APS Diplomat Recorder articles from September 2007

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from September 2007

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Aug 30 - Ankara To Redouble Efforts To Join EU.
September 1, 2007... Turkey's PM announces that his government will redouble efforts to steer the country into the EU at a time when some EU states have voiced reservations about whether Ankara should ever be allowed to succeed. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose Justice...

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Aug 26 - Israel Opens Gaza Crossing For Marooned Palestinians.
September 1, 2007... Israel allows 75 Palestinians out of Gaza on Aug 26 to resume lives abroad cut short by Hamas's violent seizure of the coastal strip two months ago. Also Aug 26, Israeli aircraft fired missiles at unmanned rocket launches in the northern Gaza...

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Aug 28 - Israeli And Palestinian Leaders In Talks.
September 1, 2007... Israeli and Palestinian leaders meet amid differing expectations of a peace conference called by US Pres Bush scheduled for November. An Israeli spokesman said Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian president, and Israeli PM Ehud Olmert, spoke about some...

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Aug 27 - Israeli Says Hamas Is Training Hundreds Abroad.
September 1, 2007... Hamas has sent hundreds of its fighters abroad for military training, most of them to Iran, the Israeli Army's deputy chief of staff says, and Israel has the names of more than 100 of them. Israel is watching as Hamas, in control of Gaza, is...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Aug 30 - White House Rejects Iraq 'Failures'.
September 1, 2007... The Bush administration plays down a key report on Iraq that concludes the Baghdad government had failed to meet most of the security and political benchmarks set out by the US Congress. The Government Accountability Office, the oversight arm...

AFGHANISTAN - Aug 28 - Taliban To Release S Korean Hostages.
September 1, 2007... The 19 remaining South Koreans being held hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan will be released over the coming days, following a deal between Seoul and the militants that paves the way for the end of the six-week-long crisis. The breakthrough...

IRAN - Aug 30 - Doubts Over Iranian Nuclear Claims.
September 1, 2007... Iran appears to be making slower than expected progress in its uranium-enrichment programme, in a development that could complicate US efforts to impose more sanctions on Tehran. A report by the IAEA, the UN watchdog, appears to raise doubts...

IRAQ - Aug 26 - Iraqi PM Assails Democratic US Critics.
September 1, 2007... PM Nuri Kamal al-Maliki extends his tongue-lashing of foreign politicians who have questioned his government, saying that Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Carl Levin needed to "start making sense again" after the senators, both Democrats,...

IRAQ - Aug 27 - Sunni Leaders To Continue Iraq Boycott.
September 1, 2007... Sunni leaders says that they will continue their boycott of Iraq's national unity government, in spite of a deal reached late on Aug 26 by senior members of the country's main ethnic and sectarian blocs. Pres Bush praised Iraqi leaders on Aug...

IRAQ - Aug 31 - Iraqis Are Making 'Progress To Peace'.
September 1, 2007... One of the country's two vice-presidents Adel Abd al-Mahdi says Iraq is making progress towards political reconciliation, despite American press reports that it will fail to meet key US benchmarks aimed at reducing instability. Moves by Shi'ite...

TURKEY - Aug 28 - Victory Of New Turkish President Breaks Grip Of Secularists.(Abdullah Gul)
September 1, 2007... A former Islamist is voted in as the new president of Turkey on Aug 28, breaking an 84-year grip on power by the secular establishment, and ushering a new Islamic middle class from Turkey's heartland into the center of the staunchly secular...

YEMEN - Aug 26 - Yemeni Government Introduces Bill To Punish Critics Of President.
September 1, 2007... Critics of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh can receive up to 15 years in prison under a proposed law introduced by the government and sent to parliament on Aug 26. Under the draft law, "agitators" could also face a death penalty if their...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Sept 4 - Mousa Warns Over Planned US Peace Conference.(Conference news)
September 8, 2007... Speaking at the opening of a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo, Secretary-General AMousa says that a planned Palestinian-Israeli peace conference that fails will pose a threat to Arab interests and regional stability. Mousa...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Sept 5 - Al Maliki Meets Sistani To Solve Cabinet Crisis.
September 8, 2007... PM Nuri Al Maliki meets with the reclusive leader of Iraq's Shi'ite majority, Grand Ayat Ali Al Sistani, to discuss a government crisis in which nearly half his cabinet has quit. Sistani is the sponsor of the PM's ruling United Alliance and...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Sept 3 - British Troops Pull Out Of Basra Base.
September 8, 2007... British troops complete their withdrawal from brigade headquarters in Basra palace in the latest move towards handing over security responsibilities to Iraq forces. The 550 troops stationed at Basra palace are expected to relocate to Britain's...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Sept 4 - Abdullah, Blair Discuss ME Peace.
September 8, 2007... Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah talks with Tony Blair, former British PM and international Middle East peace envoy, on achieving a just and comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace settlement based on the Arab peace plan and UN...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Sept 4 - Sarkozy's Wife Defends Libya Role.(Nicolas Sarkozy; Cecilia Sarkozy)
September 8, 2007... Cecilia Sarkozy, wife of the French president, defends her controversial role in a deal with Muammer Gadaffi, Libya's president, this summer to release five imprisoned Bulgarian nurses. Mrs Sarkozy insisted she had acted only in a humanitarian...

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Sept 6 - Israel And Syria Seek To Calm Tensions Over Alleged Border Incursion.
September 8, 2007... Israel and Syria appear to be trying to scale down tensions after Damascus said Israeli warplanes had violated its airspace and been chased away by its air defenses. Officials in Damascus also said that the Israeli planes had dumped munitions...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Sept 3 - Bush Hints At 'Fewer' Troops In Iraq.
September 8, 2007... President George W. Bush raises the prospect of bringing home some troops without affecting the security situation in Iraq. During a surprise visit to Anbar, a province declared "lost" to violence by US military intelligence last year, Bush...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Sept 7 - Petraeus Weighs Iraq Troop Reduction.(General David Petraeus)
September 8, 2007... The top US commander in Iraq General David Petraeus, will consider withdrawing about 4,000 troops from Iraq early next year to ease concerns of lawmakers on Capitol Hill. The New York Times reported on Friday that while Gen Petraeus wants...

AFGHANISTAN - Sept 5 - Afghan And Coalition Forces Kill More Than 20 Insurgents.
September 8, 2007... Afghan and US-led coalition soldiers battled Taliban militants in Afghanistan and called in airstrikes, killing more than 20 insurgents. Elsewhere, two police officers died after a roadside bomb blast. The battles on Sept 4 & 5 comes after...

IRAN - Sept 2 - Iran Picks New Leader For Guards.(Muhammad-Ali Jafari, 50)
September 8, 2007... Ayat Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, has appointed a new Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander at a time when the elite military force is under fire from the US over its alleged assistance for insurgent groups in Iraq and...

IRAN - Sept 4 - Rafsanjani Picked For Top Leadership Role.(Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani)
September 8, 2007... Iran's Experts Assembly elects Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as its chairman for the next eight years, in a move that could strengthen the former president's position in the political hierarchy. The role is not an executive one and the assembly...

IRAQ - Sept 5 - 6 US Soldiers Among 19 Killed In Explosions Across Baghdad.
September 8, 2007... A roadside bomb rocks an eastern Baghdad Shi'ite neighbourhood, killing at least 13 people and injuring 25 others when it exploded next to buses used by morning commuters, police and hospital officials said. The US military said six American...

ISRAEL - Sept 3 - Olmert Issues Warning After Rockets Are Fired At Israeli Border Town.(Ehud Olmert)
September 8, 2007... A rocket fires from Gaza on Sept 3 morning lands in an empty courtyard between a kindergarten and a school in the Israeli border town of Sderot, according to police officials there. The near-miss prompted calls from parents to close down the...

LEBANON - Sept 3 - Lebanese Refugee Camp Falls To Army.
September 8, 2007... The Lebanese military says it had seized full control of the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp after several hours of intense fighting with the militant Fatah al-Islam group, which had held out against an army siege for more than three...

LEBANON - Sept 5 - Lebanon's Parliament Opens The Way For Fierce Presidential Battle.
September 8, 2007... Lebanon's presidential election battle opens as the speaker of the deeply divided parliament set Sept. 25 as the date lawmakers must begin voting to select a head of state. The session would be the first time parliament has met since October of...

YEMEN - Sept 4 - Two Civilians Killed In Yemen Protests.
September 8, 2007... Two Yemenis are killed and more than 20 people injured when riot police fired bullets to disperse a second day of protests held by retired officers and soldiers wanting to rejoin the army, local officials said. Nasser Ba Qazqaz, head of the...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Sept 12 - Russia Rejects Tougher Stance On Iran.
September 15, 2007... Russia gives a clear indication that it will not back any immediate toughening in the UN approach to Iran's nuclear programme, in spite of US calls for leading powers to convene for discussions on the issue next week. As Washington made clear...

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Sept 10 - Olmert And Abbas Set Up Talks On Two-State Solution.
September 15, 2007... PM Ehud Olmert of Israel and President Mahmoud Abbas of the PA agree to set up a team of negotiators to flesh out their understandings of what a ermanent, two-state solution would like look and require. According to officials on both sides, the...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Sept 13 - US-Allied Sunni Leader Killed In Iraq.
September 15, 2007... The leader of a US-allied Sunni tribal coalition in the Iraqi province of Anbar is killed in an explosion, hours before President George W. Bush was due to deliver a speech on Washington's Iraq policy. Abd al-Sattar Abu Risha, whose Anbar...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Sept 13 - Bush Says He Will Withdraw 21,000 Soldiers By Summer.
September 15, 2007... President George W. Bush tried to turn a corner in the fractious debate over Iraq by ordering the first limited troop withdrawals since voters elected an anti-war Congress last year. But the move did little to appease Democratic leaders, who...

AFGHANISTAN - Sept 10 - At Least 26 Dead After Suicide Bombing In Crowded Afghan Market.
September 15, 2007... In one of the deadliest suicide attacks in Afghanistan this year, at least one suicide bomber killed at least 26 Afghans, half of them civilians, in a crowded market in southern Afghanistan. One bomber walked up to a truck full of policemen in...

IRAN - Sept 9 - Nuclear Program Not Negotiable Says Iranian President.(Ayat Ali Khamenei)
September 15, 2007... Iran's supreme leader says his country has no plans to build nuclear weapons, even as the nation's president makes clear that its controversial nuclear energy program itself is not negotiable. Speaking to an audience of Revolutionary Guards,...

IRAQ - Sept 10 - Iraqis Warn Against Quick Withdrawal.
September 15, 2007... Iraq's embattled government warns of the dangers of a hasty American military withdrawal, as it mounted a desperate defence of its record on national reconciliation. Speaking hours before General David Petraeus, the American commander, and Ryan...

IRAQ - Sept 9 - Iraq Tells Neighbours Violence Could Spill Over Borders.
September 15, 2007... FM Hoshyar Zebari urge Iraq's neighbours to prevent "terrorists and killers" from crossing into his country and warned that the violence in Iraq could spill across its borders into other countries. Zebari's comments came during the opening of a...

ISRAEL - Sept 9 - Netanyahu Pokes Holes In Olmert's War Performance.(Benjamin Netanyahu; Ehud Olmert)(Brief article)
September 15, 2007... Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu tells the Winograd Commission investigating failures in last year's war with Lebanon that he was surprised with PM Ehud Olmert's decision not to recruit reserves at the beginning of the fighting,...

LEBANON - Sept 12 - Compromise Sought In Lebanon's Political Crisis.
September 15, 2007... Lebanon's speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, says that he is pushing a proposal aimed at defusing the country's paralysing political crisis while also warning that Lebanon was headed toward "chaos" if a deal on electing a new president was not...

LIBYA - Sept 8 - Qaddafi To Assist With Darfur Peace Talks In Libya.
September 15, 2007... Sec Gen Ban Ki Moon meets with Col Muammar el-Qaddafi and says the Libyan leader had pledged to use his influence to get Sudanese rebel leaders to attend a peace conference next month on Darfur. "He said he would bring all the leaders of all...

MOROCCO - Sept 8 - Qaddafi To Assist With Darfur Peace Talks In Libya.
September 15, 2007... Sec Gen Ban Ki Moon meets with Col Muammar el-Qaddafi and says the Libyan leader had pledged to use his influence to get Sudanese rebel leaders to attend a peace conference next month on Darfur. "He said he would bring all the leaders of all...

PALESTINE - Sept 11 - Rocket From Gaza Wounds 40 Israeli Soldiers.
September 15, 2007... A Palestinian rocket fires from Gaza wounded about 40 soldiers sleeping in an Israeli Army base, prompting loud calls from politicians and parents for a major military operation against Hamas. The crude Qassam rocket landed on an empty tent...

SUDAN - Sept 14 - Sudan's President Talks Peace With Pope.
September 15, 2007... Sudan's president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, whose regime has been sanctioned and largely isolated by western governments for atrocities committed in Darfur, meets Pope Benedict XVI and Italy's PM Romano Prodi during a rare visit to Europe. Both...

TURKEY - Sept 10 - Turkey Demands Explanation From Israel Over Fuel Tanks Found Near Syrian Border.
September 15, 2007... Turkey calls the discovery on its territory of fuel tanks allegedly dropped by Israeli aircraft unacceptable and Syria branded it a hostile act. Turkish officials complained to Israel after the discovery of the unmarked fuel tanks near its...