APS Diplomat Recorder articles from March 2006

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from March 2006

ARAB AFFAIRS - Mar 2 - Jordan Urges Patience With Hamas.
March 4, 2006... Jordanian FM Abdul Ilah Khatib says Hamas should be allowed a period of grace in which to form a peace strategy before the international community decides whether to shun the Islamic movement. Khatib said Hamas needed encouragement to adopt a...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Feb 27 - EU Announces [euro]120m Aid Plan For Palestinians.
March 4, 2006... The EU announces plans to provide the Palestinian people with more than 120m in aid before the new Hamas government takes office. The EU's commissioner for external relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said 64m ($76.5m) would go to the UNRWA for...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Feb 27 - US Coast Guard Warned On Dubai Ports Deal.(Dubai Ports World)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2006... According to a document released by the Senate, the US Coast Guard warns before Dubai Ports World is given clearance to take over five US port terminals that "intelligence gaps" about the company made it impossible to assess whether the deal...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Feb 28 - US Troops Want Swift Pull-Out From Iraq.
March 4, 2006... Most American troops in Iraq believe the US should withdraw within the next year, according to the first poll of US military personnel there. President George W.?Bush, whose overall approval rating fell to a new low of 34 per cent this week,...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Mar 2 - New US Focus On Promoting Democracy In Iran.
March 4, 2006... The US State Department creates an office dedicated to Iran to reflect the Bush administration's new focus on promoting democracy in the Islamic republic. Establishment of the Office of Iran Affairs follows the request to Congress made by State...

IRAN - Feb 26 - Tehran Claims Nuclear Deal With Moscow.
March 4, 2006... Iran says that it had struck an agreement with Russia on its nuclear programme but Moscow insists the fundamental dispute over Tehran's nuclear plans had yet to be resolved. Western diplomats also argued that any Russian- Iranian deal was...

IRAQ - Feb 26 - Baghdad Curfews Lifted Outside Baghdad As Violence Ebbs.
March 4, 2006... Iraq lifts an extraordinary daylight curfew in three governorates as the wave of violence that followed Feb 23 destruction of a Shiite shrine appears to ebb outside the capital. But the ban on traffic in Baghdad - which last night suffered a...

IRAN - Feb 27 - Saddam Ends Hunger Strike.(Saddam Hussain )(Brief Article)
March 4, 2006... Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussain ends his hunger strike because of "health reasons". "The president maintained his hunger strike for 11 days but was forced to end it for health reasons", Saddam's lawyer Khalil Dulaimi said. Saddam announced...

IRAN - Feb 28 - Iraq's Leaders Squabble As Death Toll Mounts.
March 4, 2006... Pres Jalal Talabani, criticises PM Jaafari for making a visit to Turkey, illustrating the deep divisions among Iraqi leaders. The dispute came as the government in Baghdad claimed that 379 people had died in sectarian violence following last...

IRAN - Mar 2 - Saddam Says He Put Shiites On Trial.
March 4, 2006... Saddam Hussein admits in court that he had ordered the trial of 148 Shiites who were eventually executed in the 1980s, but he insists that doing so was legal because they were suspected in an assassination attempt against him. "Where is the...

PALESTINE - Mar 2 - Abbas Holds Talks With Israeli Labour Leader.(Mahmoud Abbas, Amir Peretz)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2006... PA Pres Mahmoud Abbas, meets Israeli Labour party candidate for prime minister Amir Peretz, in the first high-level talks between the two sides since the Palestinian elections brought Hamas to power. Peretz, whose party is trailing in opinion...

SAUDI ARABIA - Feb 27 - Saudi Security Forces Kill Suspected Militants.
March 4, 2006... Saudi security forces kill five people suspected of involvement on Feb 24 attempt to penetrate a vital oil facility, the first direct strike against energy infrastructure in the kingdom. Officials said the suspects were tracked down to a Riyadh...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Mar 7 - Russia Drops Iran Proposal.
March 11, 2006... Russia drops its proposed compromise over Iran's nuclear programme, after coming under sustained pressure from the US and the EU. Nevertheless, a two-day visit to Washington by Russia's FM Sergei Lavrov, could not disguise serious strains in...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Mar 7 - Paris Signs Nuclear Agreement With Libya.
March 11, 2006... France is set to endorse a civil nuclear agreement with Libya in a further sign that western countries are eager to do business with the former pariah state in previously taboo sectors. Patrick Ollier, Pres of the economic affairs committee at...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Mar 9 - US Said To Be Close To Shutting Abu Ghraib.
March 11, 2006... The US military says the prison at Abu Ghraib, Saddam Hussein's torture centre that became a symbol of shame for the American occupation of Iraq, is to close within months. Its 4,500 inmates, held on suspicion of insurgent activity, will be...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Mar 9 - Rumsfeld Says Iraq 'Will Handle Any Civil War'.(Donald Rumsfeld)
March 11, 2006... The US Def Sec Donald Rumsfeld, says Iraqi security forces will be responsible for dealing with violence in the country if full-scale civil war breaks out. He told the Senate appropriations committee he did not believe Iraq had descended into...

IRAN - Mar 5 - Tehran Threatens Jump In Atom Work.
March 11, 2006... The country's top negotiator Ali Larijani reiterates its warning that it will begin making nuclear fuel on an industrial scale if the UN nuclear agency in its meeting decides to send Iran's case to the Security Council. Larijani said: If...

IRAN - Mar 8 - Iran Warns US Of Harm And Pain In N-Dispute.(nuclear)
March 11, 2006... Iran threatens the US with "harm and pain" as the dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme moves to the UN Security Council - an outcome the Islamic republic had fought to avoid. A war of words at the IAEA, the UN's nuclear watchdog, highlighted...

IRAQ - Mar 7 - Jaafari Vows He Will Not Be Dissuaded In Candidacy.
March 11, 2006... Shiite PM Jaafari declares he will not be pressured into abandoning his bid for a second term, as the Kurdish Pres bows to Shiite pressure to delay calling Parliament into session until a deadlock is resolved over who should lead a unity...

IRAQ - Mar 8 - Gunmen Abduct 50 Iraqi Security Staff.
March 11, 2006... Gunmen storm the offices of an Iraqi-owned private security company in Baghdad, forcing 50 employees into vehicles and driving them away. The late afternoon raid on the Al Rawafid company HQ's in the east Baghdad suburb of Zayouna was one...

ISRAEL - Mar 10 - Olmert Wants To Set Border By 2010.(Ehud Olmert)
March 11, 2006... The acting PM Ehud Olmert, says that if his Kadima party wins national elections this month, he will try to set Israel's permanent borders by 2010, and that the boundary will run along, or close to, Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank....

LIBYA - Mar 6 - Reformist PM Is Ousted.(Shokri Ghanem)(Brief article)
March 11, 2006... The surprise replacement of Shokri Ghanem, Libya's PM with his conservative deputy is greeted with dismay among Libyan reformers. But his appointment at the head of the country's oil industry could make for more effective management of the...

PALESTINE - Mar 5 - Hamas Admits It Must 'Change Its Manners'.
March 11, 2006... Hamas admits it has to "change its manners" after winning Palestinian elections but shows no sign of compromise with Israel as it wrapped up a landmark trip to Russia, as acting Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert said, if elected, he will implement...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Mar 13 - Hamas Wins Pledge Of Support From Saudi Arabia.
March 18, 2006... A visiting Hamas delegation says it has been assured of Saudi Arabia's continued political and financial support despiteUS-led moves to isolate the group. FM Prince Saud Al Faisal told the movement's overall leader Khaled Meshaal in talks on...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Mar 13 - Moscow May Be Losing Patience With Tehran.
March 18, 2006... Russia's FM Sergei Lavrov, says Moscow will within days hold talks with Iran on its nuclear programme, but sharply criticised Tehran for "absolutely not helping" countries that wanted to find a peaceful resolution to the crisis. Lavrov's...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Mar 14 - Israel Seizes Palestinian Militant Leader.
March 18, 2006... Palestinians vent their anger on British, US and other western targets after the Israeli army lay siege to a West Bank jail within an hour of the unannounced departure of British monitors supervising six high-profile detainees held there. The...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Mar 13 - Bush Accuses Iran Of Supplying Iraqi Rebels.
March 18, 2006... In a sign of hardening US rhetoric against Iran and an effort to shift some blame for the turbulence in Iraq, Pres Bush accuses Tehran of supplying components for some of the most powerful improvised explosive devices used in Iraq. "Coalition...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Mar 16 - US Forces Stage Airborne Raid North Of Baghdad.
March 18, 2006... The US military launches a major attack on insurgent strongholds near Samarra, in what the Pentagon describes as the largest air assault since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The assault - which is expected to last several days - was directed at...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Mar 16 - Rice Steps Up Rhetoric Against 'Troubled State' Iran.(Condoleezza Rice )
March 18, 2006... Condoleezza Rice raises the diplomatic temperature over the nuclear stand-off with Iran, accusing the country of lying about its activities and again calling it a "central banker to terrorism". The US State Sec was speaking in Sydney at the...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Mar 17 - Iran And US To Discuss Iraq But Not Weapons.
March 18, 2006... The US embassy in Baghdad releases a statement saying that Washington is "concerned about unhelpful Iranian activities in Iraq. These concerns are well known and we have talked about them". The communique follows news that Iran and the US...

IRAQ - Mar 12 - At Least 40 Die In Shiite 'Safe Zone' In Baghdad.
March 18, 2006... More than 40 people die in Baghdad's main Shiite area after a number of bombs and mortar strikes that seem designed to follow up on last month's bombing of a Shiite shrine and provoke civil war. Although many other Shiite neighbourhoods in the...

IRAQ - Mar 15 - Saddam's Half-brother Takes Stand In Trial.(Saddam Hussain, Barzan Al Tikriti)
March 18, 2006... Saddam Hussain's former intelligence chief Barzan Al Tikriti, once one of Iraq's most feared men, formally takes the stand in their trial, saying he faced trumped up charges of crimes against humanity. Barzan, also one of Saddam's half...

JORDAN - Mar 14 - State Security Court Indicts 11 For Nov 9 Bombings.
March 18, 2006... The public prosecutor of Jordan's State Security Court charges 11 militants, including the Jordanian fugitive Abu Mussab Zarqawi, in connection with the Nov. 9 suicide bombings at three Amman hotels that killed at least 60 people and injured...

PALESTINE - Mar 15 - Abbas Accuses Israelis Of 'Dreadful Crime'.(Mahmoud Abbas)
March 18, 2006... Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of a "dreadful crime" yesterday as he toured the scene of an Israeli raid on a West Bank prison that sparked anger in the territories. He condemned Israel's raid on a Jericho prison and the...

PALESTINE - Mar 17 - Hamas Aims To Dominate New Cabinet Positions.
March 18, 2006... The leaders of Hamas say the Islamic group will propose a new Palestinian cabinet consisting of Hamas and independent figures, with the participation of no other party. Hamas said it expected to give the list to the Palestinian president,...