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Articles: March 2005
March 31,
2005
- The
United Nations Security Council agrees to refer those suspected of
war crimes
in Darfur to
the International Criminal Court. The resolution, drafted by France, is
passed by a vote of 11 to 0, with the United States, Algeria, Brazil and China
abstaining. The resolution marks the first time the council has referred a
case to the ICC since the court came into existence.
(Reuters AlertNet) (BBC) (PolitInfo)
- Zimbabwe's sixth general election ends on time with reports coming in from
around the country of a peaceful voting day. The election
has already been branded unfair by both the
US and the
EU and their
observers have been barred from monitoring the poll. Results are expected
within two days.(Bloomberg)
(CNN) (News24) (Reuters) (BBC) (PolitInfo)
- The rebel
Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, members of which had
participated in the
1994
Rwandan Genocide, announces that it is giving up its armed struggle. The
FDLR has been a key source of instability in the aftermath of the
Second Congo War.
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
- Human Rights Watch says that Ivory Coast forces have recruited hundreds of
children among refugees and former child soldiers from Liberia. The report
comes as tensions in the divided country escalate despite proposed peace talks.
(PolitInfo)
- Turkey's reformist government delays the implementation of its new
penal code, as a result of criticism from groups fearing the measure would
threaten press freedom. The most controversial articles called for five-year
jail terms for journalists who criticized the state, or revealed state secrets.
(PolitInfo)
- Former Central African Republic coup leader Francois Bozize fails to win
an outright first round majority in March presidential elections and will face
a former prime minister in the second round, scheduled for May first.
(PolitInfo)
- Iraq Conflict:
- A presidential commission says U.S. intelligence agencies were completely
wrong in most of their pre-war judgments about Iraq's weapons of mass
destruction.
(PolitInfo)
- A UN report states that
malnutrition rates in Iraqi children under five have almost doubled since
the
US-led invasion of Iraq.
(BBC)
- Canada
and
European Union plan to impose a 15% tariff on some
US
exports because
Washington has not repealed anti-dumping
law the
Byrd amendment.
World Trade Organization declared the law illegal last August.
(Reuters)
(Bloomberg) (PolitInfo)
March 30,
2005
- Darfur Crisis:
- The International Development Committee of the British Parliament
estimates 300,000 people have been killed in ethnic warfare in Sudan's western
Darfur region. That figure is larger than the most recent United Nations'
estimate of 180,000 deaths.
(PolitInfo)
- The United Nations says unidentified gunmen in Sudan's western Darfur
region have ambushed and wounded three members of an African Union monitoring
team on Tuesday.
(PolitInfo)
- In Egypt,
thousands of demonstrators protest against the fifth term of president
Hosni Mubarak despite of the ban on protests. There are conflicting
reports on the number of protesters police has detained
(Reuters AlertNet)
(Al-Jazeera)
(Reuters SA)
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
- The UN-backed
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the most comprehensive survey of the
Earth's
ecological condition to date, finds that the condition of the world's
ecosystems
is deteriorating at a dangerous rate. There has been "substantial and largely
irreversible" loss of
biodiversity, the report says. Basic resources like
timber,
water, and
food are at risk
in some areas, and may be put at risk in more.
(BBC)
(Seattle PI) (UN
News Centre) (PolitInfo)
- The Security Council extends the mandate of the United Nations
Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) until 1
October 2005. The Council also demands that the Governments of Uganda, Rwanda
and the Democratic Republic of the Congo put a stop to the use of their
respective territories in support of violations of the imposed arms embargo ,
or of activities of armed groups operating in the region.
(PolitInfo)
- In Rwanda,
defense minister
Marcel Gatsinzi appears before the traditional
gacaca court accused of failing to stop his troops during the Rwandan
genocide.
(Reuters AlertNet)
(PolitInfo)
-
The European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee endorses the planned 2007
entry of Bulgaria and Romania into the European Union, provided they implement
essential reforms. The two votes by the key committee clears the way for a
confirmation vote by the full parliament April 13.
(PolitInfo)
March 29, 2005
- Darfur Crisis: The U.N. Security Council approves targeted sanctions
against members of warring factions in Sudan's Darfur region. The U.S.
sponsored measure is approved by a vote of 12 to nothing, with three members -
China, Russia and Algeria - abstaining. The Council faces another vote
Wednesday on the controversial question of where to try Darfur war crimes
suspects.
(PolitInfo)
- Conflict in Iraq:
- Iraq's parliament meets for the second time since it was elected two
months ago, but the session is suspended as members faild to choose a speaker.
(PolitInfo)
- Three
Romanian journalists are kidnapped in
Iraq, the latest
in a long series of kidnappings for money or political reasons in the country.
(Guardian)
(BBC)
- Israel's parliament approves the state budget, clearing the final
legislative hurdle for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to pull Israeli
settlements out of the Gaza Strip.
(PolitInfo)
- New
Kyrgyz
parliament installs
Kurmanbek Bakiyev as the official interim
President of
Kyrgyzstan,
(Reuters)
(BBC) (PolitInfo), replacing
Askar
Akayev who states he is ready to formally resign, but only under certain
conditions.
(ABC) (PolitInfo)
- A United Nations representative says he is gravely concerned about what he
calls the continuous deterioration of human rights in Belarus. In a
report to the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva Special Rapporteur Adrian
Severin says he has concluded that Belarus is a controlled society that is
close to becoming a dictatorship.
(PolitInfo)
- Turkey says it is ready to sign a protocol extending its customs agreement
to include all of the European Union's 25 member nations, including Cyprus.
(PolitInfo)
March 28,
2005
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's
controversial disengagement plan from settlements in Gaza and the West Bank
clears another hurdle in parliament, after opponents fail to secure enough
votes for a national referendum on the pullout.
(Haaretz) (PolitInfo)
- Darfur Crisis: The first arrests are made for
war
crimes in
Darfur, Sudan:
15 officials in South Darfur are accused of
rape,
murder, and
other crimes related to the
Darfur conflict. .(BBC)
(Reuters) (PolitInfo)
- A delegation of Taiwan's opposition Nationalist Party is visiting mainland
China for the first time since the end of the Chinese civil war 56 years ago.
(BBC)
(Taipei Times)
(China Daily) (PolitInfo)
-
Police in Nepal arrest at least 120 anti-government activists across the
country who defied a ban on protests to show their anger at King Gyanendra's
seizure of absolute power last month.
(PolitInfo)
- In
Zimbabwe,
archbishop
Pius
Ncube calls for peaceful uprising against the government of
Robert Mugabe. Government denounces his criticism.
(IOL)
(ITV)
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
March 27,2005
- Revolution in
Kyrgyzstan: The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is
dispatching three constitutional experts to Kyrgyzstan to help resolve a
political crisis over two rival parliaments competing for power in the
aftermath of protests over disputed elections. Meanwhile, the provisional
government, led by acting President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, has set presidential
elections for June 26th.
(PolitInfo)
- Fighting in southern Somalia continued for a second straight day between
militias run by two lawmakers in a dispute over where to locate the country's
transitional government. Reports say
at least 15 people have been killed in two days of clashes.
(PolitInfo)
- Voters in parts of Macedonia are heading to the polls for runoff
municipal elections which are marred by reports of voting irregularities. The
main ethnic Albanian party boycotted the election.
(PolitInfo)
- Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas rejects the idea of Israel keeping its
large West Bank settlements in any final Middle East peace deal.
His comment come after U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice indicated that Washington still supports Israeli plans to
retain the Jewish settlement blocks.
(PolitInfo)
- An armed attack on a train carrying police and troops in Southern Thailand
leaves more than a dozen people wounded. The attack appears to represent an
escalation in the violent tactics used by separatists in the country's
Muslim-dominated South.
(PolitInfo)
March 26,
2005
- Revolution in
Kyrgyzstan: Kyrgyzstan's new leaders move to consolidate their hold on power,
restoring order after two days of massive looting and street violence that
left at least three people dead and many more injured. Ousted Kyrgyz President
Askar Akayev has reportedly taken refuge in Russia.
(PolitInfo)
- A bomb explodes in an industrial zone of a predominantly Christian
neighborhood of Beirut, injuring at least eight.
(PolitInfo)
- Heavy fighting has broken out in a southern Somali city between gunmen
loyal to two lawmakers in the country's transitional government. Witnesses say
the battle in the city of Baidoa has left at least five dead.
(PolitInfo)
- Hundreds of thousands of people rally in the Taiwanese capital, Taipei, to
protest China's passage this month of an anti-secession law.
(USA Today/AP) (PolitInfo)
March 25,
2005
-
Revolution in
Kyrgyzstan:
- Key opposition figures in Kyrgyzstan are claiming control of the
government the day after President Askar Akayev reportedly fled the country.
Meanwhile, widespread unrest and looting continues in the capital city of
Bishkek.
(Reuters) (PolitInfo)
- Kyrgyzstan's parliament appoints opposition leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev
acting head of state, one day after chaotic protests ousted the country's
veteran regime.
(Reuters) (PolitInfo)
- US Prisoner Abuse and Murder:
- Newly released U.S. Army documents indicate American abuse of detainees in
Iraq was more widespread than previously reported. Documents obtained by the
American Civil Liberties Union indicate that a U.S. investigating officer
concluded that detainees were being "systematically and intentionally
mistreated" at a U.S. Army holding facility in Mosul in late 2003.
(PolitInfo)
- The U.S. military says 27 detainees who died in U.S. custody in
Afghanistan and Iraq between 2002 and 2004 were the victims of homicide or
suspected homicide. Human rights groups have expressed outrage over
mistreatment of detainees.
(PolitInfo)
- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Israeli plans to expand a
controversial Jewish settlement on the West Bank are at odds with American
policy.
(PolitInfo)
March 24,
2005
- Darfur Crisis / Southern Sudan:
- The U.N. Security Council authorizes a 10,000 strong peacekeeping force
for southern Sudan. The Council took no action on the separate issue of ethnic
cleansing in Sudan's western Darfur region.
(PolitInfo)
- A vote on a draft resolution sponsored by France
naming the International Criminal Court at The Hague as the venue for
prosecuting Darfur war crimes cases is postponend.
(Reuters)
(BBC)
- Revolution in
Kyrgyzstan: In
Kyrgyzstan,
protesters and
riot
police clash in the
capital,
Bishkek.
(RIA Novosti)
(ReutersAlertNet)
(BBC) President
Askar
Akayev's presidential palace, the
White House, is overrun and the opposition is planning for a new
government.
(BBC) Akayev flees Bishkek by
helicopter. His immediate whereabouts are unclear. Some report him going
to Russia,
others to
Kazakhstan.
(ABC)
(Xinhua) (PolitInfo)
- An international peace advocacy group, the International Crisis Group,
warns that a return to war in Ivory Coast could spark a regional conflict,
drawing in Guinea, Mali, and Burkina Faso, and will put the Liberian peace
process into jeopardy.
(PolitInfo)
- Two new public opinion polls indicate that U.S. President Bush's approval
ratings have tumbled to among the lowest of his presidency.
(PolitInfo)
- Human Rights Watch accuses the Ethiopian military of committing widespread
murder, rape, and torture against the Anuak people of southwestern Ethiopia.
(PolitInfo)
- Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia asks the United States for help in
stopping Israel from expanding its largest West Bank settlement.
(PolitInfo)
- Chile's Supreme Court reverses a lower court ruling that would have
stripped ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet of immunity from prosecution in the 1974
assassination of his predecessor.
(PolitInfo)
- Estonian Prime Minister Juhan Parts officially steps down.
(PolitInfo)
March 23,
2005
- In
Kyrgyzstan,
riot
police break up a protest in the capital
Bishkek.
(Reuters Alertnet)
(BBC) President
Askar
Akayev sacks his
interior minister and
Prosecutor general for "poor work" in dealing with the growing
protests
against his government.
(Interfax)
(Reuters)
(BBC)
(PolitInfo) USA
and
UN appeal for calm and negotiations.
(Bloomberg)
- A bomb blast in a predominantly Christian area north of Beirut kills
three people and injured several others. The blast was the second in five days
and is heightening fears in an already politically charged atmosphere.
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
- The Arab League concludes its two-day summit in
Algiers agreeing, again, to a 2002 Arab peace initiative put forth by Saudi
Arabia. During the summit, Arab leaders also agreed to
the formation of an Arab parliament that will act in an advisory role to the
Arab League.
(PolitInfo)
- European Union leaders have called for a major review of a plan to
deregulate services across the 25-nation bloc, in a setback for a bold
economic liberalization plan. The development comes at the end of summit in
Brussels.
(PolitInfo)
- Amnesty International issues a scathing report,
accusing authorities in Kenya of committing human rights violations against
terror suspects they have arrested in recent years. (PolitInfo)
March 22,
2005
- The United States has divided up a controversial draft U.N. Security
Council resolution on Sudan in hopes of breaking a lengthy deadlock that has
prevented action on Darfur. A vote on at least one of the resolutions could
come as early as Thursday. The first would authorize a
10,000 strong peacekeeping force to monitor a peace agreement that ended a
21-year war between the government in Khartoum and southern rebels. A second
draft would toughen sanctions against perpetrators of atrocities in the
western Darfur region. The third is aimed at establishing a way of bringing
Darfur war crimes suspects to justice.
(PolitInfo)
- Israel
hands over control of
Tulkarm to
the
Palestinian Authority.
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
- In the
Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities say they have arrested many
senior members of
militia
groups in Ituri,
including
Thomas Lubanga of the
Union of Congolese Patriots.
(Reuters AlertNet)
(ReliefWeb)
(BBC)
- With mass protests taking place in the southern cities,
Kyrgyzstan's President Askar Akayev says he will not resign or annul
the results of recent parliamentary elections which the opposition claims were
fraudulent. (PolitInfo)
- Lawmakers in Kosovo have elected a new prime minister.
Former student activist Bajram Kosumi replaces Ramush Haradinaj, who
resigned as prime minister earlier this month after he was indicted for war
crimes.
(PolitInfo)
- Egypt's top prosecutor has charged opposition leader Ayman Nour with
forgery, in a case that has sparked high-level criticism in the United States
and Europe.
(PolitInfo)
March 21,
2005
- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan unveils
a sweeping plan to reform the United Nations and sharply increase its
authority in world affairs. The proposal is being offered as a starting point
for an international debate that will culminate with a summit of heads of
state and government in September.
(ISN)
(CNN)
(Reuters)
(PolitInfo)
- After taking
Jalal-Abad in southern
Kyrgyzstan one day earlier, opposition
protesters
against
electoral fraud in the
2005 parliamentary elections take over the northern city of
Osh and seize
government buildings. Prime minister states the government does not intend to
use force.
(Reuters Alertnet)
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
- In Haiti,
four people, including two
UN
peacekeepers, are killed in a shootout between peacekeepers and former
rebels.
(Reuters) (PolitInfo)
- Israel
announces plans to add 3,500 homes to the Ma'ale Adummim
settlement in occupied territories east of
Jerusalem.
Chief
Palestinian negotiator
Saeb
Erekat said this would "sabotage" peace efforts.
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
- In Namibia,
president
Sam Nujoma retires and is succeeded by
Hifikepunye Pohamba.
(AllAfrica)
(Reuters SA)
(BBC)
(PolitInfo)
- A report released by Human Rights Watch says the widespread disappearance
of civilians in Russia's breakaway republic of Chechnya has now reached the
level of a crime against humanity.
(PolitInfo)
- The International Committee of the Red Cross expresses concern about
alleged ongoing atrocities, including forced disappearances and killings in
Nepal. A senior official who has just returned from the region says the civil
conflict between the Nepalese government and Maoist insurgents has worsened.
(PolitInfo)
- In Estonia,
prime minister
Juhan
Parts announces his resignation after
vote of no confidence against justice minister
Ken-Marti Vaher. That also means his government is dissolved
(Bloomberg)
(BBC)
March 20,
2005
- After repeated delays, Afghanistan has set a date for its parliamentary
and provincial elections. The country's first post-war
legislative and provincial elections will take place on September 18, almost
one year past their originally scheduled date.
(PolitInfo)
- Protesters
in
Kyrgyzstan march against
electoral fraud in the
2005 Kyrgyz parliamentary elections, and appear to have taken control of
the southern town of
Jalal-Abad after mounting large-scale demonstrations to demand
Askar
Akayev to step down as
President of Kyrgyzstan.
(Reuters)
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
- In
Azerbaijan, president
Ilham
Aliyev announces
pardons for
114 people, including 7
opposition leaders and total of 50
political prisoners
(Azertag) (CASCFEN) (BBC) (PolitInfo)
- Serbian
government states that Bosnian Serb general
Vinko Pandurevic will surrender to
war crimes
tribunal at
the Hague. He is charged with
genocide
connected to
Srebrenica massacre in
1995
(FENA) (B92)
(Reuters)
(PolitInfo)
-
US Secretary of State
Condoleeza Rice arrives in
Beijing for
the last leg of her six-country Asian trip. Rice met with
President
Hu Jintao
and
Premier
Wen
Jiabao; talks about
North
Korea
nuclear missiles program and
Taiwan are on
the top of the agenda.
(CNN) (China
Daily)
March 19,
2005
- Two years to the day after the start of the U.S. led invasion of Iraq,
tens of thousands of demonstrators gather in cities across Europe to demand an
end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq. A crowd of tens of
thousands marched through central London, while an estimated 15,000 people
marched in Istanbul to protest the U.S. presence in Iraq. Others protests were
held in Sweden, Spain and Italy.
(PolitInfo)
- At least 32 Shi'ite Muslim worshippers are dead in a bombing at a
religious shrine in remote southwest Pakistani.
(PolitInfo)
- Lebanon's president calls on pro and anti-Syrian
factions within the government to begin immediate talks, following an
explosion in a Beirut suburb that has further inflamed the country's political
crisis. The blast, which appeared to be caused by an
explosive device hidden under a car, injured several people.
(PolitInfo)
- Demonstrations in Ivory Coast are being held on both sides of the
cease-fire line that separates the rebel-held north and government-controlled
south. Supporters of the president are calling for French peacekeepers to
leave, while protesters in the north want the force's mandate, which expires
next month, to be renewed.
(PolitInfo)
- Russian President Vladimir Putin makes his first
official visit to Ukraine since last year's disputed presidential election.
During his brief visit, Putin met with Ukraine's president Victor Yushchenko,
who took office in January.
(PolitInfo)
- Togo's main opposition leader has returned to the capital Lome after a
two-year absence. Gilchrist Olympio, who is barred from running in a
presidential election next month, is coming home to lend his support to his
party deputy's campaign against the son of the late longtime leader.
(PolitInfo)
March 18,
2005
-
In her annual report to the U.N. Human Rights
Commission the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights, Louise Arbour, says one of the big challenges facing her office
in the coming year is to get nations to abide by the absolute prohibition
against torture. Arbour expresses
her dismay over what she says is the erosion of some of the clearest and most
well-established human rights norms.
(PolitInfo)
-
A new report finds more than eight-thousand people flee their homes
every day because of civil wars and human rights abuses.
The report released in Geneva by the Norwegian Refugee Council
estimates 25 million people are internally displaced in some 50 countries
around the world.
(PolitInfo)
-
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Israel welcomes
a temporary truce declared by Palestinian militants, and promises
to hold its fire, but demanded that the Palestinian Authority eventually
dismantle the armed groups.
(PolitInfo)
-
The United Nations and other international agencies are warning
that Nepal stands on the brink of a humanitarian crisis, due to the deepening
conflict between security forces and communist guerrillas.
(PolitInfo)
- NATO, the European Union and western governments are calling on Macedonian
leaders to insure that the second round of local elections to be held March 27
are free of the irregularities that marred the first round of voting March 13.(PolitInfo)
-
The United States has revoked a visa for an Indian official implicated in a
wave of religious rioting in the state of Gujarat in 2002. Narendra Modi is
accused by human rights groups of orchestrating the violence, which killed as
many as 2,000 people.
(BBC)
(PolitInfo)
March 17,
2005
- Palestinian factions agree to extend an open-ended truce with Israel in
exchange for a halt to Israeli attacks and the release of prisoners.
(PolitInfo)
- Leaders from all sides of the conflict in divided Ivory Coast are
considering an invitation by South African President
Thabo Mbeki for a new round of peace talks in South Africa. The renewed
efforts at mediation come as increasing tensions fuel fears of a return to
war.
(PolitInfo)
- Lebanese military officials say Syria has completed the first phase of its
troop withdrawal from Lebanon. Military sources say
Syrian troops and intelligence officers have pulled back to the Bekaa Valley
of eastern Lebanon and at least 4,000 soldiers have actually crossed the
border to return home to Syria.
(PolitInfo)
- The
People's Republic of China frees
Uighur
dissident and businesswoman
Rebiya Kadeer on
medical parole.
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
- In Bolivia,
opposition leader
Evo
Morales calls off blockades against the government of
Carlos
Mesa after it raises
taxes of foreign
energy companies.
(Bloomberg)
(Reuters)
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
March 16,
2005
- The U.N. top humanitarian official, Jan Egeland, says the Eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo is the world's worst humanitarian crisis,
displacing Sudan's Darfur region, which until recently held that dubious
distinction.
(PolitInfo)
- Israel
formally hands
Jericho to
Palestinian Authority control, which is likely to strengthen
Mahmoud Abbas. The PA will resume security control over the city and will
have to make sure that wanted militants will remain in check.
(Yahoo!) (BBC) (PolitInfo)
-
The European Union postpones the start of membership
negotiations with Croatia after it failed to cooperate fully with the U.N. war
crimes Tribunal in The Hague.
(EUObserver)
(Reuters) (PolitInfo)
-
United Nations withdraws its foreign personnel from west of
Darfur after
threats from pro-government militias.
(AllAfrica)
(Reuters)
(BBC)
-
Iraq's first freely elected parliament in nearly half a century begins
its opening session, but talks on forming a government are still continuing.
(PolitInfo)
- President of
Bolivia
Carlos
Mesa has asked the country's congress to approve early elections in August
to replace him to "prevent bloodbath". There are still widespread opposition
protests against his economic policies.
(Reuters)
(Bloomberg)
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
- Candidates who ran against the Central African Republic's coup leader
turned interim president in elections Sunday are crying foul. Fraud
allegations are threatening to undermine a process many hoped would end years
of instability and political corruption.
(PolitInfo)
- The
United States Senate accuses seven US
banks of
complicity of allowing
Augusto Pinochet to set up 100
bank
accounts to hide money total to US$15 million.
(Reuters)
(CNN)
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
-
Amnesty International states that fair elections are "impossible" in
Zimbabwe.
(Amnesty International)
(Reuters AlertNet)
March 15,
2005
- The government of
Italy announces
that it will begin to withdraw its troops from
Iraq in several
months.
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
- In Kosovo,
an explosion hits the motorcade of president
Ibrahim Rugova in the capital
Pristina.
(Reuters)
(CNN)
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
- A coalition of opposition parties in Togo has decided upon a single
presidential candidate to run in elections next month against the son of the
country's late longtime ruler.
(PolitInfo)
- Several thousand demonstrators gather in front of
the U.S. Embassy compound north of Beirut, protesting what they called U.S.
meddling in Lebanon's internal affairs and demanding the withdrawal of U.S.
Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman.
(PolitInfo)
- In
Zimbabwe, new electoral court rules that jailed opposition politician
Roy
Bennett, member of the
Movement for Democratic Change, can take part of parliamentary elections
on March 31.
(Reuters AlertNet)
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
March 14,
2005
-
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer rules that
California's ban on same-sex marriage violates the state's constitution
(San Francisco Chronicle)
(Reuters)
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
-
The top U.N. human rights official, Louise Arbour, says nations are falling
far short of their responsibilities to protect and promote human rights. Ms.
Arbour told delegates attending the opening session of the U.N. Human Rights
Commission that greater action must be taken against states that violate their
peoples' human rights.
(PolitInfo)
-
The
Anti-Secession Law of the People's Republic of China, a law aimed at
resolving the
issue of Taiwan, is passed and enters into force. China
says the law is not a
license to go war with Taiwan.
(BBC News) (PolitInfo)
-
An independent media watchdog group, the Committee to Protect Journalists,
says press freedom was under siege in every corner of the globe last year. The
CPJ says Iraq remained the most dangerous place in the world to work as a
journalist in 2004.
(PolitInfo)
-
Nepalese politicians say police detained hundreds of protesters across the
country as they protested King Gyanendra's seizure of absolute power last
month.
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
-
Facing a string of serious charges, Ramush Haradinaj - the former prime
minister of Kosovo - pleads not guilty to crimes
against humanity at the tribunal in The Hague.
(PolitInfo)
-
Early results from Sunday's presidential election in the Central African
Republic give coup leader turned Interim-President Francois Bozize the early
lead.
(PolitInfo)
- Massive protests take place in
Beirut,
Lebanon,
against the Syrian
presence there. With an estimated turnout of 800,000 to 1 million, it is the
largest public demonstration on the issue yet.
(ABC News) (PolitInfo)
- In
Macedonia
Ljube Boskowski, former interior minister, is indicted for war crimes for
an alleged role in clashes between ethnic albanians and security forces in
2001
(Reuters) (RFE)
(PolitInfo)
March 13,
2005
- Voters in the Central African Republic are turning out in very large
numbers in post-conflict elections. Coup leader turned interim President
Francois Bozize faces 10 challengers in the main presidential poll, while a
new parliament is also being selected.
(PolitInfo)
- Voting is under way in Kyrgyzstan's run-off parliamentary elections amid
protests and unrest in parts of the former Soviet republic.
(PolitInfo)
- In Macedonia, voting has wrapped up in important municipal elections seen
as a test of the country's stability and its prospects of joining NATO and the
European Union.
(PolitInfo)
- The Israeli government accepts a report on Jewish settlement
expansion in the West Bank that points to violations of an
internationally-backed peace plan. Israel is promising
to make amends and dismantle about one quarter of them.
(PolitInfo)
- Former leader of
Togo,
Gnassingbé Eyadéma, is buried in the capital
Lome
(News24)
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
March 12,
2005
- Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour
is released from jail, after almost six weeks of
detention.
(PolitInfo)
- The Islamic militant group Hamas announces that it will participate in
Palestinian parliamentary elections in July. This could have consequences for
efforts to jumpstart the peace process.
(PolitInfo)
- Ukraine
begins to pull its troops out of
Iraq.
(Al Jazeera) (Guardian)
(PolitInfo)
- Nepal's former prime minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba,
freed from six weeks of house arrest Friday, is vowing to stage street
protests to force the king to restore democracy.
(PolitInfo)
- China names Donald Tsang Hong Kong's acting
Chief Executive after accepting the resignation of Tung Chee-hwa, who then becomes a vice-chairman of the
Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body.
(Channel News Asia)
(Xinhua) (PolitInfo)
March 11,
2005
- An influential British-backed report examining solutions to the sweeping
problems plaguing Africa is published.
In its report the Africa Commission is
calling on wealthy nations to spend 25 billion dollars a year more to help
reverse poverty in Africa. The Commission also calls on
rich nations to end trade barriers and agricultural subsidies and cancel all
debt for poor African countries.
(PolitInfo)
- The Bush administration, in a policy shift, says it will offer economic
incentives to Iran to back the European effort to get Tehran to abandon any
effort to build nuclear weapons. The Europeans say they will support referral
of the matter to the U.N. Security Council if their diplomacy fails.
(PolitInfo)
- The United Nations says peacekeepers have launched a major military
operation in eastern Congo, where militiamen killed nine peacekeepers last
month.
(PolitInfo)
- Nepal's royalist government frees the former prime
minister and 18 other political detainees nearly six weeks after King
Gyanendra took direct power. The move comes amid mounting international
pressure to restore civil liberties in the country.
(PolitInfo)
- The final day of a United Nations conference on the status of women ends
with strong calls for governments to do more to achieve gender equality.
(PolitInfo)
- A day of
mourning is held in
Spain to mark
the first anniversary of the
11 March 2004 Madrid attacks.
(BBC)
(CNN) (PolitInfo)
- Released official documents confirm that the U.S held children
as young as 11 years old at the
Abu
Ghraib prison in
Iraq.
(BBC)
March 10,
2005
-
Amnesty International is calling for an absolute prohibition on torture and
ill-treatment in all circumstances, including the war on terrorism. Amnesty
says it will be pushing for action on this issue at the Commission meeting
when it begins its annual session next week in Geneva.
(PolitInfo)
-
Conflict in Iraq: At least 50 people have died following an apparent
suicide bombing at a Shia funeral in
the Iraqi city of
Mosul.
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
- The United States withdraws
from part of the
Vienna Convention that gave the
International Criminal Court the right to intervene in cases of foreigners
held in
death rows in US
jails
(CNN)
(Reuters)
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
- In Rwanda,
traditional
Gacaca
Community court begin to judge cases of people accused of involvement in
the
Rwandan genocide in
1994
(Reuters AlertNet)
(ReliefWeb) (PolitInfo)
- A U.S Judge dismissess a case brought by
Vietnamese
plaintiffs over the use of
Agent
Orange during the
Vietnam
War.
(BBC)
(Judges Decision in Full) (PolitInfo)
- The United Nations Tribunal in The Hague releases
its indictment against former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, charging
him with 37 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
(PolitInfo)
-
Lebanese President,
Emile
Lahud, reappoints
Omar
Karami as
Prime Minister of
Lebanon and
asks him to form a new government, less than two weeks after Karami resigned
in the face of anti-Syrian
protests.
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
- The
Chief Executive of
Hong Kong,
Tung Chee Hwa, announces he is to
resign.
He blames his poor health for the decision, while some believe that he may
have been dismissed by the
Chinese government.
(Yahoo! Hong Kong) (BBC) (PolitInfo)
- In
Djibouti,
Mohamed Daoud Chehem, the only opposition candidate in the forthcoming
presidential elections, withdraws from the race. The incumbent President
Ismail Omar Guelleh remains the only candidate in the elections of
April 8
(BBC)
March 9,
2005
- The international rights organization, Human Rights Watch says the U.N.
Commission on Human Rights must take dramatic steps to restore, what it calls,
its sinking credibility. The organization says it is unacceptable that among
its members, the Commission includes governments responsible for crimes
against humanity.
(PolitInfo)
- Darfur Crisis:
- The Brussels-based research organization, International Crisis Group (ICG),
says the deteriorating humanitarian, security and political situation in the
Darfur region of western Sudan is threatening to undermine a recently-signed
peace accord, which ended more than two decades of war in the south.
(PolitInfo)
- The top United Nations relief official chides
African leaders for failing to send enough peacekeepers to stop the killing in
Sudan's Darfur region. U.N. Emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland appeals
for urgent deployment of thousands more African Union troops.
(PolitInfo)
- In Israel,
an official report has revealed that
Israeli state
bodies have been diverting funds from state projects to fund the establishment
of illegal
Israeli settlements in the
West Bank.
Former state prosecutor
Talia Sasson has recommended that criminal investigations be launched.
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
-
Ramush Haradinaj, the former prime minister of
Kosovo, flies
to
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in
The Hague
to answer for charges for his role as a former commander of
Kosovo Liberation Army in 1998-1999. He goes there voluntarily.
(OneWorld) (Reuters) (BBC) (PolitInfo)
- In Bolivia,
Congress refuses to accept resignation of President
Carlos
Mesa and he withdraws it
(Reuters) (BBC) (PolitInfo)
- Despite misgivings by the United Nations, Indonesia and East Timor signed
an agreement to set up a truth commission to deal with atrocities committed
during East Timor's 1999 vote for independence.
(PolitInfo)
-
Conflict in Iraq:
Iraqi
police discover the bullet-riddled and/or headless bodies of 41 people at
two sites, one near the Syrian border, the other just south of
Baghdad.
(AP) (PolitInfo)
- Syria says
its troops will leave
Lebanon
before parliamentary elections in May
(BBC)
(Reuters) (PolitInfo)
March 8,
2005
- In Lebanon,
almost five hundred thousand people have flooded a
Beirut
square, in front of the
United Nations building, in a rally showing their support for
Syria, dwarfing
previous anti-Syria demonstrations.
(CNN)
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
- Russian
armed forces claim that
Chechen
separatist leader
Aslan Maskhadov has been killed in a special forces operation.
(Guardian) (PolitInfo)
- Kosovan
Prime Minister
Ramush Haradinaj reports that he has been charged with
war
crimes by the
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and resigns. He
will travel to
The Hague
of his own volition, although he maintains his innocence.
(Reuters) (PolitInfo)
- Kyrgyzstan’s opposition parties are stepping up their protests over the
results of the first round of parliamentary elections on 27 February.
Opposition parties are calling for annulment of the results of the ballot and
demanding early presidential elections.
(PolitInfo)
-
Gianfranco Fini, the
foreign minister of
Italy has
demanded that the US
"identify and punish" those responsible for the death of
Nicola Calipari, the Italian intelligence agent killed by US soldiers in
Iraq.
(BBC)
(PolitInfo)
March 7,
2005
- In a private meeting with Security Council members
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is urging the Council to move faster
to deal with what he calls the "appalling situation" in Sudan's Darfur region.
(PolitInfo)
- DR Congo:
- Doctors Without Borders says health conditions have deteriorated in two of
the sites in Ituri Province it abandoned last week due to militia violence.
Up to 50,000 internally displaced people have fled
militia fighting in the region.
(PolitInfo)
- Human Rights Watch says tens of thousands of women and girls in the
eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been raped by armed
groups on both sides of the conflict.
(PolitInfo)
- In Moldova,
ruling Pro-Western
Communist Party of the Republic of Moldova wins a narrow majority in
parliamentary elections but will be probably unable to elect a
president without further political alliances with other parties
(Reuters)
(BBC)
(CNN)
(PolitInfo)
- Representatives of
European Union meet with those of
Turkey, a
prospective new member. They also critisize Turkish police for violent
handling of a
demonstration that marked the
International Women's Day in
Istanbul.
Turkish officials promise to investigate the case
(Bloomberg) (IHT) (PolitInfo)
-
3-19 shooting incident: Police in
Taiwan says
that they have identified the man who shot at president
Chen Shui-bian last year. Wife of unemployed man Chen Yi-hsiung
says he confessed and committed suicide a few days later
(CNA, Taiwan)
(Reuters Alertnet) (PolitInfo)
- In
Sierra Leone, three members of the former
military government,
Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, go on trial accused of
crimes against humanity during the
civil war.
(Reuters)
(BBC)
(PolitInfo)
March 6,
2005
- The United Nations says about 25 million civilians internally displaced by
war and violence remain largely unprotected and unassisted because they are
not recognized under international law. The United Nations identifies Sudan,
Uganda, Burundi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, and Colombia
as having the worst crises in the world.
(PolitInfo)
- A former CIA official acknowledges the United
States has sent terrorism suspects to other countries for interrogation.
Mike Scheuer admits in an interview some
terrorism suspects have been sent to countries where they might have been
tortured.
(PolitInfo)
- Police in Istanbul have arrested 63 people taking part in a demonstration
ahead of International Women's Day. Television footage showed police using
pepper spray and truncheons to break up the demonstration.
(PolitInfo)
- Bolivian
President
Carlos
Mesa announces his resignation.
(Reuters) (PolitInfo)
- Freed Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena is offering new details that dispute
the U.S. account of the shooting that wounded her and killed an Italian
intelligence officer in Iraq.
(PolitInfo)
March 5,
2005
- Syrian
president
Bashar al-Assad announces that Syria will withdraw all 14,000 troops in
Lebanon to
the Bekaa Valley area, on the Syrian-Lebanese border.
(Reuters) (PolitInfo)
- Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, who was held hostage in Iraq for a
month, returns home , and is taken to a military hospital in Rome, as Italians
demanded to know why U.S. forces shot at her car in Baghdad.
(PolitInfo)
- Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao opens the annual legislative session of
the National People's Congress with a call for Taiwan's peaceful reunification
with China and promises to keep the economy growing at a healthy pace.
(PolitInfo)
- The leader of Sudan's main southern rebel group, John Garang,
calls on the government to apply a recently signed north-south peace deal to
the separate conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region.
(PolitInfo)
- In Niger, the government holds a ceremony marking an official end to
slavery there. Human rights groups estimate that there are as many as 43,000
slaves in Niger.
(PolitInfo)
March 4,
2005
- Abducted
Italian
journalist
Giuliana Sgrena, a reporter for
Il Manifesto, is released in
Iraq. An Italian
secret service agent,
Nicola Calipari, was killed and Sgrena wounded when a
US armored vehicle
opened fire on her car while it was headed to the airport.
(ABCNews - AP)
(Reuters)
(BBC)
(PolitInfo)
-
United Nations warns that about 90 million
Africans
could be infected by the
HIV virus in the
future without further action against the spread of the disease.
(Health24)
(WHO) (PolitInfo)
- Former interior minister of
Ukraine,
Yuri Kravchenko, is found dead in his country house, in an apparent
suicide. He had been linked to the murder of journalist
Georgiy Gongadze and was due to give evidence.
(Reuters)
(Scotsman)
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
-
Nepal's royalist government extends the detention of political
leaders who were arrested following last month's takeover by King Gyanendra.
(PolitInfo)
-
Togo's electoral commission says elections to choose a new
president following the resignation last week of the son of the late leader
will be held April 24. The opposition says the timetable is too short to
ensure a fair process.
(PolitInfo)
- Thousands of mourners in Azerbaijan turn out for the funeral of magazine
editor Elmar Husseinov, who was gunned down earlier in the week.
The FBI sends a special agent to
Azerbaijan to help in the murder investigation. Husseinov worked for the
weekly Monitor, which has been critical of the government.
(BBC)
(PolitInfo)
March 3,
2005
- Violence in DR Congo:
- United Nations peacekeeping officials say neighboring countries are
arming and supplying militias in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
particularly in the Ituri region.
(PolitInfo)
- The head of the humanitarian organization, Doctors Without Borders,
reports an increase in rape and violence in the Ituri province in
northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
(PolitInfo)
- The
Peoples Republic of China issues a report condemning the human rights
record of the
United States, three days after the United States issued a report
condemning China's human rights record.
(BBC)
(People's Daily) (PolitInfo)
- In
Indonesia,
Muslim cleric
Abu Bakar Bashir is found guilty of conspiracy for his involvement in the
2002 Bali bombing, but was found not guilty of all charges surrounding the
2003 bombing of
the Marriott
hotel in
Jakarta. He received a two and a half year jail sentence.
(BBC) (Jakarta
Post)
(Reuters) (PolitInfo)
- Israel's ruling Likud party is urging a parliamentary referendum on Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon's controversial pullout plan from the Gaza Strip and
parts of the West Bank.
(PolitInfo)
- Arab League foreign ministers meet in Cairo in preparation for an Arab
summit to be held later this month in Algeria.
(PolitInfo)
- Voters in Saudi Arabia flock to the polls in the continuation of a
three-stage voting process to elect local council members.
(PolitInfo)
- Zimbabwe
intends to release 62
mercenaries
connected to failed
coup attempt in the
Equatorial Guinea last year. Most of the suspected mercenaries are
South
African
(Reuters SA)
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
March 2,
2005
-
Human Rights Watch releases a videotape of an interview in which a
top Arab militia leader, suspected of committing gross human rights violations
in the western Darfur region of Sudan, says he and his men only carried out
orders handed down by the Sudanese government.
(PolitInfo)
(PolitInfo)
- The United Nations says peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo
killed at least 50 militiamen in heavy fighting.
(PolitInfo)
-
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says he thinks what
he calls a new era of peace and hope has been born in the Middle East and that
it will lead to the creation of a Palestinian state.
(PolitInfo)
-
Some 50,000 opposition supporters have held a rally in the
Bangladeshi capital Dhaka to press for the government's resignation and early
elections.
(PolitInfo)
- Ukraine's top prosecutor says authorities have detained two police
officers who were ordered to abduct and kill investigative journalist Georgy
Gongadze.
(PolitInfo)
-
Insurgents in Baghdad have car bombed two Iraqi army targets,
killing at least 12 soldiers and wounding more than 30 other people.
(PolitInfo)
- Unpopular
Chief Executive
Tung Chee-hwa of the former
British colony of
Hong Kong
reportedly resigns, with reluctant approval from
Beijing.
(The Standard)
(BBC) (CBC)
(Reuters) (PolitInfo)
-
US
company
Titan Corporation agrees to pay a
fine equivalent
to US$28.5 million
after they admit attempting
bribery to
get a
Military communications contract in
Benin. The
corporation allegedly gave US$2 million to the re-election campaign of
president
Mathieu Kérékou.
(Reuters)
March 1,
2005
- Officials in Burundi say voters have overwhelmingly accepted the country's
new constitution. Monday's referendum paves the way for democratic elections.
(PolitInfo)
- In a closely-divided vote, the
US Supreme Court rules that it is now unconstitutional to execute criminals
who were younger than 18 when they committed their crimes.
(BBC) (PolitInfo)
- Two civil rights groups sue U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on
behalf of eight men who say they were tortured by U.S. forces in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
(PolitInfo)
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
- An international conference on Palestinian reforms ends in London with the
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas pledging to implement tighter security and
better government in a bid to win new negotiations with Israel.
(PolitInfo)
- The 'quartet' sponsoring the 'road map' peace plan for the Middle East is
calling on Israel and the Palestinian Authority to hold direct talks to push
the peace process forward.
(PolitInfo)
- Abkhaz officials say the prime minister of Georgia's separatist region of
Abkhazia has survived an assassination attempt.
(PolitInfo)
-
A human rights group says anti-government protesters have been
killed in a renewed crackdown on demonstrations in Togo.
(PolitInfo)
-
Nepal's army says it has killed at least 50 communist rebels in
what appears to be the most serious confrontation between the two sides since
the king declared a state of emergency last month.
(PolitInfo)
- The United Nations is expanding the security zone in western Ivory Coast,
after rebels say they were attacked by youths supporting President Laurent
Gbagbo. It is the first fighting since government air strikes broke a
cease-fire in November.
(PolitInfo)
January 2004 - February 2004 - March 2004 - April 2004 - May 2004 - June 2004 - July 2004 - August 2004 - September 2004 - October 2004 - November 2004 - December 2004
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