APS Diplomat Recorder articles from August 2004

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from August 2004

ARAB AFFAIRS - Aug 1 -Saud Sets Terms for Muslim Troops in Iraq.
August 7, 2004... FM Prince Saud Al Faisal talks with Arab League Sec Gen Amr Moussa and tells a news conference in Jeddah that Saudi Arabia set conditions for the deployment of Muslim troops in Iraq and emphasises they will replace US-led multinational forces...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Aug 2 - Allawi Arrives In Kuwait.
August 7, 2004... Iraqi interim PM Ayad Allawi arrives in Kuwait on a historic visit just two days before the 14th anniversary of Saddam's invasion of this small oil-rich state, received at the airport by PM Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah. Iraq and Kuwait flags...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Aug 5 - British Admiral Warns Of Qaeda Plot Against Sea Trade.
August 7, 2004... Talking to Lloyd's List newspaper, a senior British naval official Admiral Alan West says Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups are plotting attacks on merchant shipping. He says: "What we've noticed is that Al Qaeda and other organisations have...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug 3 - Three Palestinians Die In Blast Set Off By Militants.
August 7, 2004... A blast occurs during clashes between the militants and the Israeli Army killing three Palestinians and wounding more than a dozen in the southern Gaza Strip. The Israelis entered the Rafah refugee camp in tanks and other armoured vehicles as...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug 6 - Gaza-Egypt Border Reopens.
August 7, 2004... The Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt open, ending nearly three weeks of misery for thousands of Palestinians stranded on the Egyptian side. On the Gaza-Egypt border, travelers were able to cross for the first time since...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Aug 1 - Al Qaeda Plans Strikes On Economic Icons, US Warns.
August 7, 2004... The Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge warns Al Qaeda has singled out the buildings of Citigroup and the NYSE in New York, Prudential Financial in northern New Jersey, and the IMF and World Bank in Washington DC. Ridge said that "new and...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Aug 3 - Army Interrogators Did Not Order Abuse.
August 7, 2004... Testifying before a military hearing that will determine whether Pte Lynndie England will face court martial, Paul Arthur, the top army criminal investigator at Abu Ghraib when the abuses occurred, rejects arguments that military intelligence...

IRAQ - Aug 1 - Bombers Aim Attacks At Christian Churches.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2004... A series of co-ordinated bomb attacks on churches in Baghdad and Mosul explicitly target Christian minority for the first time since the start of the insurgency, killing 12 people. Interior ministry sources warned that groups might be seeking...

IRAQ - Aug 2 - Islamist Groups In Fight With US Forces.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2004... US forces comes into fresh conflict with two Islamist political groups arresting an influential Sunni theologian Muthanna Harith Al Dhari and enter into a firefight with followers of Shiite radical Muqtada Al Sadr. A spokesman for Sadr in...

IRAQ - Aug 3 - Car Bomb Kills 6 Guardsmen In Baquba.
August 7, 2004... National Guard Officer Lt Mohammed Al Duleimi says a car bomb kills six guardsmen, a police chief Col Moayad Mahmoud Bashar and a patrolman, north of the city of Baquba. The police and American-trained national guardsmen have increasingly...

IRAQ - Aug 5 - Leaders Vow To Quell Militants.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2004... Speaking a day after fierce fighting in the northern city of Mosul, the interior minister Falah Al Nakib, warns of an "organised plan to dismember Iraq", but insists the government is in control and there will be no negotiations with those...

PALESTINE - Aug 1 - Politics Headed for More Turmoil.
August 7, 2004... Palestinians factions head for another confrontation when gunmen loyal to Arafat open fire at a conference of Arafat's Fatah movement in the West Bank town of Nablus. The Fatah conference was convened to discuss reform in the PA and to call for...

RUSSIA - Aug 2 - Yukos Shares Boosted By Court Ruling.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2004... Yukos wins a rare legal victory after a Moscow arbitration court rules the company did not have to pay a Rbs6.7 bn ($230m) fee to the bailiffs who are collecting its debt. Shares in Yukos rallied almost 20% following the ruling, which investors...

YEMEN - Aug 6 - Army Hunts For Al Houthi.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2004... The army's chief of staff Brig. Gen. Mohammed Al Qassimi says forces end a major military offensive against strongholds of the radical theologian Hussain Badruddin Al Houthi after more than six weeks of fierce fighting with his armed followers....

ARAB AFFAIRS - Aug 18 - Mubarak Informs Sharon On Security Arrangements In Gaza.(Brief Article)
August 21, 2004... In a telephonic talk with Israeli PM Ariel Sharon, Egypt Pres Hosni Mubarak informs Sharon on the "security measures" taken by Egypt along the borders with Israel and Gaza. It stressed the identical view points of officials concerning the need...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Aug 20 - Help US With Iraq.
August 21, 2004... In an interview, conducted with five European newspapers, the EU's incoming chief executive Jose Manuel Barroso, says European governments should put divisions over Iraq behind them and help the US restore order there. He says: "Some people in...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug 15 - Thousands Begin Prison Hunger Strike.(Brief Article)
August 21, 2004... Thousands of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, both civilian and military, begin a hunger strike, taking only fluids, to press for better conditions, a halt to strip searches, more access to telephones and more frequent family visits. (There are...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug 17 - Sharon Backs 1,000 New Jewish Homes In West Bank.
August 21, 2004... In a move that is immediately interpreted as a sop to rightwing rebels in his ruling Likud party, PM Ariel Sharon, approves 1,000 new Jewish homes in the West Bank. A 3,000-strong convention of Likud officials and activists are due to meet in...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Aug 17 - Bush Continuing Iran Diplomatic Efforts.(Brief Article)
August 21, 2004... US Under Secretary of State John Bolton says the Bush administration will continue to use diplomacy to try to halt Iran's nuclear programme. He said the US was "using every diplomatic tool" at its disposal, including working with Russia, China...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Aug 19 - Iran Can Have Nuclear Weapons in 3 Years.
August 21, 2004... US Under Secretary of State John Bolton says Iran concedes to European powers it can build nuclear weapons in three years as US turns up the heat on Tehran to abandon what it says is a drive to acquire them. But European diplomats, who have...

EGYPT - Aug 17 - $2.8 bn In Oil Sector's Foreign Investments Under 2003-04.
August 21, 2004... Petroleum Minister Sameh Fahmy says the oil sector succeeds in luring foreign investments to the tune of $2.8 bn in the fields of exploration activities and natural gas exports under the FY 2003-04. Fahmy noted that the sector's investments...

IRAN - Aug 18 - Tehran Hints At Pre-emption Over Threat From US.(Brief Article)
August 21, 2004... Speaking in Farsi with an Arabic voiceover in the Al Jazeera broadcast, Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani expresses Govt's deep disquiet at having US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and hints some generals believe striking first if they sense an...

IRAQ - Aug 15 - Mortars Mark Opening Of Political Conference.
August 21, 2004... Interior Ministry says insurgents fire mortars at a meeting attended by 1,300 delegates, where leaders gather to pick an interim national assembly, killing at least two people in a grim reminder of the country's tortured path toward democracy....

IRAQ - Aug 16 - Amnesty To Shiite Militiamen.
August 21, 2004... As a last-ditch attempt by interim government to come to terms with Sadr and end two weeks of fighting in the southern city of Najaf, the 3-day national conference votes to offer amnesty to fighters loyal to rebel Shiite theologian Muqtada Al...

IRAQ - Aug 17 - Sadr Refuses To Meet Mediators In Najaf.(Brief Article)
August 21, 2004... The militant theologian Muqtada Al Sadr, refuses to meet a delegation of political and religious leaders seeking to end a confrontation with US forces in the holy city of Najaf. The mediators were sent by a national conference in Baghdad....

IRAQ - Aug 18 - Sadr Offers To Leave Shiite Shrine.(Brief Article)
August 21, 2004... Al Sadr pledges to leave the shrine he has used as a base in a two-week confrontation with US and Iraqi forces on condition that US forces withdraw from the area of the shrine in Najaf. Sadr's pledge comes as Aug 15 national conference in...

IRAQ - Aug 20 - US Aircraft Bombard Najaf Rebels.
August 21, 2004... US warplanes AC-130, pound Shiite rebels in Najaf after their leader Muqtada Al Sadr, rejects a final order from interim PM Allawi to disband his militia and leave a holy shrine in the city. AC-130's struck repeatedly at positions held by...

ISRAEL - Aug 16 - Cabinet Backs Budget But Unions Threaten Strike.
August 21, 2004... The cabinet votes to approve the 2005 budget after a stormy debate provokes union threats of strike action and highlights the political infighting surrounding the PM Sharon. Three ministers voted against the Shk267bn ($58.8bn, 47.7bn, [pounds...

ISRAEL - Aug 19 - Shimon Peres Backs Early Elections.
August 21, 2004... The leader of the main opposition party, Labour Party's former PM and FM Shimon Peres, calls for early elections, following a vote by the ruling Likud party to block efforts to form a coalition with his party. He says: "The opinion of the...

RUSSIA - Aug 17 - Court Rejects 2 Key Appeals By Yukos.
August 21, 2004... The Moscow City Court of Arbitration turns down two important appeals by Yukos, the largest oil producer. The court first refused an appeal by Yukos that sought to suspend government efforts to collect $3.4 bn in back taxes from the year 2000....

SUDAN - Aug 20 - Khartoum Announced Implementation Of Most Obligations Over Darfur.(Brief Article)
August 21, 2004... In press statements issued in Al Fasher, the capital of Northern Darfur province, Interior Ministry's State Minister Ahmad Mohammad Haroun announces that the government completed the implementation of 90% of its obligations stated in the plan...

YEMEN - Aug 20 - Al Houthi Ideas Are Racist, Sectarianist - Saleh.(Brief Article)
August 21, 2004... Pres Ali Abdullah Saleh criticises Hussain Al Houthi and his thoughts and describes his behaviour as " deviationist from the values of Islam". He said: "Al Houthi is able to mislead many youths and poison their thinking. A matter which made...

ARAB-ISLAMIC AFFAIRS - Aug 24 - OIC Concerned At Plight Of Palestinian Prisoners.(Organization of Islamic Conference)(Brief Article)
August 28, 2004... The Jeddah-based pan-Islamic organisation, the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) calls upon the international community to "take stock of the inhuman conditions" in which Palestinian detainees are living in Israeli prisons and detention...

ARABS-UN - Aug 24 - Annan Urges Israel To Freeze Settlements.
August 28, 2004... The UN Sec Gen Kofi Annan, calls on Israel to stop expanding settlements in Palestinian territories, following Israel's recent announcement of plans to build more than 1,500 new homes in the West Bank. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, says: "The...

ARABS-UN - Aug 27 - Al Qaeda Outsmarts Sanctions - UN.
August 28, 2004... A report, by a UN monitoring panel established in January to look at the effectiveness of UN sanctions against Al Qaeda and the Taliban fundamentalists of Afghanistan, says international measures aimed at curbing Al Qaeda's access to finance...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Aug 22 - Palestinians Say US Destroys Hope Over Settlements.
August 28, 2004... Palestinians accuse the US of destroying the Middle East peace process after US signalled it could accept some growth of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Until now, the US had demanded the freezing of all building on land occupied in the...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Aug 24 - Pentagon Leaders Faulted In Prison Abuse.
August 28, 2004... The independent Pentagon panel headed by former Def. Sec. James Schlesinger finds Def. Sec. Donald Rumsfeld and the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, failed to exercise proper oversight over confusing detention policies at US...

IRAN - Aug 22 - Iran Delays Reactor Start Until 2006.
August 28, 2004... The deputy chief of the Atomic Energy Organization Assadollah Sabouri, who is in charge of the power plant project, says at a news conference that the process of starting up its first nuclear reactor, in the southern city of Bushehr the reactor...

IRAQ - Aug 22 - Fighting Erupts In Najaf.
August 28, 2004... Gunfire and explosions shakes Najaf as fighting breaks out between supporters of Shiite theologian Muqtada Al Sadr and US forces. Talks for the handover of the Imam Ali Mosque to Grand Ayat Ali Al-Sistani were stalled. The clashes erupted when...

IRAQ - Aug 24 - 2 Ministers Escape Bombings.
August 28, 2004... Within a single hour in two Baghdad neighbourhoods, two ministers in the interim government are the targets of bomb explosions that kill at least five bodyguards and injure several bystanders. The two, ministers of environment and education,...

IRAQ - Aug 26 - Sistani Secures Peace Deal To End Najaf Siege.(Brief Article)
August 28, 2004... The highest-ranking Shiite theologian Grand Ayat Ali Al Sistani, brokers an agreement with Muqtada Al Sadr to end the three-week siege of Najaf after US forces suspend operations against the rebel theologian. The interim government also...

PALESTINE - Aug 25 - Intelligence Chief Wounded.
August 28, 2004... In a most serious incident in two months since a spate of kidnappings and shootings involving rival armed factions, masked gunmen shoot and seriously wound a senior Palestinian intelligence commander Brig Gen Tareq Abu Rajab in the Gaza Strip -...

RUSSIA - Aug 23 - Yukos Cutting Oil Production 4.5%.
August 28, 2004... Yukos chief executive Steven Theede says it will reduce crude oil output by 4.5% for 2004, the first time it has given a concrete estimate of the damage its conflict with the government is doing to oil production. He says: "Yukos is blocked...

RUSSIA - Aug 24 - Plane Crashes, Another Goes Missing.(Brief Article)
August 28, 2004... At least 89 people are feared dead in air crashes, after reports that two separate passenger aircraft disappeared on evening domestic flights from Moscow to the south of the country. Pres Putin ordered the FSB security services to investigate...

YEMEN - Aug 23 - 15 Soldiers Killed In Ambush.(Brief Article)
August 28, 2004... An ambush by supporters of rebel theologian Al Houthi, whose followers are battling government forces in the north of the country for more than three months, kill 15 soldiers. The officials said the troops came under attack as they were hunting...

YEMEN - Aug 26 - Bahlul Admits To Being A Member Of Al Qaeda.(Brief Article)
August 28, 2004... Ali Al Bahlul, a 36-year-old accused of serving as a bodyguard for Osama Bin Laden, admits to a military tribunal that he was a member of Al Qaeda and asks the presiding officer if he can represent himself. Speaking calmly in Arabic, Bahlul...

YEMEN - Aug 27 - Rebels Are On The Run - Saleh Declares.(Interview)
August 28, 2004... In an interview with the FT, Pres Ali Abdallah Saleh says government forces now control a mountainous region where a radical theologian Al Houthi launched a rebellion two months ago. Saleh said Shaikh Hussein Al Houthi, a preacher of the Zaidi...