APS Diplomat Recorder articles from June 2005

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from June 2005

ARAB AFFAIRS - May 30 - GCC Signs Deal With Turkey.(Gulf Cooperation Council)(Brief Article)
June 4, 2005... The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) signs a framework agreement with Turkey, which will eventually pave the way for a free trade accord. Turkish Ambassador Ugur Dogan in Riyadh said: This framework economic agreement will pave the...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Jun 1 - Sharon-Abbas Summit On Jun 21.(Ariel Sharon)(Mahmoud Abbas)
June 4, 2005... Israeli PM Ariel Sharon announces plans to hold a second summit with Palestinian Pres Mahmoud Abbas on June 21. The two leaders last met on Feb 8 in Egypt where they called a halt to 41/2 years of fighting. A statement from Sharon's office said...

ARABS-UN - May 31 - Iraq Calls For UN Help On Constitution.(United Nations)(Brief Article)
June 4, 2005... Iraq's FM Hoshyar Zebari, urges the UN to help his government write a new constitution, which he described as "the most critical test for the future of our country". The transitional government aims to draft a new constitution by Aug 15,...

ARABS-UN - Jun 1 - First UN Sacking after Iraq Aid Scandal.
June 4, 2005... The UN says it has dismissed a senior official Joseph Stephanides, for "serious misconduct" after investigators find he helped steer a contract to Lloyd's Register Inspection to monitor Iraq's oil-for-food programme. It was the first dismissal...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Jun 1 - US Warns Countries Not To Aid Zarqawi.(Abu Musab al Zarqawi)
June 4, 2005... Def Sec Rumsfeld warns Iraq's neighbours that any country offering aid to the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, will be guilty of helping someone "with blood on his hands". In a news briefing at which he vigorously defended US...

AFGHANISTAN - May 29 - Senior Theologian Is Murdered In Kandahar.
June 4, 2005... A senior pro-government theologian Maulavi Abdullah Fayaz is shot and killed in his office in the southern city of Kandahar by suspected Taliban supporters firing from a motorbike through the window. The head of the Council of Theologians of...

AFGHANISTAN - Jun 1 - Suicide Bomber Kills 19 In Mosque.
June 4, 2005... The police chief of Kabul Akram Khakreezwal is among 19 people killed in a suicide bomb blast at Abdul Rab Akhundzada mosque as mourners gather to pay respects to an assassinated anti-Taliban theologian. It was the first suicide attack on a...

EGYPT - Jun 1 - Egyptians Protest At Attack On Women Activists.
June 4, 2005... Hundreds of Egyptians, many of them women dressed in black, rally in central Cairo to demand the resignation of the interior minister Habib Al Adly. Activists said they held the minister responsible for the fact that police stood by last week...

IRAQ - May 29 - Baghdad Begins Unprecedented Security Offensive.
June 4, 2005... The government launches a massive military operation to seal off Baghdad and root out the insurgents who have killed more than 600 people since the newly-elected government took power a month ago. The government has promised an impenetrable...

IRAQ - May 30 - Talabani Sees Saddam Trial Within 2 Months.(Jalal Talabani)(Saddam Hussein)(Brief Article)
June 4, 2005... Pres Jalal Talabani says the former dictator Saddam Hussein, can go on trial for crimes against humanity within weeks. Condemning Hussein as a "war criminal", Talabani expressed "hope" that the trail would start "within two months". "The Iraqi...

ISRAEL - Jun 1 - Gloomily, Yaalon Ends His Term.(Moshe Yaalon )
June 4, 2005... Lt Gen Moshe Yaalon ends his term as Israel's chief of staff, praised for modernising and revamping the armed forces and putting down the second intifada. But as he leaves office, Yaalon, 54, is gloomy about an Israeli-Palestinian settlement,...

LEBANON - May 29 - Polls Signal Big Role For Hariri's Son.(Saadeddine Hariri)
June 4, 2005... The son of murdered former PM Rafiq Hariri, Saadeddine Hariri, seems likely to secure a big role in running the country, after the first elections in 30 years without the presence of Syrian troops. The bloc of candidates led by on May 29 night...

LEBANON - Jun 2 - Beirut Car Bomb Kills Anti-Syrian Media Critic.(Samir Kassir)
June 4, 2005... A prominent anti-Syrian Lebanese columnist Samir Kassir is assassinated in a Beirut car explosion that is immediately blamed by his friends and colleagues on Damascus and its remaining allies in Lebanon. The killing of Kassir who was known for...

RUSSIA - May 31 - Ex-Yukos Chief Sentenced To Nine Years.(Mikhail Khodorkovsky )(Brief Article)
June 4, 2005... Mikhail Khodorkovsky vows to fight for his freedom and the "freedom of the whole of Russia" after he is sentenced to serve nine years in prison for fraud and tax evasion. Once Russia's richest man, Khodorkovsky made clear he had not renounced...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Jun 8 - Britain Appoints Iraq Ambassador.(William Patey)(Brief Article)
June 11, 2005... Britain appoints William Patey, 51, as its ambassador to Iraq. He replaces Edward Chaplin, who has overseen the transition to an interim civilian Iraqi administration and has been in the post for a year. Patey, a career diplomat has spent the...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Jun 7 - US Senator 'Losing Patience' Over Situation In Iraq.(Joseph Biden )
June 11, 2005... Senators considering the nomination of Zalmay Khalilzad as the next US ambassador to Iraq hear a sober assessment of the situation there, with leading Democrat Joseph Biden doubting he could still support a US troop presence if significant...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Jun 11 - US Accuses Syrians Of Assassination Plots.
June 11, 2005... The US has received "credible information" that Syrian operatives in Lebanon are planning the assassinations of senior Lebanese political leaders and that Syrian military intelligence forces are returning to Lebanon to create "an environment of...

IRAQ - Jun 5 - Kurds Meet To Pave Way For Unified Self-rule Area.
June 11, 2005... Kurdistan's newly elected regional parliament convened for the first time in the northern city of Irbil, paving the way for the unification of a Kurdish self-rule area divided between two rival parties. Many Kurds believe the merger is vital if...

IRAQ - Jun 10 - Insurgents Kill 21 Soldiers, Five Marines.
June 11, 2005... At least 21 bodies are found close to Baghdad border with Syria while five US Marines are killed in a roadside bomb explosion. Eyewitnesses said that one group with 12 bodies had their hands tied behind their backs and were wearing civilian...

LEBANON - Jun 6 - Election Victory Bolsters Hizbollah.
June 11, 2005... Hizbollah, Lebanon's Shiite Islamist party, claims its strong showing in the second round of the country's staggered parliamentary elections would strengthen its case to resist international calls to disarm. Hizbollah and the Shiite Amal...

PALESTINE - Jun 5 - Delay In Election Gives Abbas Some Breathing Space.
June 11, 2005... The Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, moves to shore-up support for reform in his governing Fatah party after a decision to postpone parliamentary elections draws condemnation from its Islamist rival, Hamas. Officially the postponement of the...

SYRIA - Jun 6 - Political Reform Inored As Assad Lays Out Goals.(Bashar Assad)
June 11, 2005... Pres Bashar Assad urges leaders of the Baath Party to revive the Syrian economy and fight corruption but makes no mention of political reform in a speech opening a governing party conference. He said: We have faced numerous difficulties...

SYRIA - Jun 7 - Assad Moves To Tighten Grip On Power.(Bashar Al Assad)
June 11, 2005... Delegates at Syria's ruling Ba'ath party congress says the country's vice-president Abdul Halim Khaddam, had expressed his intention to resign from his position and from the party. The move signals that the president Bashar Al Assad, is seeking...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Jun 14 - No Dispute With Yemen - Saud.(Prince Saud Al Faisal)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2005... FM Prince Saud Al Faisal denies suggestions Egypt is mediating a dispute between Saudi Arabia and its southern neighbour Yemen. The Saudi Press Agency quoted the minister as telling reporters in Cairo: There is no dispute between Saudi Arabia...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Jun 15 - Rumsfeld Says Iraq Security Has Not Improved.(Donald Rumsfeld)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2005... During an interview with the BBC US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says the security situation in Iraq has not improved, Syria is not doing enough to stop insurgents, and Iran is meddling in Iraqi politics. He answered "Statistically, no"...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Jun 17 - US 'Troubled' By Evidence Of Nuclear Experiments.
June 18, 2005... The US says it is troubled by new disclosures indicating Iran conducted experiments to create plutonium as late as 1998, five years after it claimed it had abandoned such work. But it said the discoveries would not alter its full support for...

AFGHANISTAN - Jun 17 - Bin Laden Alive and Well.(Osama Bin Laden )
June 18, 2005... A senior Taleban commander Mulla Akhtar Usmani says Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden and Taleban leader Mulla Mohammad Omar are both alive and in good health after more than three years on the run. News that Bin Laden is alive and not yet...

EGYPT - Jun 17 - Mubarak To Run For Fifth Consecutive Term.(Hosni Mubarak)
June 18, 2005... Pres Hosni Mubarak, who is now 77, will run in the upcoming presidential elections seeking a fifth consecutive term in office and will appoint a vice president, according to the presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad. Awad says Mubarak will...

IRAN - Jun 12 - Nuclear Program Is for Peaceful Purposes.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2005... Sec Gen of the Iranian National Security Council Dr. Hassan Rouhani says his country's nuclear program was for peaceful purposes and did not target its neighbours. He also said he had discussed Iran's nuclear program and its objective with...

IRAN - Jun 18 - Rafsanjani To Face Tehran Mayor.(Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani)
June 18, 2005... The Interior Ministry says Former Pres Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani will face Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a runoff election for the Iranian presidency. With all ballots counted, conservative Rafsanjani had more than 6.1m votes, while the...

IRAQ - Jun 15 - 31 Killed in Deadly Attacks.
June 18, 2005... In one of the bloodiest days witnessed in Iraq, two suicide bombings kill 31 people, including 23 at an Iraqi army base canteen, on a day when an Australian hostage was freed after being held for almost six weeks. The attack at the army base...

KUWAIT - Jun 13 - First Woman Cabinet Member.(Maasouma Al Mubarak)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2005... Maasouma Al Mubarak, an articulate political science professor and veteran women's rights activist, becomes the first woman minister in Kuwait. "It never occurred to me that I would become a minister, though I was always sure that a woman would...

PALESTINE - Jun 14 - Qorei Threatens Strike.(Ahmad Qorei )
June 18, 2005... Faced with increasing lawlessness in the occupied territories, PM Ahmad Qorei says his Cabinet will go on strike if security forces fail to rein in armed groups. "If this security chaos does not end, we will suspend our duties", he told...

SAUDI ARABIA - Jun 13 - No N-Facilities or Reactors.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2005... A FM Official reaffirms Kingdom does not possess any nuclear facilities or reactors and says it is committed to international charters related to nuclear energy. He also said the Kingdom was ready to cooperate with the International Atomic...

SYRIA - Jun 12 - Terrorists 'Planned To Use Baby As Bomber'.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2005... The leader of a terrorist cell who was killed in a confrontation with security forces last week had planned to wrap explosives around the body of a 1-year-old baby before placing her in the justice ministry, the girl's grandmother is quoted by...

SYRIA - Jun 15 - Powerful Intelligence Chief Replaced.(Hesham Ikhtiar appointed)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2005... Damascus appoints a new intelligence chief as part of steps to loosen the ruling Baath's party's tight grip on political life, diplomats and analysts say. Ali Mamluk, deputy head of intelligence of the air force, replaces Hesham Ikhtiar, who...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Jun 26 - Victory In Iraq Could Take Years, Says Rumsfeld.(Donald Rumsfeld)
June 30, 2005... The US Defence Sec Donald Rumsfeld, says Iraqi troops, not US soldiers, will defeat the insurgency in Iraq, which he said can take years to overcome. On Fox News, Mr Rumsfeld said: We're not going to win the insurgency. The Iraqi people are...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Jun 28 - Saudi Ambassador To US Resigns.(Prince Bandar bin Sultan)
June 30, 2005... Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the US for more than two decades Prince Bandar bin Sultan, resigns his position. According to people close to the Saudi government, Prince Bandar, the longest serving ambassador to Washington, has decided to quit....

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Jun 26 - US Casts Doubt On Legitimacy Of Iran Poll.
June 30, 2005... The Bush administration casts doubt on the legitimacy of Iran's newly-elected president, setting the stage for a more intense confrontation over the future of the Islamic state's nuclear programme and the direction of democracy in the Middle...

IRAN - Jun 27 - Hardliner Makes Moderation Pledge.(Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad)
June 30, 2005... Facing the world's press after his landslide presidential victory on Jun 24, Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad signals the end of the reformist presidency of Mohammad Khatami by echoing Khatami's most cherished phrases. "Moderation will be my policy. This...

IRAQ - Jun 25-26 - Insurgents Kill At Least 37 In Bombings.
June 30, 2005... Four suicide bomb attacks strike the Iraqi police and an Iraqi Army base in a 16-hour wave of insurgent violence that sweep the northern city of Mosul, leaving at least 37 people dead and scores more wounded. One US commander said the violence...

IRAQ - Jun 27 - Al Jaafari Speaks Of 2 Years To Establish Security.(Ibrahim Al Jaafari)
June 30, 2005... PM Ibrahim Al Jaafari says two years will be "more than enough" to establish security in his country. Following talks with PM Tony Blair of Britain, Jaafari said factors like building up Iraq's own security forces, controlling its porous...

IRAQ - Jun 28 - Car Bombing Kills Shiite Legislator Amid Suicide Attacks.(Dhari Ali Al Zayadh)
June 30, 2005... A suicide car bomber kills an influential Shiite member of Parliament Dhari Ali Al Zayadh,and his son as they drive to the capital. The attack that killed his son and two bodyguards was one of several around the country carried out by suicide...

ISRAEL - Jun 29 - Netanyahu Hits At Cost Of Gaza Withdrawal Plan.(Benjamin Netanyahu)
June 30, 2005... FM Benjamin Netanyahu, denies speculation that he will quit in opposition to the government's plan to disengage from the Gaza Strip later this year but says the withdrawal's estimated cost of up to Shk10 bn could be better spent on the poor....

RUSSIA - Jun 26 - Putin Woos Foreign Business With Pledge On Investment Climate.
June 30, 2005... Pres Putin seeks to reassure the captains of German industry of Russia's benevolent attitude towards foreign investors, promising to improve his country's investment climate and strengthen property rights. His meeting with companies such as...

SAUDI ARABIA - Jun 28 - We Can Track Them Down, Says Prince Naif.
June 30, 2005... Interior Minister Prince Naif says Saudi security forces are capable of tracking down the terrorists on the new list and foil their plans to carry out terror attacks. "All our security agencies are on full alert and are capable of reaching them...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Jun 27 - Pentagon Warns On Afghan Violence.(Brief Article)
June 30, 2005... Pentagon officials warn about escalating violence in Afghanistan, as dozens of insurgents and pro-government forces are killed in one of the bloodiest clashes this year. The attacks in the restive south of Afghanistan raised the death toll in...