APS Diplomat Recorder articles from December 2004

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from December 2004

ARAB AFFAIRS - Nov 30 - Arab Nations Act To Stem Flow Of Terrorist Funding.
December 4, 2004... At the inaugural meeting in Bahrain, Finance ministers and central bank governors from the 14 Arab states agree to create systems to monitor bank and cash transfers and stem the flow of donations from charities to militant groups. The Middle...

PALESTINE - Dec 2 - Barghouti Under Pressure To Back Out Of Poll Race.(Marwan Barghouti)
December 4, 2004... The jailed leader Marwan Barghouti, is under pressure from opponents and allies to withdraw his candidacy in the PA presidential elections, just a day after he registered. His entrance into the race, to replace Yassir Arafat, who died last...

JORDAN - Dec 2 - Sharon Focuses On Partnership With Peres.(Ariel Sharon)(Shimon Peres)
December 4, 2004... PM Sharon, pledges to forge a new national unity government with opposition parties after parliament's overwhelming rejection of his budget shatters the existing coalition. His strategy, principally aimed at avoiding early elections, focuses on...

JORDAN - Nov 29 - King Abdullah 'Feared Being Upstaged'.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2004... The decision by King Abdullah to remove his half-brother as heir is prompted by concern that the 24-year-old prince may capture the limelight after his return from three years in the US. Prince Hamza was completing his final year at Harvard...

ISRAEL - Nov 29 - Sharon Thrice Survives No-Confidence Motions.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2004... Ariel Sharon narrowly survives three parliamentary no-confidence votes sponsored by leftist and religious opposition parties over deepening poverty. The motions against his shaky coalition did not pass because small dovish factions decided not...

IRAQ - Dec 3 - Rebels Kill 30 In Grim Day In Baghdad.
December 4, 2004... Insurgents overrun a police station and detonate a car bomb near a Shiite mosque in Baghdad, killing up to 30 people in the capital's worst day of violence since the US-led assault on Falluja. The police station attack, the first of its kind in...

IRAQ - Dec 2 - Mortar Rounds Kill 2 In Baghdad.
December 4, 2004... Mortar rounds explode in five places in central Baghdad, killing two Iraqis and wounding 14 in disparate attacks that underscore the capital's vulnerability as the January elections approach. The attacks, breaking a period of relative calm in...

IRAQ - Nov 29 - 12 Police Killed As Police Wait For Pay.
December 4, 2004... A suicide bomber rams his car into a group of police officers waiting to collect their salary, killing 12 people in the latest attack on security forces. In Baghdad, two US soldiers were killed and three were wounded when a roadside bomb...

IRAN - Dec 3 - 200 Pledge Willingness To Carry Out Suicide Attacks Against Americans, Israelis.
December 4, 2004... Some 200 masked young men and women gather at a Tehran cemetery to pledge their willingness to carry out suicide bomb attacks against Americans in Iraq and Israelis. The ceremony was organised by the HQ's for Commemorating Martyrs of the Global...

IRAN - Nov 28 - Nuclear Deal With Europe Is Close.
December 4, 2004... Tehran's ambassador to Paris Hossein Mousavian says they are close to reaching consensus with Germany, Britain and France over a resolution on the country's nuclear programme expected at the governing board of the IAEA in Vienna. Agreement...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec 2 - US Appeals To Taliban, Offering Amnesty Deal.
December 4, 2004... The top US official in Afghanistan calls on the Taliban to give up their three-year insurgency against American forces, pledging "noncriminal" fighters will be left in peace if they acknowledge the authority of President-elect Hamid Karzai. A...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec 1 - US To Add To Troop Strength In Iraq.
December 4, 2004... US Defence officials say the military will temporarily increase its troop strength in Iraq to about 150,000 from 138,000 to provide extra security for Iraqi elections set for Jan 30. The increase will be achieved by keeping thousands of US...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Nov 28 - Israel Wants Arafat Amendment.(Yasser Arafat)
December 4, 2004... Israel's ambassador to France Nissim Zvili, makes a formal request to the French FM to change Arafat's birthplace on the death document to Cairo, not Jerusalem. Zvili said: "We expect the truth to be revealed, especially in light of the fact...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Nov 28 - Sharon And Abbas, Ready To Meet.(Ariel Sharon)(Mahmoud Abbas)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2004... In an interview with Newsweek magazine, Israeli PM Sharon says he is ready to meet Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and try to coordinate a Gaza pullout with a new Palestinian government. He also said he too is ready for a summit with Sharon,...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Dec 2 - Egypt Asks Palestinians To Work With Sharon.(Ariel Sharon)
December 4, 2004... In remarkably conciliatory remarks toward Israel, Egypt Pres Hosni Mubarak urges Palestinians to work with Israel PM Sharon as their best hope to achieve peace and also urged them to curb the violence that has marked the struggle to end the...

SAUDI ARABIA - Nov 28 - Slain Terror Suspect Was Wanted for Muhaya Attack.
December 4, 2004... The Interior Ministry identifies the slain terror suspect Essam Siddiq Qassem Mubaraki in Nov 28 gunbattle in Jeddah as a wanted terrorist who is one of the plotters of the Muhaya housing compound attack in Riyadh in Nov 2003, which killed 17...

RUSSIA - Nov 30 - Putin Vows to Continue Oligarch Fight.(Vladmir Putin)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2004... Speaking at the All-Russia Congress of Judges, Putin acknowledges authorities continue to be influenced by the so-called oligarchs, as the core unit of jailed tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky's Yukos oil giant is being prepared for sale. He said:...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Dec 7 - Palestinian Leaders Urge Syria To Stay Out Of Elections.
December 11, 2004... The Palestinian leadership seeks Syrian reassurances that the country will not interfere in forthcoming elections to replace Yassir Arafat. During a two-day visit to Damascus by head of the PLO and official candidate of the Fatah movement in...

ARAB-EUROPEAN - Dec 8 - EU Gets A Warning From Edgy Turkey.(European Union)
December 11, 2004... The EU ambassador for Turkey Oguz Demiralp, says EU cannot expect Turkey to remain in its orbit if it did not admit the country to the bloc. He said the representatives who included sometimes offensive wording in a draft EU summit statement on...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Dec 5 - Israel And Egypt Exchange Prisoners As Relations Improve.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2004... An Israeli Arab textile worker Azzam Azzam is released in exchange for six Egyptian students arrested in Israel earlier this year. He was convicted of espionage and held for eight years in an Egyptian jail. He was alleged in 1997 to have passed...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Dec 7 - Report Of Mideast Pact Is Premature.
December 11, 2004... An anonymous senior official in PM Ariel Sharon's office terms an Egyptian report premature that it has agreed in principle with the Palestinians on proposals to end their conflict, but says the country will respond positively if militants...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec 8 - US Restores Direct Aid To Palestine.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2004... The Bush administration resumes direct aid to the PA to pay its electricity bill to Israel and separately promises funds to support next month's presidential election. Pres Bush signed a waiver to bypass congressional restrictions, allowing...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec 9 - US And Egypt Agree Israeli Products Deal.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2004... In the first significant trade deal involving Israel and its largest Arab neighbour, the US and Egypt agree to allow duty-free exports to the US of products made with some Israeli content. Under the agreement, the US will permit the creation of...

AFGHANISTAN - Dec 7 - Vowing To Restore Security, Karzai Takes Oath.(Hamid Karzai)
December 11, 2004... Hamid Karzai who on Oct 9 easily wins election to a five-year term after serving as a head of a transitional government, is sworn in first popularly elected president, three years after American-backed resistance fighters swept the Taliban...

IRAN - Dec 6 - Khamenei Views Ignored - Khatami.(Ayatollah Ali Khamenei)(Mohammad Khatami)
December 11, 2004... Speaking to students at Tehran university Pres Mohammad Khatami says Tehran's constitutional watchdog, the Guardian Council, ignored the views of Ayat Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, when it disqualified more than 2,000 reformist candidates...

IRAQ - Dec 5 - 20 Killed As Violence Surges.
December 11, 2004... Insurgents open fire on a bus full of civilians and drive a car bomb into an Iraqi National Guard checkpoint in northern Iraq, killing 20 Iraqis in the latest of a wave of attacks that has elevated tensions between the Sunni Arabs who dominate...

IRAQ - Dec 6 - Sistani- Sponsored Alliance Finalised For Election.
December 11, 2004... Representatives of senior Shiite theologian say they have finalised an electoral slate thought to include the country's main Shiite parties as well as former anti-government insurgents. Although the list has been in formation for more than a...

IRAQ - Dec 9 - Muqtada Followers Omitted As Shiite Finalise Polls List.(Muqtada Al Sadr)
December 11, 2004... Shiite politicians say they have finalised an electoral alliance of the country's main Shiite parties, but that it excluded the followers of the former insurgent leader Muqtada Al Sadr. The absence of Sadr's followers, however, damps hopes that...

ISRAEL - Dec 9 - Sharon Wins Backing Of Likud For Labour Pact.(Ariel Sharon; Likkud Party)
December 11, 2004... PM Sharon, wins a party vote allowing him to expand his coalition to include the opposition Labour party in order to ensure the government's survival and carry out his plan to disengage from the Gaza Strip next year. Likud party officials said...

PALESTINE - Dec 6 - Presidential Candidates In Statistical Dead Heat.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2004... According to two opinion polls made public, the two leading presidential candidates, Mahmoud Abbas and Marwan Barghouti, are in a statistical dead heat ahead of the election Jan. 9 to replace the late Yasser Arafat. A third poll gave a...

RUSSIA - Dec 10 - 2 Little-Known Companies To Bid For Yukos Unit.
December 11, 2004... Russian regulators say two more companies will bid for the prize asset of Yukos, joining Gazprom, the state energy behemoth that is widely expected to win the auction for the embattled oil company's unit. The Federal Antimonopoly Service said...

SAUDI ARABIA - Dec 6 - Terrorist Attack On US Consulate Leaves Eight Dead.
December 11, 2004... Al Qaeda gunmen storm the heavily guarded US consulate in the Saudi port of Jeddah killing at least eight people, casting doubt on Saudi efforts to clamp down on terrorism. Security forces regained control of the compound within hours of the...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Dec 14 - Trade Deal Helps Thaw For Israel And Egypt.
December 18, 2004... Egypt and Israel agree a rare trade co-operation deal. The two countries and the US signed a protocol to set up seven special zones, where goods would gain free access to US markets provided that 35% of their inputs comes from co-operation...

ARAB-EUROPEAN - Dec 16 - Turkey Offered Historic Deal To Start Talks About Joining EU.
December 18, 2004... EU offers Turkey a historic deal to start talks to join the Union, putting it on course to become part of the bloc after more than 40 years of waiting. The offer was announced after the EU's 25 leaders agreed that Turkey should start membership...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Dec 13 - Israel Fires On Gaza After Attack On Outpost.
December 18, 2004... Israel strikes back with missiles at Gaza Strip militants after five Israeli troops were killed in a resurgence of violence that has dented hopes of peace after Yasser Arafat's death. The bloodshed underlined the challenge facing Mahmoud Abbas,...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Dec 15 - Israel Still Open To Road Map - Silvan Shalom.
December 18, 2004... Calling the death of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat "an opportunity we should not miss", FM Silvan Shalom of Israel calls for both the Palestinians and the Syrians to show by their deeds that they are ready for real peace with Israel....

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec 13 - US Mounts Fresh Attack On Taliban.(Brief Article)
December 18, 2004... The US-led military coalition in Afghanistan begins a big offensive against militants loyal to the ousted Taliban regime in an attempt to quash any attempt to disrupt parliamentary elections next spring. Operation Lightning Freedom, which...

AFGHANISTAN - Dec 12 - Karzai Says Bin Laden Is Still In The Region.(Brief Article)
December 18, 2004... Pres Hamid Karzai says Osama bin Laden is "definitely" in the region and will eventually be caught, even though US and Pakistani generals insist that the trail is cold. Karzai told CNN's Weekend Edition: It's very difficult to say where he is...

AFGHANISTAN - Dec 14 - Two Taliban Chiefs Arrested.(Brief Article)
December 18, 2004... The security forces arrest two Taliban commanders, including the former personal security chief of Mullah Omar, the fugitive Taliban chief. Toor Mullah Naqibullah and Mullah Qayum Angar were arrested in the southern province of Kandahar, former...

AFGHANISTAN - Dec 15 - Body Of Hostage Found.(Mohammad Eyup )(Brief Article)
December 18, 2004... The body of Turkish engineer Mohammad Eyup is found, a day after he is kidnapped by gunmen along with his driver and translator. He had been shot several times, according to security officials. Eyup is the second Turkish engineer to be killed...

IRAQ - Dec 14 - Suicide Hit Kills 9 Iraqis At Gate To Green Zone.
December 18, 2004... A suicide bomber steers a car full of explosives into the western gate of the protected compound that houses the interim government and embassies during the height of the morning rush hour, killing at least 9 Iraqis and wounding 19. The...

IRAQ - Dec 14 - New Suicide Bombing Hits Baghdad Checkpoint.(Brief Article)
December 18, 2004... A suicide car bomber strikes an entrance to Baghdad's Green Zone government compound, 24 hours after an almost identical attack at the same checkpoint on the first anniversary of Saddam Hussein's arrest. Hospital staff said 12 civilians were...

IRAQ - Dec 16 - Saddam Hussein Meets Lawyers.(Brief Article)
December 18, 2004... For the first time since his capture a year ago, ousted Iraqi Pres Saddam Hussein meets his family-appointed lawyers. Meanwhile, an Italian hostage was reported killed, adding to the violence around the start of campaigning for the first...

IRAQ - Dec 16 - Egyptian Telecoms Executives Detained In Baghdad.
December 18, 2004... US and Iraqi forces detain two executives of Orascom in Baghdad for unknown reasons. A group believed to include Iraqi National Guard members and US troops stormed the Baghdad homes of the chief security officer of Orascom, which operates the...

ISRAEL - Dec 17 - Sharon Agrees Deal With Labour To Form New Coalition.
December 18, 2004... PM Sharon, and Labour opposition leader Shimon Peres, reach a deal on forming a new coalition early next week. The agreement would bring eight Labour members about a third of the cabinet into government alongside ministers from Sharon's Likud...

PALESTINE - Dec 12 - Abbas Foe Pulls Out Of Race For President.(Marwan Barghouti)
December 18, 2004... The prominent leader Marwan Barghouti, imprisoned in Israel, withdraws from the presidential race. The move clears the way for Mahmoud Abbas, who now faces no serious challengers in the Jan 9 vote for leader of the PA. "Today brother Marwan has...

RUSSIA - Dec 17 - Moscow Alerts World Of New Mobile Nuclear Missiles By 2006.
December 18, 2004... Moscow reveals the first hints of its secretive new nuclear weapons priorities with a top general saying that a new generation of strategic missiles will soon be mobile on land -- and that this was far from the only thing that Moscow has in...

SAUDI ARABIA - Dec 14 - Bin Laden Tape Urges Attacks On Oil Plants.
December 18, 2004... A recording by Osama bin Laden calls for the overthrow of the royal family and urged militant jihadists to attack oil installations in Iraq and the Gulf. Parts of the recording were broadcast on Arab satellite channels as Saudi riot police were...

SUDAN - Dec 13 - Darfur Rebels Boycott Peace Talks.
December 18, 2004... Darfur rebels announce a boycott of peace talks, alleging the government has begun an offensive and saying a return to the negotiating table isn't possible until the attacks cease. Sudan Liberation Army's Bahar Ibrahim said: The government is...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Dec 12-15 - Arab States Will Be Better Off By 2020.
December 25, 2004... An opinion poll conducted by the Young Arab Leaders(YAL) association concludes the Arab countries will be better off by the year 2020. The survey, which covered about a 1,000 speakers and delegates at the forum, which was held under under the...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Dec 21 - GCC Summit Fails To Elaborate On US Trade Row.(Gulf Cooperation Council)
December 25, 2004... The 25th Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit in Bahrain ends without elaborating on Saudi-Bahraini differences concerning Bahrain's free trade agreement with the US. The final statement agreed upon by all six member states was made public by...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Dec 22 - Turkey, Syria Sign Free Trade Agreement.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2004... Turkey and Syria sign a free trade agreement to bolster bilateral economic ties and exchange views on the situation in their common neighbor, Iraq. Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan flew to Damascus on a two-day visit aimed at cementing improved ties...

ARAB-EUROPEAN - Dec 22 - Time Is Right For Mideast Peace, Blair Says.(Tony Blair)
December 25, 2004... The visiting British PM, Tony Blair, says a crucial moment has arrived to re-launch Middle East peace efforts, but warns the Palestinians need to act against terrorism. Amid the improved regional climate, Blair plans to act as host to an...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Dec 19 - Plan To Free 170 Prisoners 'Cosmetic,' Palestinians Say.
December 25, 2004... Israel agrees to release 170 Palestinian prisoners in what PM Ariel Sharon describes as a goodwill offering to Pres Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. But Palestinian officials dismissed the move as a hollow gesture. The Israeli action reflected the...

AFGHANISTAN - Dec 23 - Warlords Lose Power In New Karzai Cabinet.(Hamid Karzai)
December 25, 2004... Pres Hamid Karzai names a new cabinet, dismissing the defense minister and removing other warlords from top spots in a major reshuffling. The Afghan leader named a relative unknown, Habibullah Qaderi, to head the new Counter narcotics Ministry,...

IRAQ - Dec 19 - Car Bombs Kill At least 62 In Attacks On Cities.
December 25, 2004... Suicide car bombers hit Karbala and Najaf, two main Shiite holy cities, killing at least 62 people and wounding more than 100. The attacks comes as fitful campaigning began for next month's election, now less than seven weeks away. Separately,...

IRAQ - Dec 20 - Allawi Warns Iraqis Of Civil War.(Iyad Allawi, prime minister)
December 25, 2004... Interim PM Iyad Allawi warns insurgents are trying to foment a sectarian war in the country, as thousands of mourners attended funerals in the Shiite cities of Najaf and Kerbala a day after car bomb attacks killed 67 people. Allawi said the...

IRAQ - Dec 21 - Insurgents Kill 24 In Deadliest Attack On Coalition.
December 25, 2004... Insurgents strike a US military base near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul with a rocket on, killing at least 24 and wounding about 60 in the bloodiest single attack on coalition forces since the war began. The blast occurred around noon local...

PALESTINE - Dec 23 - First Municipal Polls Since 1976.
December 25, 2004... Palestinians cast their votes for local councils in 26 towns and villages of the West Bank, opening an election season that officials say will underline the PA's commitment to democracy. It was the first election in the PA in the eight years...

SAUDI ARABIA - Dec 19 - Al Qaeda Renews Threat To Saudi Oil Supplies.
December 25, 2004... Militants linked to Al Qaeda renew a threat to attack Saudi oil supplies, in a defiant challenge to the intense security put in place to defend the kingdom's production facilities. Security experts said Dec 19 statement from the "Al-Qaeda...

SUDAN - Dec 19 - Government Agrees To End Hostilities.
December 25, 2004... The government agrees to stop military operations in Darfur, several hours after a ceasefire deadline expired. "We will inform our forces in Darfur immediately to stop any fighting", the FM Mustafa Osman Ismail, said after an emergency meeting...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Dec 28 - Syria Blames Israel For Peace Deadlock.
December 31, 2004... In a speech to Syrian political leaders, FM Farouq Al Shara blames Israel for the deadlock in peace talks between the two arch foes, citing Israel's rejection of Damascus' recent overtures. He said: Despite our repeated calls for the resumption...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Dec 27 - Israelis Arrest Palestinian Candidate.(Brief Article)
December 31, 2004... Israeli police briefly arrest Palestinian presidential candidate Mustafa Barghouthi, as he campaigns in occupied Jerusalem, in the latest incident to mar the run-up to elections for a successor to Yasser Arafat. Aides to Barghouthi said he was...

IRAN - Dec 29 - Pro-reform Candidate Joins Race For Top Post.(Brief Article)
December 31, 2004... Former education minister Mustafa Mo'en becomes the first pro-reform candidate to throw his hat into the ring for Presidential elections next year. But most analysts believe reformists do not have a chance in the elections because of voter mass...

IRAQ - Dec 26 - Videotape Describes Bomb Plan.
December 31, 2004... The radical Islamic group Ansar Al Sunnah that claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack on a US base releases videotape showing three militants describing their plans to carry out the suicide bombing, which killed more than 20 people....

IRAQ - Dec 27 - Sunni Party Quits Iraq Election.(Iraqi Islamic Party)
December 31, 2004... A suicide bomber kills 15 people and injures 48 others outside the HQ's of Shiite Muslim party. The attack comes on the same day that the Iraqi Islamic party, the biggest party representing the country's minority Sunnis, said it was withdrawing...

IRAQ - Dec 28 - More Than 29 Die In Baghdad Blast.
December 31, 2004... Insurgents lure police to a house in west Baghdad with an anonymous tip about a rebel hideout, then set off explosives, killing at least 29 people and wounding 18. Seven policemen were among the dead. The explosion erupted from inside the house...

ISRAEL - Dec 29 - Sharon And Peres Reach Unity Government Deal.(Shimon Peres)(Ariel Sharon)(Brief Article)
December 31, 2004... PM Ariel Sharon and Labour Party leader Shimon Peres reaches a deal that appears to clear a final obstacle towards forming a unity government that will press ahead with a Gaza pullout. Sharon's office announced Peres would be appointed a deputy...

PALESTINE - Dec 26 - Gains For Hamas In Local Elections.
December 31, 2004... Hamas militants defeat the mainstream Palestinian movement Fatah in nine of 26 local elections, in a foretaste of challenges confronting emerging moderate leader Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas's standing in polls about national leadership has declined...

RUSSIA - Dec 28 - Khodorkovsky Warns Putin From Jail.(Mikhail Khodorkovsky)(Vladimir Putin)
December 31, 2004... Jailed tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky says the Kremlin may have destroyed the Yukos oil firm but it has inflicted "senseless" damage on Russia's economy in the process. The former chief executive of Yukos said he had come to terms with a future of...

SAUDI ARABIA - Dec 29 - Car Bomb Attacks Near Saudi Security Buildings.
December 31, 2004... Two huge car bombs explode near Interior Ministry and a security unit, in what appears to be the latest strike by Al Qaeda in the world's biggest oil exporter. Security sources said the militants had tried to drive one of the cars into the vast...