Israel

Early in the month, Hamas conducted a suicide bombing attack in West Jerusalem that killed 15 Israelis, including six children (Reuters).

1 AUGUST 2001

Democratic Republic of Congo

The Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) rebels claimed that their forces had taken Lokandu from pro-government militia (Reuters).

2 AUGUST 2001

Bosnia, War Crimes

The Hague war crimes court sentenced former Bosnian Serb general Radislav Krstic to 46 years imprisonment for genocide. Krstic commanded Bosnian Serb forces that captured Srebrenica in July 1995. About 8000 Muslim men were subsequently executed there (Reuters).

10 AUGUST 2001

Iraq

US and British aircraft struck air defense targets in southern Iraq (Reuters).

12 AUGUST 2001

Sub-Saharan Africa, Diplomatic Affairs

Leaders of the 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) met in Blantyre, Malawi for their annual summit. The SADC includes Angola, Botswana, the DRC, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe (Reuters).

17 AUGUST 2001

Macedonia

The first elements of a mostly-British force of about 400 NATO troops entered the country. They were to make contact with National Liberation Army (NLA) rebels in preparation for a possible NATO mission to collect weapons.

The government and the NLA had agreed to a cease-fire. The NLA had agreed to disarm in return for the granting, by the government, of greater rights for the ethnic-Albanian minority. The constitutional amendments parliament agreed to adopt covered amnesty for the NLA, devolving power to regions with large minority communities, and raising the number of ethnic Albanians in the police to reflect their 30% share of the population. NATO had tentatively agreed to provide 3,500 troops to disarm the NLA. (Reuters).

Yugoslavia, Politics

Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) left the governing coalition of Serbia state led by Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic (Reuters).

17-19 AUGUST 2001

Western Hemisphere, Diplomatic Affairs

Leaders of the Rio Group met in Santiago, Chile for their annual summit. The Rio Group includes Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela (Reuters).

20 AUGUST 2001

Algeria

Tens of thousands of ethnic Berbers demonstrated in Ouzellaguene against the presence of Gendarmerie (paramilitary Ministry of Defense) units in the Kabylie region (Reuters; IISS, The Military Balance 1998/99).

22 AUGUST 2001

Macedonia

NATO's North Atlantic Council authorized the mission to disarm the NLA rebels (see 17 August). About 400 NATO troops were already in the country. The remainder of the projected 4,500-strong force began to arrive the same day. The mission, named "Essential Harvest", was given a one month madate (Reuters).

About 1,800 of the troops were from Britain. There was no US element, though the US provided some logistical and other support for the operation (Reuters).

Spain

The Ertzainza (Basque regional police) arrested eight suspected ETA members (Reuters).

23 AUGUST 2001

Spain

France sent ETA member Jose Luis Urrusolo Sistiaga, alias Joseba, back to Spain to face charges of murder, kidnapping and bombing. He had already served over four years in a French jail for associating with a group with terrorist aims (Reuters).

25 AUGUST-4 SEPTEMBER 2001

Iraq

US and British aircraft conducted intermitent raids on Iraqi air defenses. The raids on the 4th included US aircraft from the carrier Enterprise in the Persian Gulf and land bases near southern Iraq, and struck targets in the northern and southern 'no-fly' zones (Reuters).

25 AUGUST-9 SEPTEMBER 2001

Fiji, Politics

General elections were held from 25 August to 1 September. The Soqosoqo Duavata Ni Lewenivanua party, led by the military-appointed Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase, won 31 of the 71 seats in parliament. The Labor Party, led by former prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry, won 27 seats. George Speight's ethnic-Fijian-oriented Conservative Alliance won 6 seats. On 9 September, Qarase was sworn in as Prime Minister (Reuters).

27 AUGUST 2001

Israel

An Israeli missile strike killed Abu Ali Mustafa, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in his office in Ramallah (Reuters).

30 AUGUST 2001

Macedonia

NATO forces had collected about 1,400 weapons from the NLA (Reuters).