1 MARCH 2006

Iraq

Two car bomb attacks in Baghdad killed 26 people (CNN.com).

1-4 MARCH 2006

Diplomatic affairs

US President Bush visited Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. The US and India tentatively agreed that India would open 14 civilian nuclear sites to international inspectors and the US would provide assistance to India's nuclear power industry. The US also agreed during Bush's visit to allow the sale to India of more technologically advanced weapon systems. On the 1st there was an anti-Bush demonstration of nearly 150,000 people, mostly Muslims, in New Delhi. On the 2nd a similar demonstration in Mumbai drew at least 65,000 (CNN.com).

2 MARCH 2006

Bangladesh

Security forces captured Shayek Abdur Rahman, leader of the Muslim extremist group Jamayetul Mujahedin, in Sylhet (CNN.com).

3 MARCH 2006

Democratic Republic of Congo

A joint DRC/UN operation against militias in Ituri province, involving about 2,500 DRC army and 500 UN peacekeeping troops, was called off when some DRC troops mutinied (Reuters).

Ecuador, civil affairs

Former president Lucio Gutierrez was released from jail. He had been jailed in October on charges connected with his ouster the previous April (Reuters).

5 MARCH 2006

Thailand

A demonstration in Bangkok against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra drew about 100,000, according to police estimates (CNN.com).

5-19 MARCH 2006

Benin

A presidential election was held. In the first round on the 5th, Yayi Boni won 35.6% of the vote, Adrien Houngbedji won 24.1%, Bruno Amoussou won 16.2% and Lehadi Vinagnon Soglo won 8.4%. Turnout was 76.9%. In the runoff on the 19th, Boni defeated Houngbedji 74.5% to 25.5%; turnout was 69.5% (www.rulers.org).

6 MARCH 2006

Iraq

Maj. Gen. Mubdar Hatim, commander of the 6th Iraqi army division, was killed in an ambush in Baghdad.

A car bomb in Baquba killed at least six (CNN.com).

7 MARCH 2006

India

Three bomb attacks in Varanasi killed 14 people. A previously unknown group called Lashkar-E-Kahar (Army of Destroyers) claimed responsibility and demanded that Indian “atrocities” in Kashmir stop (CNN.com).

Ecuador

President Alfredo Palacio declared a state of emergency in Napo, Orellana and Sucumbios provinces after state oil firm Petroecuador was hit by a strike by contract workers (Reuters).

9 MARCH 2006

Iraq

A car bomb attack on a Sunni Muslim mosque in Baghdad killed three people (CNN.com).

10 MARCH 2006

Sub-Saharan Africa, diplomatic affairs

The African Union (AU) extended its peacekeeping mission in the Darfur region of Sudan until 30 September (Reuters).

11 MARCH 2006

Serbia and Montenegro

Slobodan Milosevic, former president of Yugoslavia, died in his cell at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague, Netherlands (CNN.com).

12 MARCH 2006

Iraq

Seven car bombs killed at least 46 people and wounded over 200 in the Sadr City area of Baghdad (CNN.com).

14 MARCH 2006

Thailand

Police estimated 30-40,000 participated in an anti-Thaskin demonstration in Bangkok (AP).

15 MARCH 2006

Chad

The government said security forces had foiled a coup plot against President Idriss Deby; it later said about 100 members of the military had been arrested in connection with the plot and that the Rally for Progress and Justice rebel group was involved (Reuters).

16 MARCH 2006

Iraq

About 1,500 Iraqi and US troops launched Operation Swarmer, an anti-insurgent sweep near Samarra (CNN.com).

16-18 MARCH 2006

France

On the 16th there were about 200 generally peaceful demonstrations involving about 250,000 people around the country. They were protesting a new law, the 'contrat premiere embauche' (CPE), which would ease restrictions on firing workers. There were some clashes with police in Paris. On the 18th there were protests which appeared to be much larger (AP, Reuters).

18 MARCH 2006

Europe

About 15,000 people demonstrated in London against the war in Iraq. There were smaller demonstrations in several other cities (AP).

19 MARCH 2006

Belarus

A presidential election was held. Election authorities said President Alexander Lukashenko won 82.6% of the vote, defeating Alexander Milinkevich and two other candidates. The OSCE said the election was marred by "arbitrary use of state power and widespread detentions", and the US called for a new vote. But the Commonwealth of Independent States' mission said the elections had taken place within the requirements of Belorussian law (CNN.com, AP).

22 MARCH 2006

Spain

The ETA terrorist group announced a cease-fire. It released a statement saying, in part:

"ETA has decided to declare a permanent cease-fire from March 24, 2006.

"The object of this decision is to drive the democratic process in the Basque country in order to construct a new framework in which our rights as a people will be recognized and to ensure the future development of all political options.

"At the end of the process, Basque citizens should have their say and decide on their future.

"The Spanish and French states must recognize the result of this democratic process, with no type of limitation. The decision that we take as Basque citizens should be respected" (Reuters, CNN.com).

Gambia

The government said it had foiled a military coup plot (Reuters).

23 MARCH 2006

Iraq

There were four car bomb attacks in Baghdad including one at a Shiite mosque in southwest Baghdad that killed seven people (CNN.com).

25 MARCH 2006

Thailand

Police estimated 50,000 people participated in a rally in Bangkok against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra (AP).

United States

Police estimated over a half million people demonstrated in Los Angeles against proposed legislation in Congress that would crack down on illegal immigration (AP).

26 MARCH 2006

Ukraine, politics

Parliamentary elections were held. Viktor Yanukovych's Party of Regions (PRU) won 186 seats in the 450-seat Supreme Council (in the March 2003 elections the PRU competed as part of the 'For United Ukraine' bloc which won a total of 101 seats). The Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko (BYT), led by the former prime minister, won 129 seats, up from 22. President Viktor Yushchenko's 'Our Ukraine bloc', led by Yuriy Yekhanurov, won 81 seats, down from 112. The Socialist Party won 33 seats, and the Communist Party won 21, down from 65 (www.rulers.org, IFES).

28 MARCH 2006

Israel, politics

Parliamentary elections were held. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima party won 29 of the Knesset's 120 seats. Labor won 20 seats. Likud won 12, down from the 38 it won in the January 2003 elections; Shas also won 12. Yisrael Beitenu, the Russian immigrant party, won 11.

On 4 May the Knesset approved Olmert's new government by a 65-49 vote. Olmert intends, in the absence of successful negotiations with the Palestinians, to withdraw from most of the West Bank while retaining control of three large settlement blocks (CNN.com, IFES, AP).

France

Hundreds of thousands protested in various cities against the CPE. There were some scuffles with police in Paris (CNN.com).

29 MARCH 2006

Diplomatic affairs

The UN Security Council passed a resolution calling on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment activities within 30 days and to cooperate with the IAEA (CNN.com).