The World - News from June 12, 1988

Rival Palestinian factions locked in a conflict for control of two shantytowns in southern Beirut agreed to a cease-fire in a bid to end four days of fighting that has killed 15 people. The warring factions--Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat’s mainstream Fatah group and rebel leader Abu Moussa’s Fatah-Uprising--agreed to the truce in direct talks between representatives of the two sides, a guerrilla spokesman said. “The agreement stopped the fierce clashes, but the truce is being marred with recurring sniper-fire exchanges. We hope it will hold,” the spokesman said. At least two previous cease-fire agreements have failed.