European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 23, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 a the stars and stripes monday March 23, 1992 tatars an defies Yeltsin votes for Independence Kazan Russia apr rejecting appeals by russian president Boris n. Yeltsin voters in tatars an have approved Independence for their Oil Rich territory according to preliminary results released sunday. Yeltsin charged that saturdays referendum was aimed at secession from the russian federation and could Lead to ethnic violence. Tatar leaders however said they wanted More control Over natural resources not secession. Tatars an is one of 20 so called a a autonomous republics inhabited by ethnic minorities in the russian federation. In the past they were autonomous in name Only. Many tatars believe it is time they gained control Over taxes Trade and Industry within their Borders. Preliminary returns from across the territory showed that 61.4 percent of voters said yes to Independence and 37.2 percent voted no according to Anvar a Gaudinot a member of the tatars an election  cleaners scrub away part of prehistoric Art montauban France apr the idea was to clean up Graffiti but a youth group in southwestern France got carried away and wiped out a bit of prehistory As Well damaging Cave paintings thousands of years old. French cultural officials Are furious and say they plan to file a complaint against the group. A absolutely stupid a fumed Rene Gachet director of cultural affairs for the Tarn it Garonne department 400 Miles Southwest of Paris. The damage was done last sunday when about 70 members of Ecla Reurs a protestant youth group whose name Means a those who show the Way a descended on the Madrieres Cave near the Village of Bruni Quel armed with steel brushes to clean up Graffiti. Southwest France is dotted with hundreds of caves containing palaeolithic Art the most famous being the Lascaux caves in the Dordogne Region discovered by schoolchildren in 1941. Youth group officials acknowledged saturday that the youths damaged a portion of the Madrieres caves 15,000-year-old Bison paintings before realizing what they were. In a statement the officials expressed regret but were also a indignant that the actions of Well meaning youths should be called into  the head of a caving club that arranged the cleanup blamed cultural officials for failing to designate the site a historic treasure and act to protect it. A we told them the cultural officials that the Cave was in danger that people were writing on the Walls a Thierry Monthe Illet whose up clunkers group discovered the paintings 40 years ago told France info radio. A they did absolutely  accounts of the damage vary. Cultural officials say two paintings were severely damaged by vigorous brushing. A on one Bison the hindquarters have practically disappeared while on the other animal there a nothing left but the Tail and the Back legs a said Francois Rou Zaud a state archaeologist. Monthe Illet said one Bison was damaged losing part of its Back and one Hoof. Gachet said the culture ministry will file a civil some 81.6 percent of the territory a 2,610,000 eligible voters went to the polls he said. The actual question put to voters was ambiguously worded As a result of a Compromise Between a bloc of tatar lawmakers who favor outright secession and a roughly equal group that want to remain within Russia. It asked a do you agree that the Republic of tatars an is a Sovereign state a subject of International Law building its relations with the russian federation and other republics on an equal basis a about 48 percent of tatars and a 3.7 million people Are ethnic tatars mostly muslims. Some 43 percent Are russians. Although there has been substantial intermarriage it is feared that the vote could Lead to violence Between the ethnic populations As Well As to a breakup of the russian federation. A member of the Ecla Reurs youth group uses a steel Brush to erase Graffito in a Cave earlier this month. Complaint against the up clunkers club and the youth group. The action could result in a Fine but the site was not officially classified a National treasure and thus not protected. The caving club discovered the faded paintings in 1952 about 200 feet from the Cave Entrance. The paintings Are the Only ones of their kind in the Region and draw tourists even though the Cave is located on private property and no signs Point it out. Over the past two decades vandals had scarred the Walls of the Cave with Graffiti and last month the up clunkers arranged for the Ecla Reurs to remove it. Anthropologists believe the Cave paintings generally were used in religious rituals to bring Luck in the Hunt. The Cro Magnon artists used a variety of techniques painting with fingers Sticks pads of fur or Moss or blowing paint through a tube. Satellite carrying chinese rocket fails Beijing apr a rocket failed to lift off and carry into space the australian telecommunications satellite it was carrying dealing a blow to China a fledgling commercial space Industry. A the engines shut Down. I have no other information a Pete Herron of the Hughes aircraft co., maker of the satellite said by Telephone from the Yichang launch Center in Sichuan province. He added that the  satellite was  chinese Central television on the air live from the launch site in a Remote Rural Valley of Southwest China showed flames appear beneath the rocket and red and yellow smoke billow. But the rocket did not move. After several minutes of silence the television announcer said there had been a some  it was to have been China a second foreign commercial satellite launch and the government has expressed great Pride in being Able to compete with Western companies in the High technology Field. The satellite is owned by opus communications a private Sydney based company that recently purchased the telecommunications Carrier aus sat from the australian government. The Hughes aircraft satellite built in the United states was designed to bring television voice and data services into australian Homes replacing another satellite that is near the end of its lifetime. World embassy bombing probe results in five arrests from wire reports Buenos Aires Argentina a five people were arrested saturday in connection with tuesdays bombing of the israeli embassy in which at least 28 people died the official news Agency team reported. The Agency said four men and a woman were arrested by members of a Federal police anti terrorist brigade in a raid on an apartment near downtown Buenos Aires. It said the raid was connected to the bombing but further details were not immediately  at Temple Teotihuacan Mexico a thousands of people flocked to the Pyramid of the Sun on saturday to Mark the beginning of Spring at the site where their ancestors celebrated a marriage of gods. Legend has it that the Temple outside Mexico City focuses the Energy of the Sun and makes men into gods. The Pyramid of the Sun is flanked by a Pyramid of the Moon. Some say they represent an ancient celestial marriage or sacrifice that gave birth to the Sun god on the first Day of  in Anc killed Johannesburg South Africa a an african National Congress official was killed sunday when a grenade he was holding exploded police said. Two other people also died and two were injured. Police col. Dave Bruce said it was not known Why the Anc member Saul to Sotetsu had a grenade in his hand. To Sotetsu was a member of the Anc executive committee in the Black township of Evaton South of Johannesburg. To Sotetsu was in a Home in the township of be Bokseng when the grenade went off Bruce said. Two other people in the House  holds election Bangkok Thailand a thais went to the polls sunday to elect 360 legislators to the lower House of the National Assembly or parliament. It was an election hailed As the beginning of a return to democracy 13 months after a military coup. At the same time the military Junta showed its continued Power Over the country by appointing 270 senators a 56 percent of them military officers a to the National Assembly supper House a body that will exercise considerable Power Over  Alert continues Mexico City a Mexico City residents endured their fourth Day under a severe smog Alert saturday that banned the use of 40 percent of the City a automobiles Mexico a official news Agency said. Ozone Levels reached 250 Points on the 500-Point Simeca scale in some parts of the City by 2 p.m., Down from the 360 Points registered Friday no Timex  is considered a very dangerous at 300  lifts ban on arabs Jerusalem a Israel on sunday lifted a two Day travel ban imposed on arabs in the occupied Gaza strip permitting tens of thousands to report to work in Israel the military command said. The restrictions enacted Friday without a time limit were in response to a stabbing attack in Jaffa on tuesday of a Man from Gaza. Two israelis were killed and 20 were wounded. The closure had prevented More than 50,000 palestinians from showing up for jobs in Israel. The army gave no reason for lifting the  leads polls say London a a clutch of opinion polls for sunday newspapers show labor leading the governing conservatives by up to 5 percent during the second week of campaigning for the april 9 National election. A poll for the sunday express puts left leaning labor at 42 percent 5 percent ahead of the conservatives with the centrist Liberal democrats at 16 percent