Dutch news in brief, 3 August 2004

Dutch fund airlift as Darfur crisis improves

The United Nations envoy to Sudan, Jan Pronk, has said the condition of refugees in the province of Darfur has improved, but that there are still a large number of militias in the area, which is leading to safety concerns. Despite this, the former Dutch government minister said safety had improved in the refugee camps as humanitarian aid starts to take effect. Up to 50,000 people have been killed and up to 1.2 million have fled ethnic violence in Darfur. The Netherlands has announced it will help fund an airlift of 360 soldiers from Rwanda and Uganda to the crisis region. The troops are part of the African Union’s monitoring mission. Dutch Overseas Development Minister Agnes van Ardenne said the airlift will start later this month. But the minister said it is too early to talk of military intervention in the region, rejecting demands from Dutch MPs urging the Netherlands to call for the international community to undertake such action.

NOS to webcast Athens Olympics

Dutch public broadcaster NOS has announced it will webcast the Athens Olympic Games in association with Dutch telecoms firm KPN. All ADSL subscribers to KPN will be able to watch the games on the KPN site at http://breedbandportal.kpn.com. The 2,000-plus hours of webcast will be free. And NOS will offer four TV channels simultaneously, plus the live broadcast. No commentaries will be given and instead the viewer will hear background noise, the website paidcontent.org reported on Monday. The Olympics start on 13 August and continue for just over two weeks.

Dutch fear Olympics terrorism

More than half (56 percent) of Dutch people fear the Athens Olympics later this month could be the target of terrorist attacks, according to a new survey. Dutch nationals are the most concerned of EU citizens, research bureau TNS NIPO revealed. On average, 32 percent of Europeans fear terrorist attacks during the games, the survey found. The CNN and TIME Magazine-sponsored research found just 17 percent of Spaniards fear terror attacks during the Olympics.

Man held for link to gangland slaying

French police arrested several weeks ago a man possibly involved in the gangland slaying of 33-year-old Bulgarian criminal Konstatin Dimotrov, who was shot and killed on Dam Square in Amsterdam in December 2003. The Dutch public prosecution said the suspect is probably the man seen in the company with Erwin V., the Dutchman jailed in June to 15 years jail for the murder. The man, of Bulgarian ancestry, was arrested on request from Bulgarian justice authorities.

Subject: Dutch news