Democratic Republic of Congo

A new UN force replaced French peacekeepers in the Bunia area. The UN force was to ultimately number about 5,000 troops from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia and Uruguay (Reuters).

India

Late in the month, two car bombs killed 53 people in Bombay (CNN.com).

AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2003

Afghanistan

From late August, government forces conducted a sweep against Taliban elements in Zabul province. The Afghans had about 1,000 troops with US air support against an estimated similar number of Taliban. They claimed to have inflicted heavy losses on the Taliban forces (Reuters).

4 AUGUST 2003

Liberia

About 200 Nigerian peacekeeping troops arrived at Monrovia airport (Reuters).

5 AUGUST 2003

Indonesia

A car bomb attack on the JW Marriot Hotel in Jakarta killed 10 people and injured around 150. The Jemaah Islamiah terrorist group reportedly claimed responsibility (Reuters).

Qatar, politics

Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani accepted the decision of his son, Sheikh Jassim, to step down as crown prince and replaced him with his younger brother, Sheikh Tamim (Reuters).

6 AUGUST 2003

Ivory Coast

Parliament passed an amnesty for the rebels. It covers crimes against state security since September 2000. It excludes crimes against humanity and serious economic offenses (Reuters).

Ecuador, politics

President Lucio Gutierrez's governing alliance broke up after lawmakers from Pachakutik -- the political branch of the powerful Indian movement -- voted against labor reform legislation in Congress. Gutierrez's Patriotic Society party has only six of Congress' 100 votes (Reuters).

Liberia

The Nigerian force at Monrovia airport had increased to 450 personnel. Fighting between government and rebel forces in Monrovia had virtually ceased in anticipation of the arrival of the Nigerians in the city proper (Reuters).

7 AUGUST 2003

Liberia

Elements of the Nigerian peacekeeping force entered Monrovia and were welcomed by hundreds of thousands of Liberians weary of the civil war.

President Charles Taylor informed parliament he would hand over power to Vice President Moses Blah on the 11th. The rebels have demanded that Taylor leave the country (Reuters).

Iraq

A truck bomb attack on the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad killed 17 people.

Sporadic attacks on US troops continued. Fifty-five had been killed in action since 1 May. The Americans appeared by now to have decided that Saddam Hussein survived the war and were searching for him, especially north and west of Baghdad (Reuters).

Britain, Northern Ireland

Michael McKevitt, leader of the Real IRA terrorist group, was convicted of directing terrorism and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment (Reuters).

Serbia and Montenegro, military affairs

Over a dozen senior army officers, most of them generals, were removed from their posts or pensioned off by the Supreme Defense Council, the state's highest military body (Reuters).

8 AUGUST 2003

Israel, West Bank

Fayez Assader, a senior Hamas militant, was killed in an Israeli raid in the Nablus area (Reuters).

11 AUGUST 2003

Liberia

President Taylor flew into exile in Nigeria (Reuters).

12 AUGUST 2003

Israel

An element of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Rosh Ha'ayin that killed one person. Hamas carried out a suicide bombing in the Israeli settlement of Ariel in the West Bank, also killing one (Reuters).

13 AUGUST 2003

Liberia

Nigerian strength in the Monrovia area had reached 800 troops (Reuters).

14 AUGUST 2003

Liberia

Rebel forces handed over control of Monrovia's port to the Nigerians. About 100 US Marines landed at Monrovia airport from a small amphibious force that recently arrived from the Mediterranean (Reuters).

Thailand

Riduan Isamuddin, also known as 'Hambali', had recently been captured in Ayutthaya, in an operation carried out by US and Thai officials. Hambali is believed by the Americans to have been the operational chief of Jemaah Islamiah and al Qaeda's chief operative in southeast Asia, and is suspected of involvement in the 2002 Bali bombings, the recent bombing in Jakarta, and other attacks (Reuters).

Israel, West Bank

Mohammad Seder, of Islamic Jihad, was killed in a shootout with Israeli forces in Hebron (Reuters).

14-17 AUGUST 2003

Nigeria

There was Ijaw-Itsekiri violence in the Warri area (Reuters).

15 AUGUST 2003

Libya, foreign policy

Libya, in a letter to the UN Security Council, said it "accepts responsibility for the actions of its officials" in the destruction of Pam Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in December 1988 (Reuters).

16 AUGUST 2003

Uganda

Former dictator Idi Amin died in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (Reuters).

18 AUGUST 2003

Liberia

Government and rebel representatives signed a peace agreement in Ghana. President Moses Blah is to step down in October, making way for an interim government which will hold elections in 2005 (Reuters).

Iraq

Ex-vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan was captured by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Mosul (Reuters).

19 AUGUST 2003

Iraq

A truck bomb attack destroyed the UN offices in Baghdad, killing 22 people, including UN special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello.1

Israel

Hamas claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing of a bus in Jerusalem that killed at least 20 people and wounded around 100 (Reuters).

21 AUGUST 2003

Liberia

At talks in Ghana, government and rebel representatives agreed that Gyude Bryant of the Liberia Action Party will head the interim government. Bryant has said his top priority will be reconciliation and that he opposes pursuing people for war crimes, arguing instead for a general amnesty (Reuters).

Israel, Gaza Strip

Attack helicopters killed Ismail Abu Shanab, a senior member of Hamas, in Gaza (Reuters).

25 AUGUST 2003

Rwanda, politics

President Paul Kagame easily won the presidential election with 95.1% of the vote (IFES).

29 AUGUST 2003

Iraq

A car bomb attack at the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf killed 83 people including Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SICRI), and wounded 175 (Reuters).

30 AUGUST 2003

India, Kashmir

Gazi Baba, a senior leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammad insurgents, was killed in a shootout with security forces in Srinagar (Reuters).

Israel, Gaza Strip

An Israeli attack helicopter killed Abdullah Aqel and another Hamas militant in their car in Gaza (Reuters).

Barents Sea

At 0400 local time, a Russian nuclear-powered submarine, the K-159, capsized in rough seas three miles northwest of Kildin Island as it was being towed along the Kola Peninsula. One of the ten crewmen on board survived. The sub was being taken to Polyarny for scrapping (Reuters).

Notes

1. Todd S. Purdum, A Time of Our Choosing: America's War in Iraq, New York, Times Books, 2003, p. 261.