2 MARCH 2002

Afghanistan

Afghan, US and allied forces began a major operation against remnants of al Qaeda and Taliban forces south of Gardez in Paktia province. The US provided over 1,000 ground troops and air support. The Afghans provided several hundred troops; there were also a small number of allied troops from Western countries. There appeared to be a couple hundred Taliban and al Qaeda troops in the area at the beginning of the operation, but this apparently was quickly reinforced by several hundred more in succeeding days (Reuters).

Israel

A suicide bomber killed nine Israelis in Jerusalem. The next day Israeli attack helicopters struck a Palestinian police station in Bethlehem (Reuters).

Italy

At least 120,000 people demonstrated in Rome against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and some of his government's recent and proposed legislation (Reuters).

3 MARCH 2002

Switzerland, Foreign Policy

Voters in a referendum narrowly approved Switzerland joining the UN. The "yes" camp won 54.6% of the popular vote and 12 of 23 full cantons, satisfying the required double majority (Reuters).

4 MARCH 2002

Kosovo

The protectorate's UN-sponsored assembly passed a coalition deal 88-3 with 15 abstentions. The agreement makes Ibrahim Rugova president and Bajram Rexhedi prime minister of the semi-autonomous government; the UN retains power over certain key areas such as security. Elections in November 2001 gave Rugova's Democratic League of Kosovo a plurality but not a working majority, necessitating the coalition agreement (Reuters).

5 MARCH 2002

Israel

A gunman from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades killed three Israelis in Tel Aviv. Later that day, Israeli aircraft struck PA and militant targets in the West Bank (Reuters).

7 MARCH 2002

Macedonia, Civil Affairs

Parliament approved an amnesty for former Albanian rebels 64-12 with eight abstentions (Reuters).

Israel, West Bank

Israeli forces began a sweep through the Tulkarm area, and there were airstrikes on PA targets. Late that day a Hamas gunman infiltrated the Atzmona settlement and killed four Israelis (Reuters).

8 MARCH 2002

Israel, Gaza Strip

Palestinian National Security Forces Major-General Ahmed Mefret was killed during a firefight with Israeli troops in Khuza'a (Reuters).

9 MARCH 2002

Israel

A Hamas suicide bomber killed 11 people in Jerusalem (Reuters).

Mexico

Army special forces captured Benjamin Arellano Felix, leader of a major drug-smuggling ring, in Puebla (Reuters).

9-11 MARCH 2002

Zimbabwe, Politics

There was a presidential election. President Robert Mugabe of the ruling ZANU-PF party won another six-year term of office, defeating Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

On the 9th and 10th, polling stations closed with significant numbers of people still waiting to vote. According to Election Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede, by mid-day on the 10th about a quarter of the registered voters in Harare had voted. The 205,000 votes gathered there was about half the number that had voted in the June 2000 parliamentary elections. On the 10th the MDC won a court order to have the election extended through the 11th in Harare and the nearby Chitungwiza settlement.

The final result, according to Mudede, was about 56% of the vote going to Mugabe and about 42% for Tsvangirai. Mudede estimated that about three million of 5.6 million eligible voters had voted. Tsvangirai alleged the arrest and beating of supporters and party officials during the campaign and the election (Reuters).

9-13 MARCH 2002

Afghanistan

Blizzards hampered operations against the al Qaeda troops near Gardez on the 9th. The Americans claimed on that day that they and their allies had killed several hundred enemy troops and surrounded the rest, and that, out of about 1,000 troops at the height of the battle, the al Qaeda were down to about 200 men. The coalition forces, on the other hand, had been reinforced, particularly by Afghans, so that they now numbered about 3,000 troops. In the following days the Afghan forces assumed a greater role as the remaining caves were cleared. By the 13th, the last organized resistance was ended and Taliban and al Qaeda remnants were retreating toward the Pakistani border (Reuters).

10 MARCH 2002

Congo, Politics

There was a presidential election. There was no serious challenger to President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, who received 89.4% of the vote. Pascal Lissouba and Bernard Kolelas had been convicted of crimes committed during the 1997 civil war and were barred from running. Anore Milongo withdrew from the race on the 8th, alleging irregularities (Reuters, IFES).

Israel, West Bank

Israeli forces began a sweep for Palestinian militants in Qalqilya (Reuters).

11-15 MARCH 2002

Israel, West Bank and Gaza Strip

On the 11th, Israeli forces began security sweeps and air strikes in Ramallah and near Gaza City. About 20,000 Israeli troops with armored support were now involved in operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Nevertheless, two nationalist ministers resigned from Prime Minister Sharon's coalition government. Also on the 11th, Sharon's office announced that PA president Yasser Arafat had met Israel's demand that he arrest the militants suspected of killing an Israeli cabinet minister in October and was therefore free to again move throughout PA territory. Arafat had been confined to Ramallah since mid-December.

The operations in the Gaza Strip were relatively brief, but the raids in the Ramallah area were expanded in the following days, lasting until the 15th. Israeli raids on refugee camps since late February produced numerous arrests of suspected Palestinian militants. But they also appear to have resulted in death or injury to dozens of civilians (Reuters).

12 MARCH 2002

Asia and the Pacific, Diplomatic Affairs

Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. They agreed on arrangements for Russian assistance in rebuilding Afghanistan. Putin also offered Russian help in clearing the large number of land mines, most of which are Russian-made (Reuters).

15 MARCH 2002

United States, Research

There was a successful ABM test over the Pacific. The sixth test since 1999, it for the first time used three decoy balloons instead of one. A modified Minuteman ICBM was launched from Vandenberg AFB, California, toward Kwajalein Atoll. A projectile weapon was fired from Kwajalein, with the kill vehicle separating from the rocket booster over 1,400 miles from the mock warhead and decoys. The weapon collided with the mock warhead over 140 miles above the ocean (Reuters).

16 MARCH 2002

Spain

About 250,000 people marched through Barcelona to demonstrate for a variety of causes including opposition to proposed liberalization of some aspects of economic policy within the EU. The occasion was an EU ministerial meeting being concluded there that day (Reuters).

Colombia

Unidentified gunmen killed Catholic archbishop Isaias Duarte Cancino in Cali (Reuters).

17 MARCH 2002

Portugal, Politics

In general elections, the Social Democrats, led by former prime minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, defeated the Socialists. The Social Democrats received 40.1% of the vote and won 102 seats in the 230-seat parliament. The Socialists won 39.9% and 95 seats, a loss of 20. The Popular Party, seen as a possible coalition partner for the Social Democrats, won 8.8% and 14 seats. The Communists had 7.0% and 12 seats, and the Left Bloc had 2.8% and three seats. Barroso had promised tax cuts and a reduction in government spending -- which in recent years has grown to nearly half of GDP -- as a way to revive a lagging economy (Reuters).

Pakistan

Unidentified attackers killed five people in a Protestant church in Islamabad. Leading government and Muslim leaders in the country condemned the attack (Reuters).

19 MARCH 2002

Yugoslavia, Politics

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Momcilo Perisic resigned. On the 7th he had been arrested along with a US diplomat by the federal government and later released. Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic then asked him to resign to facilitate investigation of espionage allegations (Reuters).

20 MARCH 2002

Venezuela

There were clashes between supporters and opponents of President Hugo Chavez in Barquisimeto (Reuters).

Peru

A car bombing in Lima near the US embassy killed seven people (Reuters).

Israel

Islamic Jihad carried out a suicide bombing of a bus in Umm al-Fahm, killing seven Israelis, three of whom were civilians (Reuters).

21 MARCH 2002

Israel

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades carried out a suicide bombing in Jerusalem, killing three Israelis (Reuters).

23 MARCH 2002

Italy

Police estimated about one million people participated in a peaceful demonstration in Rome organized by Italy's largest union, CGIL, to protest proposed labor market reforms (Reuters).

25 MARCH 2002

Afghanistan

A major earthquake near Nahrin killed about 1,000 people and left tens of thousands homeless (Reuters).

27 MARCH 2002

Israel

Hamas carried out a suicide bombing that killed 26 people in Netanya (Reuters).

Papua New Guinea

Parliament voted to grant autonomy to the island of Bougainville, and to prepare for a referendum on independence for the island in 10-15 years. However, the provisions of the vote are contingent upon destruction of the weapons of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) (Reuters).

Italy

About 100,000 people demonstrated in Rome against proposed labor market reforms (Reuters).

27-28 MARCH 2002

Middle East and North Africa, Diplomatic Affairs

The Arab League held a summit in Beirut, Lebanon. Most heads of state in the region were present, with the notable exception of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah. The League made a peace proposal to Israel and discouraged the US from attacking Iraq.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah proposed, and the summit adopted, a plan for resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict. Israel would return all occupied Arab land, agree to live alongside a Palestinian state, and, in the words of the Beirut Declaration issued at the end of the summit, agree to a "just solution" to the Palestinian refugee problem in line with a 1948 UN resolution that calls for the refugees to be repatriated or compensated. In return, the Arab countries would "consider the Arab-Israeli conflict ended and enter into a peace agreement with Israel (and) establish normal relations with Israel in the context of this comprehensive peace."

As for Iraq, the Declaration stressed members' "total rejection of any attack on Iraq" and called for UN sanctions on Iraq to be lifted. It also "welcomed Iraq's confirmation to respect the independence, sovereignty and security of the state of Kuwait and guarantees its safety and unity to avoid anything that might cause a repetition of what happened in 1990" (Reuters).

The main obstacles to Israeli acceptance of the Arab peace proposal appear to be Israel's reluctance to allow the return of Palestinian refugees, and the apparent inability of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to prevent Palestinian territory from being used by third parties for attacks on Israel.

29 MARCH 2002

Israel, West Bank

Israeli forces entered Ramallah and fought their way into PA president Yasser Arafat's headquarters. The Israelis appeared to be attempting to strike at terrorists without permanently reoccupying Palestinian areas or capturing or harming Arafat.

30 MARCH 2002

Israel

A suicide bombing killed two people in Jerusalem (Reuters).

31 MARCH 2002

Ukraine, Politics

In parliamentary elections, Our Ukraine, led by Viktor Yushchenko, won 112 seats in the 450 seat Supreme Council. For United Ukraine, led by Volodymyr Lytvyn, won 104 seats. The Communist Party won 66 seats, down from 117 (IFES, Reuters).

Israel, West Bank

Israeli forces occupied Qalqilya (Reuters).