Fiji, Politics

Elections were held. Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase's indigenous Fijian party won 31 of the 71 seats; Mahendra Chaudhry's Fiji Labour Party (FLP) won 27 (Reuters).

2-3 SEPTEMBER 2001

Europe, Diplomatic Affairs

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Finland, meeting with Finnish President Tarja Halonen and other officials. Putin expressed Russia's opposition to the desire of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to join NATO. Finland is not seeking NATO membership but believes NATO should remain open to new members (Reuters).

3 SEPTEMBER 2001

South Korea, Politics

The National Assembly dismissed Unification Minister Lim Dong-won. The no-confidence motion passed 148-119. Lim was dismissed for his ministry's approval of a trip to North Korea by 'left-wing' activists in August (Reuters).

3-5 SEPTEMBER 2001

Diplomatic Affairs

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited Russia. He and Russian President Putin discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Reuters).

5 SEPTEMBER 2001

Israel

Israeli forces conducted a missile strike on the headquarters of the Palestinian paramilitary Force 17 organization, located at Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip (Reuters).

7 SEPTEMBER 2001

Colombia

The government extradited Fabio Ochoa to the United States. Ochoa is a former lieutenant of drug lord Pablo Escobar (Reuters).

7-9 SEPTEMBER 2001

Nigeria

There were Christian-Muslim riots in Jos that killed hundreds (Reuters).

9 SEPTEMBER 2001

Afghanistan

The leader of the rebel Northern Alliance, Ahmad Shah Masood, was attacked by a suicide bomber in his office in the northern part of the country. He was mortally wounded, and died on the 14th. He was succeeded by General Muhammad Fahim (Reuters).

Belarus, Politics

There was a presidential election. President Alexander Lukashenko overwhelmingly defeated his main challenger, Viktor Goncharik (Reuters).

Iraq

US and British aircraft struck three SAM sites southeast of Bagdad in the southern 'no-fly' zone (Reuters).

Diplomatic Affairs

There was a British Commonwealth ministerial meeting in Abuja, Nigeria on the land controversy in Zimbabwe. Britain agreed to co-finance compensation for farmers whose land is handed over to blacks. Zimbabwe agreed to conduct land redistribution within a legal framework (Reuters).

10-11 SEPTEMBER 2001

Sub-Saharan Africa, Diplomatic Affairs

The SADC held a summit meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe to discuss Zimbabwe's land crisis. The leaders of Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa and ministers from Angola, Nigeria and Tanzania attended (Reuters).

11 SEPTEMBER 2001

United States

A major terrorist operation killed 2,974 people, most of whom were civilians, in New York City and elsewhere. The World Trade Center was destroyed and the Pentagon, near Washington, D.C., was heavily damaged.

Terrorists hijacked four airliners -- two from Boston, one from Newark, and one from Dulles near Washington, D.C. At least 266 people were on board the planes. At 0846 local time, one of the airliners crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. At 0903 a second airliner crashed into the south tower. Massive fires started in the structures, resulting in the collapse of the south tower at 0959 and the north tower at 1029; 2,750 people were killed as a result.

About 0930, the airliner from Dulles crashed into the Pentagon, starting major fires which were later put out, and causing a section of the building to collapse. 184 airline passengers, crew members and Pentagon workers were killed (CNN.com).

The fourth airliner crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing 40. According to the 9/11 Commission report released three years later, the terrorists crashed the plane after passengers attempted to break into the cockpit.

In the months leading up to the attacks, President Bush reportedly received intelligence that Saudi exile Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda terrorist organization appeared to be planning new terrorist operations. Apparently there was no definite information on the time, place or method of such operations. Bin Laden, at the time living under the protection of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, denied involvement in the attacks on the US. However, the US soon blamed al Qaeda for the attacks (see 20 September), saying that 3 of the 19 hijackers were associates of bin Laden, and that bin Laden had urged his close associates to return to Afghanistan by 10 September because a major operation was planned. Al Qaeda appeared to have publicly accepted responsibility for the attacks in the following year (see 12 September 2002).

The 9/11 Commission report cited a CIA estimate that it cost al Qaeda $30 million per year before the ‘9/11' attacks to sustain its activities and that most of this money was raised through donations. The ‘9/11' attacks themselves cost al Qaeda around $400,000-$500,000 over two years to plan and prepare. The report’s findings contradicted the view held roughly before 2002 by many analysts that bin Laden used a considerable personal fortune to finance operations. Bin Laden was born into a wealthy Saudi family, and there have been indications that he received $1 million per year from 1970 to 1994. But in 1994 he was effectively cut off from at least the bulk of that money by a Saudi government crackdown.1

There was widespread condemnation of the attacks from foreign governments, including those of Libya, a longtime US adversary, and Iran, with which the US does not have diplomatic relations, as well as the Taliban. Iraq dissented, saying the US had gotten what it deserved (Reuters).

12 SEPTEMBER 2001

United States, Foreign Policy

President Bush called the previous day's attacks "acts of war" and committed the US to a "monumental struggle of good versus evil" (Reuters).

Diplomatic Affairs

NATO's governing body, the North Atlantic Council, responded to the terrorist attacks on the US. It released a statement saying, "The council agreed that if it is determined that this was an attack directed from abroad against the United States, it shall be regarded as an action covered by Article V of the Washington Treaty... Accordingly, the United States' NATO allies stand ready to provide the assistance that may be required as a consequence of these actions of barbarism." Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty, never invoked since the treaty was signed in 1949, commits its signatories to consider an armed attack against one as an attack against all, to be met by such action as each of them deems necessary, "including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area" (Reuters).

Afghanistan

The rebel Northern Alliance conducted a helicopter raid on Kabul airport (Reuters).

15 SEPTEMBER 2001

Pakistan, Foreign Policy

Pakistan told the US it would cooperate with US anti-terrorism efforts. The US had previously asked Pakistan to grant overflight and basing priviledges and to halt exports to Afghanistan (Reuters).

18 SEPTEMBER 2001

Diplomatic Affairs

French President Jacques Chirac visited US President Bush in Washington. Chirac expressed France's support for US efforts to defeat international terrorism (Reuters).

20 SEPTEMBER 2001

United States, Foreign Policy

In a speech before a joint session of Congress, and with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in attendance, President Bush said the US would commit "every means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence and every necessary weapon of war to the disruption and to the defeat of the global terror network."

He said that evidence gathered to date indicated that Saudi exile Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda organization were responsible for the attacks on 11 September. Bush demanded that the Taliban regime in Afghanistan hand over to the US all leaders of al Qaeda in that country, release all foreign nationals, close all terrorist training camps and give the US full access to them.

Bush said the US would strive to first defeat al Qaeda, then defeat all other terrorist groups with "world-wide reach". He told foreign governments the US expected their cooperation in this effort, and that "any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime" (Reuters).

Diplomatic Affairs

US and EU officials met in Washington, then released a statement saying, in part, "In the coming days, weeks and months, the United States and the European Union will work in partnership in a broad coalition to combat the evil of terrorism" (Reuters).

21 SEPTEMBER 2001

Pakistan

There were numerous demonstrations against President Musharraf's decision to assist the US in its counter-terrorist efforts. The largest protest, with about 20,000 people, was in Lahore. There was some violence, mostly in Karachi (Reuters).

22 SEPTEMBER 2001

Diplomatic Affairs

US President Bush lifted sanctions on India and Pakistan imposed after those countries' 1998 nuclear tests. The sanctions included bans on foreign assistance, munitions sales and licenses, government credits and financial assistance, and US support for multilateral financial assistance. Pakistan is also subject to other sanctions, including some related to the 1999 coup that brought then-General Pervez Musharraf to power; those were not affected by Bush's order (Reuters).

The United Arab Emirates severed diplomatic relations with Afghanistan's Taliban regime (Reuters).

25 SEPTEMBER 2001

Diplomatic Affairs

Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Afghanistan's Taliban regime because it "did not pay attention to all the contacts and attempts made by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to persuade it to stop harboring criminals and terrorists", according to a government statement (Reuters). This left Pakistan the only state that continued to recognize the Taliban regime as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

26 SEPTEMBER 2001

Afghanistan

A crowd of thousands stormed and burned the US embassy in Kabul. Diplomats and other US personnel have not been stationed there since 1989 (Reuters).

Northern Ireland

About 300 Protestants rioted in Belfast (Reuters).

26-27 SEPTEMBER 2001

Macedonia

NATO's "Essential Harvest" arms collection mission officially ended on the 26th. NATO claimed to have collected 3,875 weapons from the National Liberation Army (NLA) rebels. The next day, the NLA declared itself disbanded, but said parliament must not water down the proposed constitutional amendments before they are adopted (see 17 August).

Also on the 27th, a new NATO mission began with 1000 troops to protect observers monitoring implementation of the peace agreement. The mission is led by Germany, which will contribute 600 of the troops. It is to last three months, with an option for extention by mutual agreement between NATO and Macedonia (Reuters).

28 SEPTEMBER 2001

Diplomatic Affairs

Jordan's King Abdullah met US President Bush in Washington. Abdullah said Jordan supported US efforts against international terrorism (Reuters).

Pakistan

About 10,000 people demonstrated in Peshawar against President Musharraf and the US (Reuters).

Indonesia

About 4,000 people demonstrated in Jakarta against the US (Reuters).

Northern Ireland

Journalist Martin O'Hagan was murdered in Belfast by Protestant gunmen. They claimed responsibility under the cover name Red Hand Defenders (RHD) (Reuters).

29 SEPTEMBER 2001

United States

About 10,000 people demonstrated near the White House in Washington against US foreign policy (Reuters).

Notes

1. "Bin Laden's wealth not the force behind 9/11", Associated Press, 2 September 2004.