Francis Kaikai, executive officer of the National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Rehabilitation (NCDDR), told AFP: "Between January 1 and November 30, 37,056 combatants, including 3,911 children, have disarmed."

The UN mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) confirmed the figure. Sierra Leone has been wracked by a civil war launched by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel group in 1991.

The aid supplies, funded by the German government and worth some 240,000 dollars, will include flour, vegetable oil, salt and first-aid packages and should last the target group until June next year.

Over a million people out of Tajikistan's six-million population are in desperate need of humanitarian aid as a result of famine in the Central Asian state.

The aid, sent by the United Nations, was transported in 56 trucks through the mountain pass of Ishkashim on the 1,200-kilometer (800-mile) Tajik-Afghan frontier, the border guards said.

Since the beginning of the humanitarian operation a fortnight ago, some 430 trucks carrying nearly 2,200 tonnes of flour have crossed into Afghanistan.

Russian border guards patrol the Tajik-Afghan

BONN, Nov 30 (AFP) - Landmark talks between rival Afghan groups over the composition of a post-Taliban interim government hit difficulties late Friday, as power-sharing negotiations moved into the their most critical phase.

Delegates and diplomats said the powerful Northern Alliance had demanded a 10-day adjournment of the talks in Germany so they could consult their leaders back in Kabul, an appeal rejected by the United Nations and the other delegations.

"Talks are still continuing. We are in intensive talks and it will continue overnight. We are trying not

These initiatives, launched the day before the CAR's national holiday on Saturday, are being interpreted as a peace

Their efforts, which could mean the difference between life and death in a country ravaged by drought as well as war, have been made more complicated by roadblocks, and a general breakdown in law and order since the collapse of the Islamic Taliban militia's hold on most of the country.

"As far as security conditions it

"There is a US Army Corps of Engineers' team in Uzbekistan today that's looking at the bridge's structural integrity," spokesman Richard Boucher said.

"We're all, I think, looking to open this very important bridge as soon as we can," he told reporters

BONN, Nov 30 (AFP) - The United Nations said Friday that rival Afghan groups were on the verge of striking an historic power-sharing deal as landmark talks in Germany entered their final and most complex phase.

Delegates said they were making headway during frantic rounds of hard bargaining, even though the most prominent Pashtun delegate for the powerful Northern Alliance stormed out in a row over ethnic representation.

"We will be meeting again tonight at ten (2100 GMT Friday) and hope then to finalise an agreement of principle,"

State television broadcast a 30-hour telethon to raise funds for victims of the deluge, with satellite transmission of the programme across north Africa and into France, home to many immigrant Algerians.

The sudden storms of November 10 devastated part of Algiers, where some 700 people died in the Bab El Oued district,