Regional electoral officials said in rural areas many farmers had first gone to their plantations before voting

Regional electoral officials said in rural areas many farmers had first gone to their plantations before voting. Most Nigeriens, frustrated after years of mis-rule under both civilian and military governments, showed little interest in the vote. "I think that after these elections Niger will have an economic renaissance," proclaimed, Ali Ado, a Niamey merchant who then admitted he wasn't planning to vote at all, saying he had no loyalty to any particular political party. But the country's junta leader sad he was pleased that the elections had come off. "I'm proud and satisfied because the Nigerien people are demonstrating to the entire world that they are capable of...national reconciliation," said Daouda Malam Wanke. Wanke took control of Niger in April after former President Ibrahim Mainassara Bare was assassinated by members of his own presidential guard unit, which Wanke headed. But Wanke has kept his word, so far, to return this country to civilian rule. Moving away from military rule, this poverty-stricken desert nation on Wednesday elected a civilian president and legislature. While official polling results had not been announced, checks at polling booths around Niamey, the capital, and reports from the interior all reflected light turnout. Wednesday evening, polling officials had begun counting ballots cast in the presidential and legislative voting. There were no reports of violence. Voter turnout, which had been extremely low in the morning, increased only slightly in the afternoon. In the earlier wreck, the "Shenglu" caught fire and sank near Dalian on Oct 17, leaving three people missing. Rescuers managed to save 158 of the ship's 161 passengers and crew.. Moving away from military rule, this poverty-stricken desert nation on Wednesday elected a civilian president and legislature. Most of those aboard the boat were from Dalian, it said. "It was very tragic.

The sea was covered with bodies," said a Yantai city fire brigade officer, who refused to give his name. Asked if rescuers had found any survivors, he replied: 'Yes, too few." He added that waves were pushing bodies toward the shore. First word of the disaster came from a passenger with a cell phone who called Dalian police, said an official at the city's Sea Inspection Bureau. The ship sent out distress signals when flames were found on its second deck, but ships in the area were unable to approach the vessel due to the weather conditions, Xinhua said. The fire spread to the third deck, and the main helm of the ship broke apart about four hours later. Forecasts for the region had warned of extremely strong winds Wednesday. The cause of the fire was under investigation. The accident was the second sinking in five weeks of a vessel operated by the Yanda Ferry Co., the Dalian Evening News said. Police also joined the rescue operation, he added. Yantai is 160 kilometers (100 miles) from Dalian, just across the Bohai Strait leading into the Bohai Sea, and the waters there can be tempestuous. Xinhua cited rescue workers who said only 20 people had been rescued by Thursday afternoon. The Yantai fire officer said his brigade sent about 40 to 50 people, as well as rescue vehicles.

The ship later stopped sending distress signals and drifted until it was found stranded late Wednesday, the report said. A Shanghai newspaper, the official Xinmin Evening News, said the fire spread from the ship's lower vehicle deck and may have been caused by a car. Temperatures around freezing hampered rescue operations. A ferry pummelled by violent winds and towering waves caught fire and cracked open off the coast of eastern China, killing at least 104 people and leaving many others missing, state-run media and local officials said Thursday. The ship wrecked amid gale-force winds late Wednesday near Yantai, in eastern China's Shandong province, as it headed for the northeastern port of Dalian carrying 312 passengers and crew, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The Dashun, operated by the Yanda Ferry Company, was also carrying 60 vehicles, the Dalian Evening News reported. Unity was a constructive force with which he could work in future, said Mr Putin, clearly starting to believe the opinion polls, which show more than 30 per cent of Russians now envisage him as their next President.. A ferry pummelled by violent winds and towering waves caught fire and cracked open off the coast of eastern China, killing at least 104 people and leaving many others missing, state-run media and local officials said Thursday. "The rebels have been retreating and now they are waiting to engage the Russians in close combat."At that point, the Russian appetite for the war might begin to wane. However, as long as Russians are still fired by anger over the Chechens' alleged terrorist attacks in Moscow in September, Mr Putin remains the front-running politician - so much so that December's parliamentary elections have lost much of their potential to excite.Fatherland-All Russia, the anti-Kremlin bloc that was tipped to do well, has now found it politically expedient to support Mr Putin, who is President Boris Yeltsin's chosen successor, leaving the Communists as the only real opposition force.Mr Putin yesterday endorsed the Unity bloc of Sergei Shoigu, the Emergencies Minister who has had to deal with the refugee crisis in Ingushetia. Then the Russians, who have so far kept down their own casualties with air strikes that have put Chechen civilians at great risk, would have their first face-to-face encounters with the determined separatists."The real war has not started yet," said Pavel Felgenhauer, a Russian military analyst.

For none of these things can the Prime Minister claim any personal credit.Rather, he is now breaking into the $4bn (pounds 2.5bn) windfall to the budget that has come about as the world price of oil has jumped from $10 to $25 per barrel. According to yesterday's Moscow Times, the Russian Central Bank is spending an unsustainable $100m per day to prop up the rouble as the war puts extra strains on the Russian currency.Despite heavy dollar sales, rouble cash balances in commercial banks had hardly changed, implying that the dollars were being soaked up as the government printed money to pay for the Chechen campaign, the newspaper said.If Russia is storing up economic trouble for itself because of the war, then the situation on the ground - so far described in an upbeat manner by the military and Russian media - could also deteriorate.Russian generals crowed at the weekend that they had the Chechen capital of Grozny "80 per cent surrounded" and predicted that they would soon take it "without firing a shot", as they have reoccupied several small towns in lowland Chechnya.But Chechen officials said there were still big gaps in the "ring of steel" around the city, where some 5,000 Islamic fighters were reported to be waiting for the Russians.Another 3,500 guerrillas were also said to be in the town of Urus Martan, 12 miles southwest of Grozny, and the Chechen President, Aslan Maskhadov, declared that they would make a stand there. But already it was possible to speak of a "modest upturn".However, as Mr Putin admitted, the dire Russian economy has only improved because of last year's rouble devaluation, a move away from imports and the sudden rise in the price of oil, which is Russia's main earner. Russia was still not ready to integrate into the global economy and it would be a while before Russians recovered the levels of relative prosperity they enjoyed before the economic meltdown of August 1998. International Monetary Fund loans to Moscow are not yet in question, although they could be suspended if pressure for sanctions mounts in the West. But Russia says it is ready to live without foreign aid.Mr Putin predicted that the economy would grow by 2 per cent this year, which would be the first such achievement since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Production was up by 7.5 per cent, inflation was steady at 31 per cent, unemployment was down and the state had paid off its debt to pensioners, he said.Corruption and the flight of capital at $1.5bn per month remained a problem, he said. "Not since Soviet times have we heard such monstrous lies," said Valentina Melnikova of Soldiers' Mothers, one of the few organisations to question the official line that this time the army's war of "liberation" in the Caucasus is going smoothly.From the financial view, it seems the Russian economy can bear the burden. With 460 soldiers dead and 1,500 wounded since August, the army is losing men at about the same rate as Soviet forces did in Afghanistan, where 15,000 died in 10 years of war.But there is some dissent. Mr Putin, in a speech marking his first 100 days in power, was allowed to get away with his cautiously optimistic economic assessment.For the time being, at least, the Russian public seems to be accepting the disturbing casualty figures - which have been published though hardly given prominent coverage in the newly patriotic Russia media. VLADIMIR PUTIN admitted for the first time yesterday that his policy of war in Chechnya was having a severe effect on the Russian economy. However, the Communist-dominated Duma, the lower house of parliament, gave an easy ride to the Prime Minister, a former KGB agent who has won sudden popularity because of his determination to restore Russian rule to Chechnya. Even when he let slip the "state secret" that the "anti-terrorist campaign" had already meant additional expenditure of three billion roubles (pounds 470m), the deputies hardly stirred.As far as they and 65 per cent of constituents are concerned, avenging the army's humiliation in the war of 1994-96 against Chechnya is worth every rouble. Russia accuses Maskhadov of failing to combat organised criminal gangs.July 1999: Russian troops clash with Chechen fighters near border with Dagestan.8 Aug: Russian Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin visits Dagestan to discuss crisis.9 Aug: Yeltsin sacks Stepashin and nominates security chief Vladimir Putin, pictured, as prime minister.10 Aug: Islamic fighters declare Dagestan an independent state and vow to fight a holy war.12 Aug: Russian planes pound rebel positions.31 Aug: Bomb in Moscow leaves one person dead.4 Sept: 64 people killed by apartment block bomb in Dagestan.9 Sept: Up to 100 people killed in bombing of apartment block in Moscow.13 Sept: 100 people killed in another Moscow bombing.1 Oct: Russian troops take up positions in Chechnya.3 Nov: Red Cross warns of refugee "catastrophe".18 Nov: Yeltsin rejects demands for withdrawal.22 Nov: Russia says Grozny will be surrounded by mid-December.24 Nov: Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanovof agrees to meet OSCE chairman on Monday to talk about OSCE trip to Chechnya..