Venezuela

The political opposition called a general strike on the 1st, intending to pressure President Hugo Chavez into either resigning or calling early elections. At first, the state oil firm, PDVSA, appeared to be unaffected. But by the 5th, many employees and oil tanker captains had joined the strike, significantly reducing the production and export of crude oil. In November, production was 3.1 million BPD. On the 10th, PDVSA said crude production had fallen below one million BPD.

On the 14th, over a half million people demonstrated in Caracas, calling on Chavez to resign.

On the 18th, the government issued a decree saying that the strike was affecting distribution and sale of gasoline and basic foodstuffs, and that "Privately owned maritime, land and air transport assets used for public supply, storage and distribution of oil and its products, and food, can be operated by authorized civilian personnel or the armed forces, until services return to normal, without affecting property rights." Opposition leaders said the move was illegal. On the 20th, hundreds of thousands demonstrated in Caracas against Chavez (Reuters).

By the 21st, crude oil production had fallen below 10% of November levels.1 By the 26th, it had fallen below 200,000 BPD.2 The government attempted to replace the strikers, but was apparently unable to find anything like sufficient numbers of qualified personnel.

1-2 DECEMBER 2002

Ivory Coast

Government forces with some armor support assaulted Man. They appeared to be in control of the town by the 2nd (Reuters).

4 DECEMBER 2002

Israel

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reiterated that he accepted "in principle" the outline for peace US President Bush presented on 24 June. Bush's proposal has evolved into a 'roadmap' supported by the US, EU, UN and Russia calling for Palestinian statehood by 2005. Sharon said he would be open to the creation of an "interim" state only after there is "an absolute end to terror" and new Palestinian leadership to replace PA president Yasser Arafat. He said Israel would allow such a state in areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip already given over to full or partial Palestinian control under 1990s accords but that Israel would retain control of "essential security areas". "The Palestinian state will be demilitarized. It will be able to have police with light weapons. Israel will control the borders and airspace", Sharon said. PA minister Saeb Erekat said, "Sharon is repeating his ideas of a long-term interim solution on 40 percent of the West Bank and 70 percent of the Gaza Strip. This will not fly....The only road to peace is when Israel withdraws to the June 1967 borders" (Reuters).

Diplomatic Affairs

The UN Security Council extended the oil-for-food program for Iraq another 180 days to 2 May 2003 and agreed to review the Goods Review List within 30 days. The US had been insisting on an immediate review; it wishes to add about 50 items including atropine, a nerve agent antidote (Reuters).

6 DECEMBER 2002

Organized Crime

Victor Patino Fomerque, a former leader of the Cali cocaine cartel, was extradited by Colombia to the US (Reuters).

Israel, Gaza Strip

Israeli forces with armor support raided Bureij refugee camp. There appeared to be fierce resistance from Hamas fighters (Reuters).

7 DECEMBER 2002

Diplomatic Affairs

Iraq submitted a detailed declaration of its military and dual-use programs and activities to the UN as required by UNSC 1441 (see 8 November). Hussam Mohammed Amin, head of Iraq's National Monitoring Directorate, said that in the 12,000 page dossier, "We declared that Iraq is empty of weapons of mass destruction" (Reuters).

Bangladesh

Bomb blasts at four cinemas in Mymenshingh killed 17 people. The perpetrators were unknown (Reuters).

8 DECEMBER 2002

Yugoslavia, Politics

Serbia held another abortive presidential election; turnout was around 45%, below the legal minimum of 50%. Of those who voted, 57.7% cast their ballots for Yugoslav President Kostunica (Reuters, IFES).

10 DECEMBER 2002

Iraq

About two dozen UN weapons inspectors arrived, bringing the total to about 70. Since the beginning of inspections on 27 November, they had failed to find unauthorized NBC weapons or components. On this particular day, inspectors conducted their largest operation to date, inspecting 10 sites including a phosphate facility at al-Qaem (Reuters).

13 DECEMBER 2002

Europe, Diplomatic Affairs

The EU, at the conclusion of a summit in Copenhagen, invited Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia to join the bloc in May 2004 (Reuters).

15 DECEMBER 2002

Israel

Wa'al Kassam was sentenced to 35 life terms for planning three terror bombings that killed 35 people (Reuters).

17 DECEMBER 2002

United States, Research

President Bush ordered the deployment of the new ABM interceptor by 2004, even though it is still under development. Reportedly, the intention is to deploy ten ground-based interceptors (at least six at Ft. Greely, Alaska, and perhaps four at Vandenberg AFB, California) in 2004, and another ten in 2005 (Reuters).

18 DECEMBER 2002

Sub-Saharan Africa, Diplomatic Affairs

At a meeting of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Dakar, Senegal, members agreed to deploy a peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast by the 31st. Senegal's Gen. Papa Khalil Fall was selected as commander (Reuters).

19 DECEMBER 2002

United States, Foreign Policy

Secretary of State Colin Powell said that the declaration Iraq submitted to the UN on the 7th, as called for by UNSC 1441, "totally fails to meet the resolution's requirements. Iraq's response is a catalog of recycled information and flagrant omissions....These are material omissions that in our view constitute another material breach." Powell cited, among other things, the declaration's failure to address suspected stocks of chemical and biological weapons/materials. He did not elaborate on any intelligence the US might have concerning the existence, extent or location of such stocks.

On 9 January 2003 the UN inspectors are to present to the Security Council a detailed assessment of Iraq's declaration (Reuters).

South Korea, Politics

A presidential election was held. Ruling Millenium Democratic Party candidate Roh Moo-hyun defeated Grand National Party candidate Lee Hoi-chang 48.9% to 46.6% (IFES, Reuters).

20 DECEMBER 2002

Ivory Coast

There were reports that Ivorian Popular Movement for the Far West rebels took Bangolo, 31 miles south of Man on the Man-Duekoue road, but the situation in the area was unclear.3

20-21 DECEMBER 2002

Pakistan

On the 20th, police in Karachi arrested four members of Jaish-e-Mohammed suspected of planning attacks on the Malir river bridge and other targets. The next day, a bomb exploded on a bus in Hyderabad, killing two (Reuters).

22 DECEMBER 2002

North Korea

The government confirmed that it had begun removing IAEA seals and cameras from its Yongbyon nuclear facility (Reuters).

Asia and the Pacific, Diplomatic Affairs

Officials from China, Iran, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan signed the "Kabul Declaration", agreeing to never again interfere in the internal affairs of Afghanistan (Reuters).

Iraq

Amir al-Saadi, an aid to President Saddam Hussein, addressing US and British claims that Iraq has undisclosed WMD programs, said, "We are ready to deal with each of those questions if you ask us. We do not even have any objections if the CIA sent somebody with the inspectors to show them the suspected sites" (Reuters).

27 DECEMBER 2002

North Korea

The government said it was expelling IAEA inspectors (Reuters).

Kenya, Politics

General elections were held. Most notable was the defeat of the ruling KANU party's candidate Uhuru Kenyatta by National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) candidate Mwai Kibaki. Kibaki later said that fighting corruption would be his top priority (Reuters).

29 DECEMBER 2002

Venezuela

Several hundred thousand people demonstrated in Caracas against President Chavez (Reuters).

Notes

1. Patrick Markey, "Venezuela Government Fights Strike, Moves Tanker", Reuters (www.reuters.com), 21 December 2002.

2. Patrick Markey, "Striking Foes of Venezuela's Chavez Press Demands", Reuters (www.reuters.com), 26 December 2002.

3. David Clarke, "Ivory Coast Rebels Advance South from Man", Reuters (www.reuters.com), 20 December 2002.