Iraq

US forces suffered 74 soldiers killed in action this month. Many of these were passengers aboard three helicopters that were shot down. Anti-US guerillas were more active, though most of the activity was in the 'Sunni triangle' near Baghdad. US forces responded with increased artillery and air bombardment of suspected guerilla hide-outs, particularly in Baghdad (Reuters).

According to the US, oil production is back up to its prewar level of about two million BPD, about three-quarters of which is being exported. However, sabotage, particularly in the northern oil fields, has crippled production in those fields. Bomb attacks on pipelines and other facilities appear to have become more concerted and better organized than they have been in the past.1

Georgia

President Eduard Shevardnadze's government was overthrown in a bloodless revolt.

On the 2nd, parliamentary elections were held. Opposition leaders charged electoral fraud, and 15,000 people demonstrated in Tbilisi against Sheverdnadze on the 8th. There was another protest on the 14th with 20,000. On the 20th the Central Election Commission said the pro-Sheverdnadze For a New Georgia bloc had won 57 seats in the 235-seat Supreme Council, the Democratic Revival Union had won 39, and the Saakashvili National Movement got 36. The US said there had been "massive vote fraud in Ajaria and other Georgian regions." Anti-government protests continued in succeeding days. On the 23rd Shevardnadze resigned. Outgoing parliament speaker Nino Burdzhanadze took over as interim president. On the 25th, parliament set a date of 4 January 2004 for a presidential election. The same day, the Supreme Court declared the results of the parliamentary election invalid (Reuters, IFES).

2 NOVEMBER 2003

Burundi

The rebel Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD) announced they would join the country's government (Reuters).

4 NOVEMBER 2003

Sri Lanka

President Chandrika Kumaratunga sacked three ministers of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's government and suspended parliament for two weeks. Kumaratunga's office, announcing the dismissal of the ministers, said, "This step has been taken after careful consideration, in order to prevent further deterioration of the security situation in the country." The President has been critical of the government's negotiations with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) rebels (Reuters).

9 NOVEMBER 2003

Saudi Arabia

Suicide bombers attacked the Muhaya residential compound in Riyadh, killing at least 18 people, generally foreign Arabs. Authorities blamed al-Qaeda (Reuters).

Guatemala, politics

There was a presidential election. Oscar Berger received 38% of the vote and Alvoro Colom got 28%. Former dictator Rios Montt got 17%. Berger and Colom will compete in a runoff next month (Reuters).

Japan, politics

In general elections the Democratic Party won 177 seats in the 480-seat lower house, up from 127. The Democrats were probably helped by their recent merger with the Liberal Party, which won 22 seats in the June 2000 elections (IFES).

11 NOVEMBER 2003

Dominican Republic

There were violent protests across the country against government economic policy (Reuters).

12 NOVEMBER 2003

Colombia, military affairs

Armed forces commander General Jorge Enrique Mora announced his resignation, effective on 20 November (Reuters).

Iraq

A suicide bomb attack on an Italian military police facility in Nassiriya killed 17 Italians and nine Iraqis (Reuters).

15 NOVEMBER 2003

Iraq

Jalal Talabani, current president of the Iraqi Governing Council, said that a sovereign Iraqi government would take over power from occupying forces by the end of June 2004. The government would be selected by an assembly to be picked by May by caucuses in each of Iraq's 18 provinces, and the Coalition Provisional Authority would be dissolved. A constitution would be written and democratic elections held by the end of 2005 (Reuters).

15-20 NOVEMBER 2003

Turkey

On the 15th, there were suicide car bomb attacks on two synagogues in Istanbul. On the 20th there were two suicide truck-bomb attacks, again in Istanbul, one against the British consulate and the other against the HSBC Bank headquarters. Fifty-eight people were killed and over 700 were wounded in the attacks. Al Qaeda and a Turkish group known as the Islamic Great Eastern Raiders Front (IBDA-C) claimed responsibility.

On 16 February 2007 seven suspected al Qaeda militants including Syrian Loa'i Mohammad Haj Bakr al-Saqa were sentenced to life imprisonment for involvement in the attacks. Prosecutors said Osama bin Laden personally ordered al-Saqa to organize the plot. Some suspects had testified that al Qaeda was unhappy that the group abandoned an initial plan to target an airbase used by the US and instead went after targets that involved killing Muslims.2

16 NOVEMBER 2003

Serbia and Montenegro

A presidential election for the Serbian Republic was held but was invalidated because turnout was below the required 50% (Reuters).

18-21 NOVEMBER 2003

Diplomatic affairs

US President Bush visited British Prime Minister Blair in London. On the 20th about 100,000 people demonstrated in London against Bush (Reuters).

20 NOVEMBER 2003

Iraq

A new survey by the Psychological Research Center of Baghdad University had shown that 71.5% of Iraqis questioned thought the US occupation was neccessary at least for a while, compared to 42% in a similar survey in June (Reuters).

22 NOVEMBER 2003

Croatia, politics

General elections were held. The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won 66 seats in the 151-seat Sabor, up from the 46 it won in January 2000. The bloc of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP), Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS), Liberal Party and LIBRA won 43, down from 53. The Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) and Democratic Center (DC) fell from 24 seats to three (IFES).

25 NOVEMBER 2003

Yemen

Police arrested a top al Qaeda suspect, Mohammad Hamdi al-Ahdad, also known as Abu Asem al-Macci, in Sanaa (Reuters).

26 NOVEMBER 2003

Diplomatic Affairs

The IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution which said Iran had taken the specific actions requested of it in the Board's 12 September resolution. But Iran's disclosures had revealed that it "failed in a number of instances over an extended period of time to meet its obligations under its Safeguards Agreement with respect to the reporting of nuclear material, and its processing and use, as well as the declaration of facilities where such material has been processed and stored....Iran enriched uranium and separated plutonium in undeclared facilities..." It welcomed an apparently more cooperative attitude by Iran toward addressing suspicions about its nuclear program (www.iaea.org).

Britain, Northern Ireland

Elections were held for the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) led by Ian Paisley, who opposes the Good Friday Agreement, and Sinn Fein (SF) made significant gains. The DUP replaced David Trimble's Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) as the largest party in the Assembly (Reuters, IFES).

Notes

1. Sue Pleming, "Attacks on Iraq's Oil Better Planned -- Official", Reuters (www.reuters.com), 3 December 2003.

2. "7 get life for deadly Turkey bombs", CNN.com, 16 February 2007; Reuters.