Iraq

Early in the month, Iraqi and US forces carried out an anti-insurgent sweep in Tal Afar, west of Mosul. The operation appeared to be carefully planned to limit civilian casualties and hardship in the neighborhoods being targeted.

There was a rise in terrorist attacks (see 14-17 September and 29 September). However, US Central Command commander General John Abizaid told Congress late in the month that "the amount of infiltration across the Syrian border remains a concern, but it's down" (CNN.com).

7-8 SEPTEMBER 2005

Western Hemispere

There was a major operation against the MS-13 gang involving over 6,400 government agents in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and the US. There were about 660 arrests (CNN.com).

8 SEPTEMBER 2005

Europe, economic affairs

Russia and Germany finalized the deal on a 1,200-kilometer natural gas pipeline running from Russia through Baltic international waters to Greifswald, Germany (Reuters).

Ukraine, politics

President Viktor Yushchenko fired his government, with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoschenko being replaced by Yuriy Yekhanurov (CNN.com).

9 SEPTEMBER 2005

Egypt, politics

President Hosni Mubarak was reelected in an election which was boycotted by most major opposition parties. Opposition and independent monitors claimed there were widespread irregularities. Still, the election was significant in that it was the first time Mubarak had to face a challenger. According to the elections commission, Mubarak received 88.6% of the vote, Ayman Nour of the opposition Al-Ghad party won 7.3% and Noaman Gomaa of the Wafd Party won 2.8%. Turnout was just 23% (AP).

10-12 SEPTEMBER 2005

Britain, Northern Ireland

There were riots and violent clashes between protesters and police in Belfast. Thousands were involved on both sides and considerable disruption was caused. The police had rerouted the annual march of the Orange Order away from a Catholic area, and the Orangemen had called for protests, but later denied responsibility for the violence. Authorities said the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Ulster Defense Association (UDA) were responsible for the worst attacks on police (AP).

11 SEPTEMBER 2005

Japan, politics

In parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won a major victory over the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DJP). The LDP won 296 of 480 seats in the lower house, up from 212. The DJP won 113 seats, down from 177. The LDP’s coalition partner, New Komeito, won 31 seats. Turnout was 67.5%. Koizumi had promised to push through substantial privatization of the public sector, particularly the postal system, and had pushed out of the LDP lawmakers who opposed his agenda (CNN.com).

12 SEPTEMBER 2005

Israel, Gaza Strip

The last Israeli ground forces withdrew. The Palestinian Authority (PA) now has authority over the area (CNN.com).

Norway, politics

In parliamentary elections, the Labour Party, led by Jens Stoltenberg, won 61 of 169 seats. The ruling coalition of the Progress Party and Conservative Party won 38 and 23 seats respectively. The Socialist Left Party, led by Kristin Halvorsen, won 15, the Christian People’s Party won 11, the Centre Party won 11 and the Liberal Party won 10. Turnout was 71.1%. On 17 October the new government was named, with Stoltenberg as Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Store as foreign minister and Halvorsen as finance minister (www.rulers.org, IFES).

13 SEPTEMBER 2005

Diplomatic affairs

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani met US President Bush in Washington (CNN.com).

Also, Chinese President Hu Jintao met Bush (Reuters).

13-19 SEPTEMBER 2005

Asia and the Pacific, diplomatic affairs

Talks were again held on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program between representatives of China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea and the US. On the 19th the parties released a statement describing an agreement that was reached.

The statement said that "The Democratic People's Republic of Korea committed to abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and returning at an early date to the treaty on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons and to IAEA safeguards.” The other five parties agreed to provide energy assistance to North Korea and promote economic cooperation. The statement acknowledged that North Korea has stated that it has the right to "peaceful uses of nuclear energy" and said that the provision of a nuclear light-water reactor will be discussed at "an appropriate time.”

The statement also touched on larger issues of North Korean-US relations. It said the two countries will "respect each other's sovereignty, exist peacefully together and take steps to normalize their relations....the United States affirmed that is has no nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula and has no intention to attack or invade the DPRK with nuclear or conventional weapons” (CNN.com).

14-17 SEPTEMBER 2005

Iraq

There were numerous terrorist attacks and other violence which appeared to be a coordinated effort on the part of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's ‘al Qaeda in Iraq’ group and which seemed directed at Shiites. On the 14th there were around ten car bomb attacks in Baghdad and elsewhere. The most serious was on a day-labor pick-up site in Baghdad which killed at least 112 people. On the 17th a car bombing on the eastern outskirts of Baghdad killed 30 people (CNN.com).

16 SEPTEMBER 2005

Diplomatic affairs

Russian President Vladimir Putin met US President Bush in Washington (AP).

17 SEPTEMBER 2005

New Zealand, politics

Parliamentary elections were held. Prime Minister Helen Clark’s Labour Party won 50 of 120 seats. The main opposition National Party won 48, up from 27 in the July 2002 elections. After about a month of negotiations, Clark announced an agreement with minority parties to form a new Labour-led coalition. Winston Peters, leader of the New Zealand First party, will be foreign minister. The National Party had advocated scrapping special treatment for the indigenous Maori minority and reducing the income tax (AP, IFES).

18 SEPTEMBER 2005

Germany, politics

Parliamentary elections were held. Provisional results showed Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) winning 225 seats, Chancellor Gerhard Shroeder’s Social Democratic Party (SDP) with 222, the Free Democratic Party (FDP) with 61, the Left Party (ex-Party of Democratic Socialism) with 54 and the Greens with 51. On 10 October the CDU and SDP announced a ‘grand coalition’ in which Merkel would become Chancellor and the CDU would have six ministries, including defense and interior. The SDP will have eight ministries, including foreign and finance. Merkel said an important task was establishing good relations with the US (CNN.com).

22 SEPTEMBER 2005

Sudan, politics

The new national unity cabinet was sworn in. President Omar al-Bashir’s National Congress Party had 15 of the 30 ministries, including defense, interior, justice and energy and mining. Nine went to the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), including the foreign ministry. Al-Bashir said, “The national unity government's responsibility is to make the country's unity a choice that attracts the people” (AP).

24 SEPTEMBER 2005

Diplomatic affairs

The IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution finding Iran to be in noncompliance of its Non-proliferation Treaty Safeguards Agreement and requiring Iran to be reported to the UN Security Council at an unspecified date in the future.

The resolution repeated the Agency’s standing concerns over Iran’s past failure to meet obligations under its NPT Safeguards Agreement and uncertainty over Iran’s motives in “pursuing a policy of concealment up to October 2003". It again stated that good progress had been made in Iran’s correction of the breeches but that “the Agency is not yet in a position to clarify some important outstanding issues after two and a half years of intensive inspections and investigation and that Iran’s full transparency is indispensible and overdue...” The resolution recalled the “emphasis placed in past resolutions on the importance of confidence building measures”, particularly the voluntary suspension of uranium enrichment related activities, and deplored Iran’s failure to heed the Agency’s call in August to re-establish the suspension and “to heed repeated calls to ratify the Additional Protocol and to reconsider its decision to construct a research reactor moderated by heavy water, as these measures would have helped build confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme...”

The resolution “Finds that Iran’s many failures and breaches of its obligations to comply with its NPT Safeguards Agreement, as detailed in GOV/2003/75, constitute non compliance in the context of Article XII.C of the Agency’s Statute...” The “absence of confidence that Iran’s nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful purposes have given rise to questions that are within the competence of the Security Council, as the organ bearing the main responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security...” The resolution urges Iran to “implement transparency measures...which extend beyond the formal requirements of the Safeguards Agreement and Additional Protocol”, to re-establish the suspension of enrichment-related activity, to “reconsider the construction of a research reactor moderated by heavy water” and to “ratify and implement in full the Additional Protocol...” (www.iaea.org)

United States

About 100,000 people demonstrated in Washington against US involvement in Iraq (AP).

24-28 SEPTEMBER 2005

Israel, West Bank and Gaza Strip

There were airstrikes on militant-related targets in the Gaza Strip. Also around this time some 400 wanted Palestinians were arrested in the West Bank (CNN.com).

25 SEPTEMBER 2005

Poland, politics

Parliamentary elections were held. The Law and Justice party (PiS) won 155 of 460 seats in the lower house (Sejm), up from 44 in September 2001. The Civic Platform (PO) won 133, up from 65. The Self-Defense Party (SO) won 56, while the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) won 55, down from 216. The League of Polish Families (LPR) won 34, and the Polish Peasant Party (PSL) won 25, down from 42. Turnout was 40.6% (www.rulers.org, IFES).

The PiS and PO have expressed their intention to form a ruling coalition. Both support economic liberalization, though the PiS wishes to retain a strong social welfare system. The PiS is also interested in fighting crime and defending Christian values. The PO has promised a 15% flat tax rate and wants to move more quickly with deregulation, privatization and budget cuts needed for swift adoption of the euro (CNN.com).

Iraq

A senior operative of ‘Al Qaeda in Iraq’, Abu Azzam (Abdulla Najim Abdulla Mohammed al-Juwari), was killed in Baghdad during a shootout with security forces, according to the Americans (CNN.com).

26 SEPTEMBER 2005

Britain, Northern Ireland

John de Chastelain, in charge of verifying the decommissioning of the IRA’s weapons, announced that the entire arsenal had been decommissioned. He said that the IRA had insisted that nothing in the process signal the IRA’s surrender or defeat. Accordingly, no photos were allowed and the full inventory would not be revealed “until this process is over”, presumably referring to the peace process. He said, however, that the size of the arsenal was “enormous” and consistent with estimates he had been provided with by the British and Irish security forces (CNN.com).

Al Qaeda

A court in Madrid, Spain convicted Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas involvement in the ‘9/11' attacks on the US in 2001 (CNN.com).

28 SEPTEMBER 2005

Iraq

A suicide bomber in Tal Afar killed nine people (CNN.com).

29 SEPTEMBER 2005

Algeria

A referendum was held on a government amnesty for rebels. The plan would generally pardon the rebels, except for those involved in massacres, rapes or bomb attacks in public places. Leading Islamists would be excluded from politics. Though the number of rebels has declined in recent years, there are still around 1,000, mostly belonging to the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).

According to the government, participation in the referendum was over 80%, with 97.4% voting ‘yes’. It appeared that participation in the Berber region was far below average (Reuters, AP).

Iraq

At least 102 people were killed by a series of three car bomb attacks in Balad (CNN.com).