Syria at odds over control of aid distribution -envoys - chicagotribune.com

UPDATE 1-UN, Syria at odds over control of aid distribution -envoys - chicagotribune.com: "* U.N.-backed peace plan calls for unhindered aid delivery. * UN office wants to jointly manage aid to ensure neutrality  By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS, May 14 (Reuters) - Damascus wants to manage the delivery of all humanitarian aid to a million people in need of assistance as a result of the 14-month-old conflict in Syria, but the United Nations insists on having some control, envoys say. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and Syria have been negotiating for weeks on a plan for the distribution of aid throughout the country, but U.N. envoys familiar with the talks said the government and the U.N. agency are deadlocked on the issue of who will be in charge.

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Afghanistan: Hundreds mourn slain Afghan peace negotiator, Arsala Rahmani

The Associated Press: Hundreds mourn slain Afghan peace negotiator: "A gunman in a car assassinated Arsala Rahmani (70yrs old) on Sunday. It was the second killing of a prominent member of the government-appointed peace council set up to reach out to insurgents. In September 2011, former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, the counci's head, was assassinated in his Kabul home by a suicide bomber posing as a peace emissary from the Taliban. A military honor guard carried Rahmani's coffin, covered in a black cloth with verses of the Quran embroidered on it in gold, to a cemetery in the Afghan capital. Wreaths of flowers bore a photograph of the slain negotiator. "We are all so sad for his death," said Shahzada Shahid, another member of the peace council. "Rahmani had no personal dispute with anyone who would want to kill him," Shahid said. "He was working for the peace process, security and unity of the Afghans. ... It's been a series of killings of our countrymen. Elders, religious leaders, politicians, teachers, engineers and even businessmen are the victims.""

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