Kyrgyzstan

Late in the month there were increasingly frequent pro-democracy demonstrations around the country. On the 20th, at least 10,000 protesters violently seized control of some government facilities in Jalal-Abad.

On the 21st, in Osh, about 2,000 armed protesters seized the governor’s office, regional police and security stations and the airport. The opposition also took over government buildings in a handful of other cities and towns in the south. The same day about 15,000 people peacefully demonstrated in Jalal-Abad.

On the 24th, protesters seized the country’s seat of government in Bishkek. President Ashkar Akayev fled to Moscow, Russia, formally resigning his office on 5 April. Security forces did not intervene against the opposition takeover.

On the 28th, parliament named Kurmanbek Bakiyev acting prime minister, and on 11 April, it scheduled presidential elections for 10 July (AP, CNN.com).

Bolivia

There were increased highway roadblocks by people opposed to a controversial energy bill in the Congress designed to increase foreign investment in the country’s natural gas reserves. These roadblocks had progressed to the point where they were hurting the economy. President Carlos Mesa refused to use force to remove the roadblocks but signaled an unwillingness to continue in office under the circumstances (Reuters).

1 MARCH 2005

Lebanon, politics

Prime Minister Omar Karami announced the resignation of his government. Tens of thousands celebrated in Beirut (CNN.com, BBC).

Venezuela

Authorities said they had arrested labor leader Carlos Ortega in Caracas. Costa Rica had revoked his asylum the previous August (AP).

3 MARCH 2005

Middle East and North Africa, diplomatic affairs

Syrian President Bashar Assad met Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah and other officials in Riyadh. The Saudis reportedly told Assad to quickly remove all Syrian forces from Lebanon or relations would be strained.1

Indonesia

Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir was sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment for his involvement in the 2002 Bali terror bombings (Reuters).

He was released from prison in June 2006 and his conviction was overturned that December (AP).

4 MARCH 2005

Togo

President Faure Gnassingbe announced that elections would be held on 24 April, and resigned. Bonfoh Abass, deputy speaker of parliament, took over as interim leader (AP).

Israel

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack in Tel Aviv that killed five people (BBC).

5 MARCH 2005

Syria, foreign policy

President Bashar Assad said Syrian military forces would withdraw from Lebanon; he did not give a timetable (CNN.com).

6 MARCH 2005

Moldova, politics

Parliamentary elections were held. The Communist Party of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) won 56 of the 101 seats, down from 71. The Democratic Moldova Bloc (BMD) won 34, up from 19, and the Christian Democratic Party (PPCD) won 11 (IFES).

8 MARCH 2005

Russia, Chechnya

Rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov was killed by Russian troops in Tolstoy-Yurt (CNN.com).

Bolivia

Congress voted to reject President Carlos Mesa’s offer to resign. Recently there had been protests over economic issues including certain privatization efforts and taxation of foreign oil producers (AP).

Lebanon

Hundreds of thousands of people participated in a pro-Syrian rally in Beirut organized by Hezbollah (CNN.com).

Kosovo

Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj resigned after being indicted by a UN tribunal for war crimes against Serbs (CNN.com).

8 MARCH-26 APRIL 2005

Lebanon

Syria’s ground forces withdrew. In the first stage, from 8 to 17 March, they withdrew from the north and central parts of the country. By the 17th, 4,000 of the 14,000 troops had been withdrawn to Syria; the rest were in the Bekaa Valley. By 26 April the last elements had crossed into Syria (AP, CNN.com).

9 MARCH 2005

Guatemala

About 1,000 protesters opposed to the proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) forcibly delayed a session of the legislature in Guatemala City (AP).

10 MARCH 2005

Lebanon, politics

President Emile Lahoud reappointed Omar Karami prime minister. Karami called for a national unity government, but the opposition said it would not participate until its demands were met. Those included the withdrawal of Syrian forces from the country, the resignation of pro-Syrian security chiefs and an international investigation into the assassination of Rafik Hariri (CNN.com).

Iraq

A suicide bombing near the Shahedayein Mosque in Mosul killed at least 47 people (CNN.com).

China, Hong Kong

Chief executive Tung Chee-hwa resigned; he was succeeded on the 12th by Donald Tsang (www.rulers.org, CNN.com).

11 MARCH 2005

Diplomatic affairs

The foreign ministers of Britian, France and Germany or the ‘EU-3', the countries attempting to persuade Iran to permanently suspend uranium enrichment and fully cooperate with the IAEA, publicly stated that if “Iran does not do so, then as has been implicit in the agreements reached with Iran and well understood by all concerned, we shall have no choice but to support referring Iran’s nuclear programme to the U.N. Security Council.” The US had pushed for that step to be threatened. Later that day the US dropped its objection to Iran’s application for membership in the World Trade Organization, something the Europeans had pressed for (CNN.com).

Britain, civil affairs

New anti-terrorist legislation was approved which allows the government to take strong action against Britons and foreigners suspected of terrorism. It replaced older laws which applied only to foreigners (Reuters).

13 MARCH 2005

China

The National People’s Congress approved a measure that called, as a last resort, for “non-peaceful means” to be used to prevent the secession of any part of China. It appeared designed to deter the government of Taiwan from declaring independence from China (Reuters).

Central African Republic, politics

Elections were held. President Francois Bozize won 43% of the vote, Martin Ziguele won 23.5%, and Andre Kolingba won 16.4%. A runoff was scheduled for 1 May; this is also when most of the parliamentary races were to be decided (www.rulers.org).

14 MARCH 2005

Lebanon

The political opposition held a massive rally in Beirut, estimated by many to be around 800,000 people (CNN.com).

14-16 MARCH 2005

Guatemala

On the 14th there were anti-CAFTA demonstrations in Guatemala City and elsewhere. President Oscar Berger signed CAFTA into law on the 15th. The next day, police clashed with demonstrators blocking a highway near the Mexican border (AP).

16 MARCH 2005

Israel, West Bank

Israel transferred security control of Jericho to the Palestinian Authority (PA) (CNN.com).

17 MARCH 2005

Israel

Palestinian militant groups said they would halt attacks on Israel for the rest of the year. The declaration said the halt in violence was conditional on Israel halting all military operations against Palestinians and releasing all 8,000 Palestinian prisoners (AP).

19 MARCH 2005

United States, foreign policy

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said “the United States unambiguously supports a permanent seat for Japan on the United Nations Security Council” (AP).

Pakistan

At least 28 Shi’ite worshipers were killed in a bomb attack in Naseerabad, in Baluchistan province (AP).

20 MARCH 2005

Haiti

There were clashes between UN troops and ex-army rebels near Petit-Goave and Hinche (AP).

Pakistan

Tens of thousands attended an anti-Musharraf and anti-US rally in Karachi organized by religious parties (CNN.com).

21 MARCH 2005

Israel, West Bank

Israel turned over control of Tulkarem to the PA (CNN.com).

23 MARCH 2005

Pakistan

There was another anti-Musharraf demonstration in Lahore (CNN.com).

31 MARCH 2005

Zimbabwe, politics

Parliamentary elections were held. The ruling African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) won 78 of the 120 contested seats, up from the 62 it won in June 2000. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) won 41, down from 57. The MDC and some foreign governments said the elections were not fair (IFES, CNN.com).

Notes

1. "Saudis to Assad: Get army out soon", AP, 3 March 2005.