La Paz  - Bolivia's President Evo Morales and opposition governors from four provinces Thursday launched a round of talks seeking to pacify growing unrest in the troubled eastern crescent of the Andean nation that has centred on income from natural gas and on provincial autonomy.

Clashes between government supporters and the opposition claimed an estimated 15 lives in Pando last week as angry opponents of Morales occupied national telephone and tax collection offices and cut off gas line feeds to Brazil.

La Paz  - Federal troops Tuesday arrested Leopoldo Fernandez, the governor of a province seeking more autonomy, on charges of genocide in connection with at least 15 deaths during clashes last week over the country's wealth and resources.

The arrest follows the declaration of martial law in the northern Bolivian province of Pando by the government of President Evo Morales, the country's first indigenous president. Troops have taken control of the provincial capital Cobija in response to an outbreak of violence in the region.

La Paz  - Leopoldo Fernandez, the governor of the northern Bolivian province of Pando, was arrested Tuesday by the military, as they took control of provincial capital Cobija in response to an outbreak of violence in the region.

Bolivian television reported Fernandez was made to board a military aeroplane that was set to take him to La Paz just 15 minutes after his arrest.

La Paz - The left-wing populist government of Bolivia and the country's opposition were optimistic ahead of a meeting of South American presidents Monday in Santiago to discuss the Bolivian crisis.

The opposition governor of the province of Tarija, Mario Cossio, said in the early hours of Monday that the two sides had almost agreed on the draft of a joint statement.

Cossio - representing the Democratic National Council (Conalde) that brings the opposition together - met with a government delegation headed by Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera for eight hours in La Paz.

La Paz - Bolivia's President Evo Morales started talks with the opposition Sunday after days of violent clashes between government supporters and protestors in the country's energy-rich eastern provinces.

At the same time, Morales ordered the arrest of the governor of Pando region, Leopoldo Fernandez, a leading opposition member, saying he must be put away for 30 years.

La Paz - The Bolivian government confirmed Sunday at least 16 deaths from a regional insurrection in the Amazonian province of Pando as the army attempts to impose martial law.

A 17-year-old soldier was killed at the Cobija city airport by presumed assassins hired by the prefecture in rebellion against the government of President Evo Morales.

Right-wing opposition groups in the resource-rich areas of the country began rising up against the Morales administration's policies to redistribute wealth late last week.