APRIL 17, 2000 VOL. 155 NO. 15

Milestones
BY NICK PAPADOPOULOS

DIED. HABIB BOURGUIBA, 96, political architect of modern Tunisia; in Monastir. Dedicated to ending French colonial rule in the 1930s, Bourguiba spent time in prison for sedition before achieving his independence goal, becoming Prime Minister in 1956 and President a year later. Despite his authoritarian 31-year reign, Bourguiba was sympathetic to the West, granted women equal rights and was the first Arab leader publicly to advocate mutual recognition with Israel. His career ended when he was toppled in a bloodless coup.

DIED. JEAN LÉOPOLD DOMINIQUE, 69, outspoken journalist, democracy activist and special adviser to Haitian President René Préval, of gunshot wounds; in Port-au-Prince. Dominique founded Radio Haiti in the 1960s. Through his fiery commentaries, he became known as the voice of the people as the impoverished nation plunged into dictatorship over the next two decades. Exiled twice, Dominique returned to Haiti in 1994 after the intervention of the United States and continued his passionate calls for democracy.

DIED. SY WEINTRAUB, 76, veteran film producer who revived the career of the fictional jungle hero Tarzan; in Beverly Hills. When other movie moguls gave up on the yodeling apeman, Weintraub bought the film franchise rights in 1958 and, using exotic locations and top actors such as Sean Connery, produced a series of memorable flicks, including Tarzan's Greatest Adventure. He also brought the character to television.

DIED. TOMMASO BUSCETTA, 71, Sicilian Mafia boss turned state's witness whose testimony put hundreds of mobsters behind bars and exposed dirty links to Italian politicians; in an undisclosed U.S. location designated by the witness protection program. Although Buscetta spent less than five years in the mob, his explosive 45-day confession to anti-Mafia judge Giovanni Falcon in 1984 exposed many of the mob's darkest secrets and made Buscetta a star witness in a series of high-profile cases, two of which involved former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti.

SENTENCED. MUHAMMED NAWAZ SHARIF, 51, ousted Pakistani Prime Minister, to two life sentences after being found guilty of hijacking and terrorism related to events at the time of the country's military coup last October; in Karachi. A judge spared Sharif the death penalty by finding him not guilty of kidnapping and attempting to murder army chief Pervez Musharraf, by trying to prevent the general's plane from landing. When Musharraf did touch down, he immediately deposed Sharif.

ARRESTED. MOMCILO KRAJISNIK, 55, infamous ally of one of the world's most wanted men, on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity; in Bosnia. As the former right-hand man to Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic during the 1992-95 war, Krajisnik is the highest-ranking figure to face the Hague-based International War Crimes Tribunal.

Time Capsule
It's still etched in memories, but 25 years have passed since SAIGON, now Ho Chi Minh City, fell to North Vietnamese forces, ending 30 years of war that devastated Vietnam and engulfed both France and the U.S.
"With the enemy literally at the gates, Saigon last week seemed to be in a state of schizophrenia--and in both phases seemed equally mad. With their inbred fatalism and stoicism, the 3 million residents of the . . . capital fought, often in vain, against a rising sense of terror. The result . . . was a strange blend of serenity and fear in the aloof and careless city that had so largely been spared the shock of war. . . With the Communists closing in, Catholic priests and Buddhist monks gathered . . . for the first joint service in the history of South Viet Nam. . . Not all of the city's residents were relying on prayer. . . Some farsighted Saigonese had on hand a supply of the black, pajama-like garments that are [worn] by the Viet Cong."
--Time, May 5, 1975