APS Diplomat Recorder articles from November 2004

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from November 2004

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Nov 2 - The Netherlands And Hungary To Quit Iraq Coalition.
November 6, 2004... The Netherlands and Hungary announce plans to pull their troops out of Iraq next March - moves that can undermine US efforts to secure greater international support for its mission. The decisions come as other coalition states, often facing...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Nov 5 - EU Presses Iran To Suspend Enrichment Activity.
November 6, 2004... European and Iranian negotiators meet in Paris in an attempt to strike a deal over Tehran's nuclear programme, as prospects recede that Europe will take the more confrontational route of referring Iran to the UN. While the US accuses Iran of...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Oct 31 - Israel And Palestinians Begin To Think Beyond Arafat.
November 6, 2004... The Israeli cabinet and the Palestinian leadership hold separate gatherings, dealing with the same question: how to respond to the absence of Yasser Arafat, who remains hospitalised in France with an unknown illness. Israel's PM, Ariel Sharon,...

ARABS-UN - Nov 6 - Annan Warns Against Attack On Falluja.
November 6, 2004... UN Sec Gen Kofi Annan, expresses "increasing concern" over a planned US-Iraqi government offensive in Falluja, the Sunni rebel town in Iraq, warning that it risks alienating Arab nationalists from the country's elections due at the end of...

AFGHANISTAN - Oct 31 - Kidnap Group Issues Deadline Threat.
November 6, 2004... Militants holding three UN workers in captivity release a video showing the hostages and threaten to kill them in three days if their demands to foreign governments are not met. The video, broadcast on the Arabic language TV network Al Jazeera,...

AFGHANISTAN - Nov 3 - Karzai Declared Winner.
November 6, 2004... The election board declares Hamid Karzai the winner of the presidential election, capping a hazardous and often chaotic process that saw more than 8mn people brave threats and snow to vote for their leader for the first time. The announcement...

IRAN - Oct 31 - Parliament Approves Nuclear Bill.
November 6, 2004... The Parliament gives outline approval to a bill requiring the government to press on with its nuclear programme, stopping short of an earlier proposal on the immediate resumption of uranium enrichment. The bill was passed by 247 out of 290...

IRAQ - Oct 31 - Allawi Sends Stern Warning.(Brief Article)
November 6, 2004... PM Ayad Allawi, issues repeated warnings that negotiations with the rebels who held Falluja are swiftly running out of time, saying that unless his government is allowed to establish control immediately, he will ask the American and Iraqi...

IRAQ - Nov 2 - Car Bomb Kills At Least 6 In Baghdad.
November 6, 2004... A car bomb brings fresh carnage to the heart of Baghdad, killing six people and wounding eight near the Education Ministry, officials said. In Samarra, north of Baghdad, police said gunmen had captured a US soldier on Nov 1 night. Police Lt Col...

IRAQ - Nov 3 - Oil Official Slain On His Way To Office; Videos Show 4 Killings.
November 6, 2004... In the latest of a series of attacks on the oil industry, gunmen kill a senior Oil Ministry official as he is commuting to work. Insurgents also released a video to Al Jazeera, the Arabic satellite news station, of three Iraqi National...

IRAQ - Nov 4 - Three UK Black Watch Troops Killed.(Brief Article)
November 6, 2004... Three UK troops are killed by insurgents, reigniting controversy over Tony Blair's decision to grant the US military back-up for an attack on Fallujah. In one of the darkest days for British troops since Pres Bush declared major combat...

ISRAEL - Nov 3 - Sharon Wins A 2nd Crucial Vote On Gaza Withdrawal Plan.
November 6, 2004... PM Ariel Sharon of Israel wins another crucial but not definitive parliamentary vote on as legislators approve a $900mn bill to compensate settlers who will be compelled to leave the Gaza Strip. The bill passed by a vote of 64 to 44 with the...

SAUDI ARABIA - Nov 4 - Al Qaeda Names New Leader.
November 6, 2004... Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula names Saud ibn Hamoud Al Otaibi - one of the top terrorists on the 26 most wanted list - as a replacement to Saleh Al Oufi, the former leader who it claims was killed after receiving gunshot wounds when...

SUDAN - Nov 2 - Military Protects Darfur Camps.(Brief Article)
November 6, 2004... Soldiers and police surround two refugee camps in Darfur amid complaints by aid workers that lack of security is hampering the delivery of aid in the troubled region of western Sudan. According to Barry Came, a spokesman for the UN World Food...

UAE - Nov 2 - Arab World Mourns President Shaikh Zayed.
November 6, 2004... The Arab world plunges into mourning with the death of its elder statesman, Pres Shaikh Zayed ibn Sultan Al-Nahayan. Arab governments announced three days of mourning to mark the passing away of the UAE leader. The 86-year-old president, who...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Nov 7 - Iran's Nuclear Deal With EU Heads Off UN Referral.
November 13, 2004... Iran and the EU reach a provisional deal that is all but certain to head off US attempts to refer Tehran's nuclear programme to the UN Security Council. The foreign policy chief of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Hossain Mousavian,...

ARABS-UN - Nov 9 - UN Voices Fears Over Afghan Poll Risks.(Brief Article)
November 13, 2004... In a stark appeal for more action against the soaring narcotics trade and rise of irregular militias, the UN's peacekeeping chief Jean-Marie Guehenno, says Parliamentary elections due in Afghanistan by next May will be far more difficult than...

AFGHANISTAN - Nov 7 - Kidnappers Talk Of Compromise.(Brief Article)
November 13, 2004... The kidnappers of three UN workers express flexibility about their demands and continue to negotiate with UN and government officials. Sadir Momin, who claims to speak for the Taliban splinter group Jaish-e-Muslimeen, told AP in a telephone...

IRAN - Nov 8 - Poll Likely To Confirm Tehran's Drift To Right.
November 13, 2004... The interior ministry says the country's presidential elections are expected to be held on May 13 next year. Although the date requires approval from the Guardian Council, the announcement officially opens a complex political battle over who...

IRAQ - Nov 7 - US Warplanes Attack Rebel-Held City Of Falluja.
November 13, 2004... US warplanes pound the rebel-held city of Falluja as heavy fighting starts between ground troops and insurgents on the outskirts. US troops swept toward strategic bridges, hospitals and other objectives, according to a NYT reporter embedded...

IRAQ - Nov 7 - Sadr's Men To Stand For Election.
November 13, 2004... Some followers of radical Shiite leader Muqtada Al Sadr will run in parliamentary elections scheduled for January as part of an alliance of Shiite parties. The declaration by Sadr officials coincided with an announcement by representatives of...

ISRAEL - Nov 11 - Nuclear Whistle-Blower Arrested.
November 13, 2004... Heavily armed police commandos storm a church compound and arrest the nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu, on charges of revealing classified information, seven months after he finished an 18-year prison sentence for treason. The police...

LEBANON - Nov 12 - Hezbollah Says Its Drone Aircraft Can Bomb Israel.(Brief Article)
November 13, 2004... The chief of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah says the movement possessed drone aircraft that can carry explosives to strike targets deep inside Israel if it attacked Lebanon. He said: "Mirsad-1 can carry explosives...

PALESTINE - Nov 11 - Yassir Arafat Dies At Age 75.(Obituary)
November 13, 2004... Yassir Arafat, who never achieved his dream of "liberating" Palestine from the Israelis, dies in a Paris hospital at age 75, leaving a mixed legacy despite a period of international acceptance. Arafat died at the Percy Military Hospital south...

ARAB-US - Nov 14 - Skirmishes Continue As US Forces Occupy Falluja.
November 20, 2004... US forces say they have occupied all of Falluja's neighbourhoods, although small bands of insurgents continue to fight hit-and-run battles throughout their former stronghold west of Baghdad. In six days of fighting, US forces sustained 31...

IRAN - Nov 14 - Tehran Agrees To Suspend Uranium Programme.
November 20, 2004... Tehran agrees to suspend fully its uranium enrichment programme, a move that - for the time being at least - will head off a US-led drive to seek UN sanctions against Tehran because of suspicions it was seeking to develop nuclear weapons. The...

IRAN - Nov 17 - Tehran Alleged To Have Obtained Plans For Nuclear Bomb.
November 20, 2004... An opposition group Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK), alleges Tehran has obtained weapons-grade uranium and a design for a nuclear bomb from the Pakistani scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan. The Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK), a group previously allied to former...

IRAQ - Nov 19 - Twelve Headless Bodies Found In Mosul.(Brief Article)
November 20, 2004... Twelve decapitated bodies are found strewn about the northern city of Mosul as about 400 Iraqi commandoes storm numerous locations around the city in search of rebel hideouts. And in Baghdad, four people were killed Nov 19, and at least nine...

ISRAEL - Nov 14 - Capital Market Reforms Approved.(Brief Article)
November 20, 2004... The cabinet approves capital market reforms, including the separation of banks from the management of mutual funds and other assets. However, the package must win approval in the Knesset, Or parliament, and Israeli banks are continuing to lobby...

PALESTINE - Nov 14 - Arafat Mourners Attacked As Chaos Looms.(Brief Article)
November 20, 2004... The risk of factional chaos as Palestinians prepare to elect a new president is underlined after Mahmoud Abbas, nominated to succeed Yassir Arafat, escapes injury when militants burst into a Gaza City mourning tent and exchanged fire with his...

PALESTINE - Nov 15 - Fatah Militants Warn New Leaders.
November 20, 2004... The head of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Jenin, Zachariah Zubeidi says armed Fatah militants may be on course for a showdown with the new Palestinian leadership unless it gives them a role in the post-Arafat era. He said he would not abide by...

RUSSIA - Nov 17 - Putin Claims Unmatched Nuclear Deterrent.
November 20, 2004... Pres Putin, attempts to reassert his country's military might with indications the army is close to unveiling a new nuclear deterrent that he claims is unmatched around the world. Addressing top military commanders in Moscow, Putin said a new...

RUSSIA - Nov 19 - Moscow Approves Forced Sale Of Yugansk.
November 20, 2004... The government approves the forced sale of the main subsidiary of Yukos, the embattled oil group, at only a little over half of its fair market value, as the struggle between its owner and the authorities veered towards its finale. The state...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Nov 22 - Arabs Propose Delaying Iraq Vote.
November 27, 2004... Some Arab delegations at a meeting in Sharm El-Shaikh, with counterparts from Iraq's neighbours and the US among others, say it may be better to delay the polls in Iraq to ensure full participation. However, Iraq's interim government voiced...

ARAB-EUROPEAN - Nov 21 - Iraq Debt Agreement Ends Stand-Off.(Brief Article)
November 27, 2004... Russia, France and Germany agree to forgive up to 80% of Iraq's debts, ending a long-running transatlantic dispute and easing the financial burden to be shouldered by a future Iraqi government. The deal, confirmed by US officials at the...

ARAB-EUROPEAN - Nov 25 - Solana Has To Retract Claim Over Hamas.(Javier Solana)
November 27, 2004... EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, is forced to issue a retraction after saying he has made "direct contact" with Hamas, listed by the EU as a banned terrorist group. Israel reacted angrily to his initial comments and urged the British...

ARABS-ISARAEL - Nov 24 - Israel To Let Observers Watch Palestinian Vote.
November 27, 2004... Israel confirms it will allow international observers to monitor Palestinian elections Jan 9 for a new president, as the Palestinians has requested. The Israeli FM, Silvan Shalom, made explicit what Israeli officials had said privately to the...

AFGHANISTAN - Nov 23 - Three UN Workers Taken Hostage In Kabul Are Freed.
November 27, 2004... Three UN workers kidnapped in Kabul have been released, ending a three-week ordeal that many feared will presage a spate of grisly abductions similar to those plaguing Iraq. A spokesman for the UN in Afghanistan Manoel de Almeida e Silva, said...

AFGHANISTAN - Nov 24 - US Soldiers Killed In Blast.(Brief Article)
November 27, 2004... Two US soldiers are killed and another wounded in an explosion when on patrol in the southern province of Uruzgan, the US-led coalition said. About 18,000 coalition soldiers continue to hunt for remnants of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in southern...

IRAQ - Nov 21 - Elections To Go On As Scheduled.
November 27, 2004... Electoral officials announce they have decided to hold the country's first democratic elections on Jan 30 despite a sharp rise in violence in the past month and threats of a boycott by Sunni Arab leaders. The officials said they had no legal...

IRAQ - Nov 22 - Gunmen Assassinate A Theologian.(Brief Article)
November 27, 2004... Gunmen assassinate Shaikh Faidh Mohammad Amin Al Faidhi, a member of an influential Sunni theologians' group Association of Muslim Scholars, that has called for a boycott of national elections, just a day after Iraqi officials announced the...

IRAQ - Nov 24 - US Civilian Shot Dead In Baghdad.(Brief Article)
November 27, 2004... A US civilian official James Mollen working as a State Department employee who is serving as an adviser to the Iraqi education ministry, is killed by gunfire near Baghdad's Green Zone government compound. Mollen was in a vehicle when it was...

PALESTINE - Nov 22 - Cause Of Arafat's Death Uncertain, Nephew Says.(Yasser Arafat)
November 27, 2004... Yasser Arafat's death remains a mystery when his nephew says he cannot rule out the Palestinian leader has been poisoned. Two hours after receiving his uncle's medical records, 558 pages long, from the French authorities, Nasser Al Kidwa told...

PALESTINE - Nov 25 - Abbas Calls For Period Of Calm.(Mahmoud Abbas )(Brief Article)
November 27, 2004... The new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas says Israelis and Palestinians need to cool down their conflict to take advantage of emerging prospects for peace. Abbas succeeded Arafat as chairman of the PLO and is this week expected to be confirmed...

PALESTINE - Nov 26 - Jailed Leader Barghouthi Urged To Drop Election Bid.
November 27, 2004... Firebrand uprising leader Marwan Barghouthi comes under pressure from his Fatah faction to drop potentially divisive plans to run for Palestinian president from his Israeli jail cell. Fatah officials said Palestinian cabinet minister Qadoura...

RUSSIA - Nov 24 - Top Yukos Executives Flee Threat Of Arrest.
November 27, 2004... The senior executives of Yukos leave Russia, fearing for their safety amid a flurry of arrest and search warrants issued by Russian prosecutors for managers of the embattled oil company. "There is not a single member of the management board...

SUDAN - Nov 26 - Government And Southern Rebels Resume Peace Talks.(Brief Article)
November 27, 2004... The government resumes talks with southern rebels fighting a 21-year civil war, a week after the belligerents committed themselves to finalising a peace deal by the end of the year. The government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army...