3 FEBRUARY 2002

Costa Rica, Politics

The first round of a presidential election was held. Abel Pacheco of the Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC) won 38.6% of the vote. Rolando Araya of the National Liberation Party (PLN) won 31.0%. Otton Solis, leader of the Citizens Action Party (PAC) and a defector from the PLN, won 26.2%. The runoff was scheduled for 7 April (IFES, Reuters).

8 FEBRUARY 2002

Diplomatic Affairs

Israeli Prime Minister Sharon met US President Bush in Washington (Reuters).

Asia and the Pacific, Diplomatic Affairs

Afghan interim government chairman Hamid Karzai met Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad. They agreed that their respective countries should put what Musharraf called the "misconceptions and misunderstandings" of the past behind them (Reuters).

9 FEBRUARY 2002

Algeria

Antar Zouabri, leader of the rebel Armed Islamic Group (GIA) was killed in a shootout with government forces in Boufarik (Reuters).

15 FEBRUARY 2002

Fiji, Politics

The court of appeal ruled that the government of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase had acted unconstitutionally when it, after its victory in the September 2001 elections, did not include any members of the Fiji Labour Party (FLP) in the cabinet (Reuters).

15-16 FEBRUARY 2002

Democratic Republic of the Congo

There was fighting between ethnic Lendu and Hema militia in the northeast, near Bunia (Reuters).

16 FEBRUARY 2002

Philippines

Two terror bombs in Zamboanga killied four people (Reuters).

16-17 FEBRUARY 2002

Nepal

Maoist rebels carried out numerous raids on government and military locations in and near Mangalsen (Reuters).

17 FEBRUARY 2002

Diplomatic Affairs

US President Bush began a six-day trip to Asia, during which he visited Japan, South Korea and China. During the Japan visit there was some discussion of Japan's economic recession as well as more traditional security topics (Reuters).

18-19 FEBRUARY 2002

Fiji

On the 18th, George Speight, on trial for treason, was sentenced to death after pleading guilty. Within hours the sentence was commuted to life in prison. Speight led a group that overthrew the government in May 2000.

On the 19th, ten other members of that group received sentences ranging from 18 months to three years in prison (Reuters).

20-21 FEBRUARY 2002

Israel, West Bank and Gaza Strip

Israeli forces conducted numerous strikes against PA facilities (Reuters).

20-23 FEBRUARY 2002

Colombia

On the 20th, the government announced a suspension of peace talks with the FARC rebels and began reoccupying the FARC's sanctuary. About 10,000 troops were involved in the operation and had occupied the towns in the enclave by the 23rd. President Andres Pastrana received a hero's welcome from local residents when he flew into San Vicente (Reuters).

22 FEBRUARY 2002

Angola

Jonas Savimbi, leader of the rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), was killed in a clash with government forces in the East. In the following weeks, leadership of the group apparently fell on Paulo Lukamba "Gato" (Reuters).

Italy

Four Tunisians suspected of links to al-Qaeda were found guilty of trading in false documents and of organizing illegal immigration and were sentenced to up to five years imprisonment. One of them, Essid Sami Ben Khemais, had already been convicted in Tunisia and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for belonging to a group tied to al-Qaeda. Police suspected he was sent to Italy by Osama bin Laden to supervise attacks in Europe. US investigators had said they believed Milan's Islamic cultural center was al-Qaeda's main European logistics base, something Muslim leaderrs in Italy have denied (Reuters).

22-23 FEBRUARY 2002

Nepal

A nationwide general strike was called by the Maoist rebels; much of the country's work force stayed home (Reuters).

25 FEBRUARY 2002

Zimbabwe, Politics

Police charged Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), with treason. The government claims that Tsvangirai was involved in a plot to assassinate President Robert Mugabe. Tsvangirai denied the charges. He was running for President against Mugabe in elections scheduled for 9-10 March (Reuters).

26 FEBRUARY 2002

Asia and the Pacific, Diplomatic Affairs

Chinese President Jiang Zemin began a brief visit to Vietnam (Reuters).

27 FEBRUARY 2002

Venezuela

Tens of thousands were involved in demonstrations in Caracas for and against President Hugo Chavez (Reuters).

27 FEBRUARY-10 MARCH 2002

India

On 27 February a Muslim mob attacked a train in Godhra, Gujarat state carrying Hindu activists, killing 58 people. There followed riots by Hindu mobs, mainly in Godhra and Ahmedabad, killing many Muslims. By 10 March over 700 people had died as a result of the violence (Reuters).