11.   The Interior Ministry repeatedly refused calls to close the checkpoints and even increased the number of licences for log importing companies last year.

12.   The military said it had closed the checkpoints before to halt attempts by rebels to infiltrate Ingushetia in the guise of civilians.

13.   The Serbs remained defiant Friday, their artillery targeting a Sarajevo suburb for the second straight day and closing all checkpoints leading into the city.

14.   But he did not know whether the checkpoint had been closed on the Rwandan side.

15.   The Serbs Saturday threatened to close another checkpoint, near Visoko, northwest of Sarajevo, which would effectively strand a number of UN Canadian soldiers inside their territory.

16.   Nervous Israeli border guards temporarily closed their checkpoint when the crowd pushed up to their barrier, blocking a dozen inmates in their buses on Israeli soil.