outage was not linked to a fuel shortage.

Shaker apologised to Egyptians, saying "we vow to exert all effort and God willing this will not happen again”. He added that authorities were investigating the outage, saying anyone found to have been at fault would be held accountable.

Local TV networks showed metro stations packed with commuters after trains stopped due to the electricity cut. The spokesman for the city's metro system, Ahmed Abdel Hadi, said the trains connecting Cairo's southern suburbs to downtown were halted.

Hours later he said trains had resumed normal operations. By sundown, authorities said they had restored 75 per cent of the lost power.

Egypt's mobile service providers Mobinil and Vodafone said thousands of towers went out of service, disrupting communications across the country. Khaled Hegazi of Vodafone said 2,000 towers were out of service across the country, as 85 per cent of the company's towers depend on electricity.

In southern Egypt, governors set up operation rooms to receive citizens' complaints and follow up on the crisis.

According to officials in the central and southern provinces of Assiut, Minya and Sohag, hospitals suffered during the outages, which left dialysis machines, X-ray machines and operation rooms out of service.

After power was restored in many of the southern cities, the operation rooms were flooded with complaints from citizens that their electronic devices, such as refrigerators, washing machines and TV sets, were damaged, officials said.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the press.

GENEVA — Iran and the United States met in Geneva for bilateral talks on Thursday as international diplomacy intensifies to end a decade-old dispute over Tehran's atomic activities by a new deadline in late November.

The office of European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton confirmed Iran and six world powers would hold their first negotiating round since they failed to meet a July 20 target date for an agreement in New York on September 18.

The deadline was extended until November 24 after six months of talks because wide gaps persisted over the future scope of Iran's uranium enrichment programme, which can have both civilian and military applications.

The six powers — the United States, Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain — aim to persuade Iran to scale back its nuclear programme in exchange for phasing out sanctions that have severely hurt its oil-dependent economy.

The election last year of President Hassan Rouhani, widely seen as a pragmatist, raised hopes of a settlement of the stand-off after years of tension and fears of a new Middle East war, and an interim accord was reached between Iran and the six powers in Geneva late last year.

But Western diplomats say the sides remain far apart on what a final deal should look like — especially on the issue of how many enrichment centrifuges Iran can operate — and that a successful outcome in the negotiations is far from guaranteed.

Western countries suspect Iran's programme is aimed at seeking the capability to build a nuclear bomb. Tehran says it is a peaceful project to generate electricity.

Thursday's meeting in Geneva between senior Iranian and US officials was the second time they held talks in the Swiss city in the past month.

US sanctions pressure

State news agency IRNA and a US official confirmed the discussions were under way.

"I believe we are still not in a position to judge whether or not we can reach a deal before the deadline of November 24, but we are trying our best and are hopeful and optimistic," Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told France 24 on Wednesday after talks with French officials in Paris this week.

"The good news is that both sides are serious enough to come to a deal by the deadline," Araqchi said. One of Iran's chief negotiators, he took part in the Geneva talks on Thursday.

The United States last week penalised a number of Iranian and other foreign companies, banks and airlines for violating sanctions against Tehran, saying it was sending a signal that there should be no evasion of sanctions while talks continue.

Rouhani said on Saturday the sanctions were against the spirit of negotiations, but added he was not pessimistic about the viability of the talks.

Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman were in the US delegation at the Geneva talks, which will last for two days, the US State Department said in a statement.

Araqchi told France 24 he believed a compromise was "quite possible" on Iran's enrichment centrifuge capacity. "If the other side avoids excessive demands then I believe a compromise is possible," he said.

Although the United States is part of the six-power negotiating track, any workable deal will likely have to be based on a bilateral agreement between Washington and Tehran. The United States cut off ties with Iran during a hostage crisis shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

High-level bilateral meetings between the United States and Iran, virtually unthinkable in years past, have become almost routine on the sidelines of the nuclear talks.

Ashton's office also confirmed that Iran and France, Britain and Germany would meet in Vienna on September 11. Ashton is the coordinator of contacts with Iran on behalf of the six powers.

AINKAWA, Iraq — Hundreds of thousands of children in Iraq's northern Kurdish region are facing an "education emergency" after being forced from their homes, with hundreds of schools used to shelter displaced families.

The Kurdish regional government says schools will open as planned next Wednesday but, on top of the huge challenge of educating those who have been displaced, there are major concerns about where those now living in schools will be moved.

"It is a major disaster for children," said Brenda Haiplik, an education expert from the UN children's agency, UNICEF.

"Education is life-saving. After a child has been to hell and back, education gives him or her an opportunity to go forward. Without that, the future is dim."

The United Nations says up to 1.8 million Iraqis have been displaced since January, with around 850,000 seeking refuge in autonomous, three-province Kurdistan.

Swathes of Iraq have been seized by militants since the beginning of the year, especially in a major jihadist-led offensive launched in June, causing widespread displacement of people desperate to escape the unrest.

With unsanitary camps scattered across the north overflowing with Iraqis who fled their homes, thousands of families have sought refuge in schools.

In Dohuk, the worst-affected Kurdish province, more than 600 schools are now home to displaced families.

"We are facing an education emergency" that affects the displaced, the more than 200,000 Syrian refugees in the Kurdistan region and local children alike, Haiplik told AFP.

The Kurdistan region's education minister, Pishtiwan Sadiq, said that school for local residents will begin as planned everywhere except in Dohuk, where the UN says 64 per cent of the north's displaced are located.

"And as soon as housing is provided [for displaced families], we are ready to cover their educational needs," Sadiq told AFP.

'Education is everything' 

But he admitted the authorities are struggling to find shelter for the displaced.

"The Kurdistan government doesn't have the infrastructure to give shelter to the displaced. And assistance from the international community is very slow," he said.

With the deadline for the start of the academic year looming, schools in the region's capital Erbil were still home to thousands of displaced people, with up to four families sharing a single classroom.

"We don't know what our future holds," said Noel Jamil, whose family of 11 shared a room with three other families at a school in Ainkawa, a suburb of Erbil.

Jamil, who works as a schoolteacher and whose family was forced to leave the town of Qaraqosh several weeks earlier, said: "If school starts, we will have to leave here and go to a camp, or somewhere else, perhaps. We don't know where we will go.”

"We also don't know when our children will get the chance to go back to class," said Jamil.

Ahlam Kamel, a 45-year-old mother of four girls living in a tent in the playground of the school, echoed Jamil's concerns.

"Education is everything to us, it is the guarantee of my children's future... I can't put into words just how much we are suffering," Kamel said, as her 12-year-old daughter Siba wept quietly.

'Tip of the iceberg' 

UNICEF's Haiplik said the complexity of the humanitarian crisis, as well as funding shortfalls, make it hard to see just how the dual challenges of starting school next week and reintegrating all the displaced children into school can be met.

"I hope some schools do reopen in time, but there is a lot of work to do," Haiplik said, adding that the UN is working with the local authorities on alternatives such as schools in pre-fabricated buildings near camps.

"But there are a lot of protection issues involved... It takes a lot of coordination and the funding needs are massive," she said.

Similar issues affect children in central and southern Iraq, said Haiplik, and ongoing fighting across the country means that an unknown number of children are stuck in more violent areas that are impossible to reach.

"It just breaks our hearts," said Haiplik. "We are aware that the crisis in Dohuk and other areas... is just the tip of the iceberg. It's a horrific situation."

SUVA, Fiji — Fiji's army chief on Thursday dismissed as "sick" a suggestion the Pacific nation's Muslim minority will face a backlash if 45 UN peacekeepers taken hostage by Islamic rebels in the Golan Heights are harmed.

Brigadier General Mosese Tikoitoga also defended the action of his troops in surrendering to Al Qaeda-linked Al Nusra Front rebels, even though a contingent of 75 Filipino peacekeepers who defied an order to lay down their weapons all escaped unscathed.

Tikoitoga, speaking to reporters in Suva just hours after the UN Security Council demanded the Fijians' immediate release, said the location of the Blue Helmets was still unknown.

He also revealed that talks with their captors had hit a "lull" but said specialised UN negotiators flown in from New York to deal with the crisis had told him this was normal in a hostage situation.

"They [the rebels] do not establish contact so that they can regain the initiative on negotiations," he said.

"But these are [just] tactics they use and I hope that we will resume discussions soon, and we can get them back on the line."

The Islamic fighters have made at least three demands, including that the Al Nusra Front be removed from the UN's list of terrorist organisations.

Former Fiji prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka told Radio New Zealand on Wednesday that Fiji's Muslim community, which numbers about 60,000 in an overall population of 900,000, could face retaliation if the islanders serving with the UN were harmed.

"If anything should happen to the 45 then the unsuspecting, and probably undeserving people who will bear the brunt of the feelings of the people could be the Muslim civil society and community in Fiji," he said.

Tikoitoga said the Fiji military was committed to treating all citizens equally and accused Rabuka of inflaming ethnic tensions.

"It's very irresponsible and I think it's closing in on inciting violence in Fiji. We should condemn it... it only shows the sick attitude of that individual," he said.

"The RFMF [military] will look after all Fijians and we don't hold anything against any Fijians for what's happening. This is a time we should all stand together, it is not the time to start pointing fingers at each other, especially internally."

Asked why his men surrendered, Tikoitoga said they were following a direct order from the commander of the UN Disengagement Observer Force.

"At no stage in an operation would I expect any of my officers not to follow the decisions of the first commander," he said. "The Filipinos chose to do so and the Philippines government have supported them for having chosen that path.”

"We cannot criticise them for it, nor can we follow the decision they have made, we live by our own ethos of following command."

He said officers on the ground had to make a snap decision in a fraught situation.

BAGHDAD — President Barack Obama vowed Wednesday that the United States would not be intimidated by the beheading of a second American reporter but acknowledged the fight against the jihadists would take time.

Obama pledged that justice would be done to the Islamic State (IS) killers of 31-year-old reporter Steven Sotloff, wherever they hid and however long it took.

But he warned that eliminating the threat posed to the region by the group from its bases in Iraq and Syria would take time.

IS posted video footage on the Internet of Sotloff's beheading, confirmed as authentic by Washington, which sparked outrage around the world.

It said the journalist's killing, which comes on the heels of the beheading last month of another US reporter, James Foley, was in retaliation for expanded US air strikes against its fighters in Iraq over the past week.

It warned a British hostage would be next unless London backs off from its support for Washington's air campaign.

Obama said the whole world had been repulsed by the barbarism of Sotloff's murder but "we will not be intimidated".

"Those who make the mistake of harming Americans will learn that we will not forget and that our reach is long and that justice will be served," he said.

Obama said Washington was determined to halt the IS threat to the region but warned it would depend on close cooperation with partners in the region.

He has previously admitted that his administration has yet to develop a comprehensive strategy for tackling IS on both sides of the Iraq-Syria border.

Washington has ruled out any air strikes for now against IS fighters on the Syrian side, where they hold a large swathe of the east.

Obama has also ruled out any cooperation with the Damascus regime against IS, for fear that it would drive other Sunni rebel groups in Syria into alliance with the jihadists.

‘Despicable act’ 

British Prime Minister David Cameron said the video depicted an “absolutely disgusting, despicable act” and convened a meeting of security chiefs to discuss how to tackle the IS threat.

The masked executioner in the video spoke with a London accent and claimed to be the same man, confirmed by UK security services as a Briton, who beheaded Foley.

“I’m back, Obama, and I’m back because of your arrogant foreign policy towards the Islamic State,” the black-clad jihadist says, wielding a combat knife.

“So just as your missiles continue to strike the necks of our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people,” he declares, before reaching round to cut his captive’s throat.

The militant condemns US air strikes against IS fighters around both Mosul Dam in the north and the Shiite Turkmen town of Amerli further south, which dates the video to the past week.

At the end of the five-minute video recording, the militant threatens another captive, identified as Briton David Cawthorne Haines.

“We take this opportunity to warn those governments that enter this evil alliance of America against the Islamic State to back off and leave our people alone,” he says.

Britain has maintained a media silence about the kidnapping of aid worker Haines and there were few immediate details about when or how he was abducted.

Britain has not carried out any air strikes of its own against jihadist targets in Iraq but it has made extensive reconnaissance flights in support of the US air campaign from its base in Cyprus.

In a statement, the Sotloff family, who live in Miami, said: “The family knows of this horrific tragedy and is grieving privately. There will be no public comment from the family during this difficult time.”

After Foley’s death, Sotloff’s mother Shirley had addressed a video message to IS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi pleading for her son’s life, and insisting he had no influence on US policy.

‘Brave and talented’ 

Sotloff’s former employers at Time and Foreign Policy paid tribute to a man widely respected for his intrepid reporting in Syria and the wider region, including a previous stint in Libya.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the world was outraged at the apparent beheading.

“I strongly condemn all such despicable crimes and I refuse to accept that whole communities can be threatened by atrocities because of who they are or what they believe,” Ban said.

Hours after the posting of the video, the White House announced that Obama had authorised about 350 more US troops to beef up security at US diplomatic facilities and protect personnel in Baghdad.

Washington initially limited the air support it launched on August 8 to Iraqi Kurdish forces fighting the jihadists in the north.

But late last week it expanded it to Iraqi troops and Shiite militia battling to relieve trapped civilians in Amerli, helping them to break the months-long IS siege on Sunday.

Assistance is now arriving in the town, brought in both by Shiite militia fighters and the United Nations.

BEIRUT — DNA testing has confirmed that the body of a man who jihadists said they had beheaded was that of Lebanese soldier Ali Sayyed, his family said Tuesday.

Sayyed was captured along with more than 20 other members of the Lebanese security forces in the eastern town of Arsal last month.

"We've been informed by MP Khaled Zahraman that the DNA test confirmed that the body of the soldier recovered by the army is that of our martyr Ali," his uncle, Hussam Al Sayyed, told AFP.

Sayyed said that the MP, representing the family, had been told of the result by the army.

"We are very sad. We call for restraint and we do not want violent reactions," said the uncle, adding that Ali would be buried on Wednesday.

"Our only consolation will be to see the release of all the soldiers and members of the security forces who have been kidnapped," he said.

A video purporting to show Sayyed being beheaded by Islamic State (IS) jihadists emerged last week.

In the video, he is presented as a Lebanese soldier among those abducted on August 2 as clashes erupted in Arsal, which lies on the Syrian border.

IS and other jihadists overran the town of Arsal in clashes that began after the arrest of a Syrian accused of belonging to an extremist group.

Twenty soldiers, dozens of jihadists and 16 civilians were killed in the fighting that ended after mediation by Sunni Lebanese clerics.

After the truce, the militants, believed to be from the IS as well as Al Qaeda's Syrian affiliate Al Nusra Front, withdrew from Arsal.

But they have continued to hold 15 soldiers and 14 police taken hostage during the fighting.

The militants have reportedly sought to negotiate the release of the hostages in exchange for Islamist prisoners held in Lebanese jails.

The fighting in Arsal was the most serious border incident since the conflict in Syria began in March 2011.

Families of the remaining soldiers and police hostages have blocked roads in Lebanon in a bid to pressure the government to secure the release of their relatives.

VILLACOUBLAY MILITARY BASE, France — A young French mother whose two-year-old daughter was smuggled out of the country by her father and reportedly taken to jihadist centres in Syria arrived home Wednesday after they were reunited in Turkey.

Meriam Rhaiem, 25, made headlines in March with an emotional appeal to French authorities to recognise her baby girl as "the youngest French hostage".

Mother and daughter arrived at Villacoublay air base outside Paris at 2:15am Wednesday (0015 GMT) aboard a plane chartered by the French interior ministry.

"It's a moment of great emotion with the arrival of Meriam Rhaiem and her daughter Assia, after months of waiting," said Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve who went out onto the tarmac to meet the plane.

He noted "the trials this young woman has endured, fighting hard for the return of her daughter who was kidnapped in circumstances which aren't clear".

He thanked the Turkish authorities for their role in the family reunion which led to "the best possible outcome".

Rhaiem, holding her child in a beige blanket and flanked by her lawyer who was also on the plane from Turkey, made no comment upon her arrival.

Rhaiem, who lives in eastern France, had said she was certain her French husband, whom she is divorcing, and who is wanted under an international arrest warrant, was in Syria where he was seeking to join jihadists.

The father was arrested last weekend with their 28-month-old daughter Assia in Turkey, where he is still being held, a French interior ministry source said.

Assia's father had failed to bring his daughter home after spending the day with her in October last year, and had left France by road bound for Turkey, from where he called his wife regularly and asked her to come and join them.

He had also said he planned to cross into Syria with their daughter to join the Al Nusra Front, which is Al Qaeda's official Syrian affiliate.

Cazeneuve told French radio on Wednesday that the father "had taken this child into the theatre of jihadist operations in Syria", adding she was "in danger every day".

He paid tribute to "a brave mother [who] decided to get her child back".

According to Rhaiem's lawyer Gabriel Versini-Bullara, her husband had become radicalised after travelling to Mecca, asking her to wear the veil, criticising her for working or banning her from playing music to Assia.

Like a number of European countries, France has expressed concern over radicalised people leaving the country to fight in Iraq and Syria, with fears that they could pose a risk to domestic security on their return.

According to official estimates, around 800 French nationals or residents — including several dozen women — have travelled to Syria, returned from the conflict-ridden country or plan to go there.

France unveiled a bill in July aimed at stopping aspiring jihadists from travelling to Syria.

It includes a ban on foreign travel of up to six months for individuals suspected of radicalisation, and gives authorities powers to temporarily confiscate and invalidate their passports.

SANAA — The Yemeni president on Tuesday dismissed the Cabinet including the prime minister who led it for two years, while partially reversing an earlier decision to lift fuel subsidies in a bid to end a stand-off with Shiite rebels holding anti-government protests across the country.

Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi made his decision during a meeting with the now outgoing government, representatives of political parties and parliament members, the official news agency SABA reported. The decisions came in response to an "initiative" submitted by a presidential committee formed by Hadi to examine peaceful resolutions for the Yemeni crisis.

"The nation is passing through tough times," the agency reported Hadi as saying during the meeting. "It is standing at a crossroads: Either walk the path of life, development and a new Yemen, or chaos, lawlessness and the unknown."

Hadi pledged to represent the interests of the Yemeni people as a whole and not privilege particular factions or groups. He said he would appoint a new prime minister within a week, after which political parties will nominate Cabinet ministers from their own ranks. Hadi will appoint defence, interior, finance and foreign ministers, SABA said.

Rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdel Salam said his group rejected the move and would continue to pressure the government. "We are not giving in... but we will also not shut the door to dialogue."

Faris Al Saqqaf, Hadi's political adviser, told The Associated Press the rebels, known as Houthis, had surprised him by reacting in what he described as a harsh and swift manner.

"It shows that the Houthis have other goals and are using the subsidies as a pretext to execute another agenda," he said. On Monday, Hadi alleged that there are "countries in the region that want to create chaos in Sanaa, and burn it like Damascus and Baghdad are burning now" — a thinly veiled reference to Iran, which he says supports Houthis.

Hadi's decision comes a day after Houthi rebel leader Abdel Malek Al Houthi escalated the confrontation with Hadi by calling for civil disobedience against the government. He also urged the expansion of mass protests that have disrupted life in the capital for over two weeks. The rebels had been demanding the government to step down and also reinstate fuel subsides.

Fuel prices nearly doubled after the subsidy cuts, but the reaction on the street was limited when it was announced in July. Opponents say the Houthis are using the issue as a cover and really just want to seize power.

The Houthis’ ability to mobilise tens of thousands in the capital and set up sit-ins near several ministries has put security authorities on alert.

A senior Yemeni security official said that Houthis are plotting a Ukrainian-style revolution in the capital and that they plan to storm the Cabinet and parliament over the coming days.

The conflict between Houthis and the government is rooted in enmity between the Shiite rebels and rival Sunni militias that are linked to the Muslim Brotherhood group, and its political arm, the Islah Party.

Houthis recently defeated the Islamists after months of battle in the north, where they eventually took over the city of Amran. Critics view their current push on the government as an extension of that victory — opportunism using the subsidies issue as a pretext.

The Islah Party is part of the government. Critics saw outgoing Prime Minister Mohammed Salem Bassindwa as weak and too close to the party. The change of the prime minister is the first since the election of Hadi in 2012.

The Houthis waged a six-year insurgency that officially ended in 2010. The following year, an Arab Spring-inspired uprising shook the country, eventually forcing longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down as part of a US-backed deal giving him immunity from prosecution.

Houthi said late Sunday a campaign of civil disobedience would begin Monday, "but it will not be about closing stores or groceries... it will be a different kind". He didn't elaborate.

"If our demands are not met there will be decisive measures that we will talk about in time," he said.

Yemen, one of the Arab world's poorest nations, is facing multiple challenges. In addition to Houthi rebels, an Al Qaeda branch in the south poses a constant threat as it tries to impose control over cities and towns.

On Tuesday, Al Qaeda militants shot three men dead in the southern province of Hadramawt, a security official said. Next to the bodies of the three men, he said, the militants left a statement describing them as "spies" for the United States who had been helping target Al Qaeda militants for US drone strikes.

"The spies sold their religion and themselves to the devil in return for money," the official quoted the statement as saying. "The Americans with their drones in the sky and those with their evil eyes on the ground," it added, warning others who cooperate with the US that they would "face the same destiny".

The US considers Yemen's local branch of Al Qaeda to be the world's most dangerous, and has helped support Yemeni government offensives against it with drone strikes.

UNITED NATIONS — The Palestinian leadership intends to seek a UN Security Council resolution setting a three year deadline for ending the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, a PLO official said Tuesday.

Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, acknowledged at a news conference that the United States would veto such a resolution.

Nevertheless, she told reporters: “We will be seeking a Security Council resolution on ending the occupation on a specific date.”

“We should know that the occupation will end within three years,” she added.

She raised the possibility of also seeking passage of a similar but non-binding resolution by the UN General Assembly.

Ashrawi once again also brandished a threat to take Israel before the International Criminal Court over its 50-day military offensive in Hamas-ruled Gaza.

But she did not say when it might do so. The Palestinians were granted observer status at the court in 2012, giving them access to the court.

“We are intending to take Israel to the ICC. We do not have a timeframe, we have a programme of action,” she said.

Wasel Abu Yusef, a senior PLO official, said last week that the organisation was working to convene an international conference to set a timetable for ending the occupation.

But as yet, no Palestinian official has said when a formal proposal will be made to the Security Council.

BEIRUT — Al Qaeda-linked Syrian rebels holding 45 Fijian peacekeepers hostage have issued a set of demands for their release, including the extremist group's removal from a UN terrorist list and compensation for the killing of three of its fighters in a shootout with international troops, an official said Tuesday.

The Nusra Front seized the Fijians on Thursday in the Golan Heights, where a 1,200-strong UN force monitors the buffer zone between Syria and Israel. The rebels also surrounded two Filipino units, but those UN troops escaped over the weekend.

Speaking in the Fijian capital of Suva, military commander Brig. Gen. Mosese Tikoitoga said the Nusra Front has made three demands for the peacekeepers' release: to be taken off the UN terrorist list; the delivery of humanitarian aid to parts of the Syrian capital of Damascus; and payment for three of its fighters it says were killed in a shootout with UN officers.

Tikoitoga did not say whether the rebels' demands would be seriously considered. He said the UN had sent hostage negotiators to Syria to take over discussions from military leaders.

"Negotiations have moved up to another level with the professional negotiators now in place," he said.

Tikoitoga also released the names of the 45 detained soldiers, who he said are led by Captain Savenaca Siwatibau Rabuka. He asked Fiji's community and church leaders to help look after the families of the captive troops and asked the public to also offer support.

"I appeal to all Fijians that while we pray for our soldiers in Syria that we be sensitive to the families," he said, adding "the UN has assured us they will use all of their available resources for the safe return of our soldiers”.

Syrian rebels, including Nusra Front militants, seized a border crossing with Israel on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights on Wednesday. The area has been engulfed in heavy fighting between the opposition fighters and President Bashar Assad's forces since then.

In Manila, Philippines, military chief of staff Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang said the 40 Filipino peacekeepers who escaped had not accepted a rebel demand that they give up their firearms and surrender because that would have put the troops in grave danger.

Catapang said the rebel demands for the Fijians’ release showed their true nature.

“We don’t negotiate with terrorists,” he said. “We have machine guns and crew-served weapons so if we give them our weapons, this will help create an international problem.”

The Nusra Front, in a statement posted online Sunday, accused the UN of doing nothing to help the Syrian people since the uprising against President Bashar Assad began in March 2011. It said it seized the Fijians in retaliation for the UN ignoring “the daily shedding of the Muslims’ blood in Syria”.