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View Full Version : Daily Summary - Tuesday, December 20, 2005


Airbornelawyer
12-20-2005, 11:27
Middle East:

Iraq: Security incidents in Iraq, Dec. 20 (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KAM946165.htm) - (Reuters Alertnet (http://www.alertnet.org))
Middle East / South & Central Asia: Ongoing operations (http://www.mnf-iraq.com/releases.htm) – Miscellaneous releases from U.S. Central Command (http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/release_list.asp).
Iraq: Ongoing operations (http://www.mnf-iraq.com/releases.htm) – Miscellaneous releases from Multi-National Force Iraq (http://www.mnf-iraq.com/).

South & Central Asia:

Afghanistan: Three Italians hurt in Afghan suicide attack (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL69700.htm) - Three Italian peacekeepers were slightly wounded in a suicide car bomb attack in the western Afghan city of Herat on Tuesday, and at least one attacker died, a spokesman for the NATO-led peacekeeping force said. In a separate incident, the governor of the eastern province of Nuristan escaped injury after 20 rockets were fired at his vehicle on Monday, his spokesman said.… (Reuters Alertnet (http://www.alertnet.org))
Afghanistan: NATO must cover U.S. Afghan troop cuts -- U.N. (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL66178.htm) - U.S. troop cuts in Afghanistan must be covered by deployments of NATO-led peacekeepers due to take place next year, the U.N.'s peacekeeping chief said on Tuesday. The Pentagon confirmed on Tuesday that U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had ordered a cut in the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to about 16,000 from a current 19,000 by next spring. The move had been anticipated since NATO agreed to expand next year into southern Afghanistan, where Taliban and allied insurgents are most active, and to boost its 9,000-strong peacekeeping force to 15,000.… (Reuters Alertnet (http://www.alertnet.org))
Pakistan: Pakistani rebels blow up rail line, fire rockets (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL263467.htm) - Pakistani rebels blew up a railway line and fired rockets at government buildings in troubled Baluchistan province on Tuesday as government forces pressed on with an offensive, a security official said.… (Reuters Alertnet (http://www.alertnet.org))
South Asia: South Asia Terrorism Update (http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/detailed_news.asp?date1=12/20/2005) (South Asia Terrorism Portal (http://www.satp.org))
Sri Lanka: Security Situation Report (http://www.army.lk/news/index.html). (Sri Lanka Army (http://www.army.lk))

East Asia and the Pacific

North Korea: N Korea to resume nuclear plans (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4545056.stm) - North Korea has said it intends to resume building two nuclear reactors, to increase its energy capacity. The North said the move was necessary because the US had pulled out of a key deal to build it two new reactors. But some analysts fear the North wants the reactors completed so that it can produce more plutonium with which to manufacture atomic bombs.… (BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/))
The Philippines: Philippine communist guerrillas kill 4 soldiers (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/BKK3732.htm) - Philippine communist rebels killed four soldiers and wounded a woman in an attack at a public market on the southern island of Mindanao, an army field commander said on Tuesday.… (Reuters Alertnet (http://www.alertnet.org))
The Philippines: Philippines says arrests Islamic militant lead (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/MAN58806.htm) - The capture of a leader of a radical group of Muslim converts may have averted a wave of bombs in Manila over the Christmas holidays, Philippine intelligence officials said on Tuesday.… (Reuters Alertnet (http://www.alertnet.org))

Europe

Germany: Germany frees jailed Hizbollah man wanted by U.S (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L20694064.htm) - Germany has quietly released a Hizbollah member jailed for life for the murder of a U.S. Navy diver, disregarding Washington's desire that he either be extradited or remain behind bars, officials said on Tuesday. The government said there was no link between Hammadi's release and that of a German hostage in Iraq just days later. "He served his term," Eva Schmierer, a spokeswoman for Germany's justice ministry, told a news conference. Sources in Berlin and Beirut said earlier that Mohammad Ali Hammadi, convicted of killing Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem in Beirut during the 1985 hijacking of a TWA flight and sentenced to life in prison, was flown back to Lebanon last week.… (Reuters Alertnet (http://www.alertnet.org))

Africa

Nigeria: Deadly attack on Nigeria pipeline (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4546556.stm) - Unidentified gunmen have blown up a pipeline in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta region, officials say. Eight people have been killed and many more are missing after the pipeline was destroyed with dynamite, said the chairman of the local authority.… (BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/))

The Americas

The Americas: USSOUTHCOM Headline News (http://www.southcom.mil/pa/News/AOR%20News/Today's%20News.doc) (Microsoft Word format)
The Americas: NOTIMIL: Prensa al Día (http://www.portal.fuerzasarmadasecuador.org/espanol/mostrarweb.php?id=151), defense and military news related to Ecuador and the Americas, provided by the Fuerzas Armadas Ecuatoriana (http://www.fuerzasarmadasecuador.org/). In Spanish.
The Americas: Destaques da Imprensa (https://www.defesa.gov.br/enternet/sitios/internet/clipping/index.php), defense and military news related to Brazil and the Americas, provided by the Brazilian Ministério da Defesa (http://www.defesa.gov.br/). In Portuguese.
Venezuela: Venezuela gives Exxon ultimatum (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4544390.stm) - Venezuela has given the world's biggest oil company, ExxonMobil, until the end of this year to enter a joint venture with the state. Failure to do so will almost certainly result in Exxon losing its oil field concessions in the country. Venezuela's socialist government has now signed new agreements with almost all foreign petroleum companies. After months of pressure from left- wing leader Hugo Chavez most foreign oil firms working there have caved in. They have agreed to hand over a controlling stake of their oil interests to the Venezuelan state.… (BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/))
Colombia: Ejército prosigue ofensiva en el departamento del Cauca (http://www.ejercito.mil.co/?idcategoria=89854&PHPSESSID=5eea850c93666092cb1f4bc84cccdf17) - Con la baja de dos integrantes de la organización terrorista autodenominada Nueva Generación o Mano Negra, el Ejército Nacional, a través de la Vigésima Novena Brigada, avanza en su ofensiva contra las estructuras armadas al margen de la Ley que amenazan la tranquilidad del departamento del Cauca.... (Ejército Nacional de Colombia (http://www.ejercito.mil.co))

Airbornelawyer
12-20-2005, 11:40
From the RFE/RL Newsline (http://www.rferl.org/newsline/):

Russia
PRESIDENT HAILS FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SERVICE
President Vladimir Putin praised the work of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) in a 19 December Moscow address to mark the service's 85th anniversary, Interfax reported. "The leadership of the country appreciates the excellent job done by the [SVR].... I know that one can rely on your information in making crucial political decisions and that the instructions you get will be fulfilled precisely and on time," he stressed. Putin added that "the content of intelligence data has improved considerably in recent years," including the preparation of timely analyses, forecasts, and concrete proposals. He stressed the importance of anticipating and meeting new threats, particularly in response to terrorism. "This standard must remain high. Life gives us new tasks, and the special services must respond to these challenges quickly and adequately, which presupposes flexibility, high mobility, and quality," he said. Putin warned that "the risk of extremist groups getting hold of weapons of mass destruction and their components is particularly great now." He argued that "the Foreign Intelligence Service, just like Soviet foreign intelligence in the past, is one of the most capable and efficient intelligence services in the world. It is respected both by friends and opponents."
SVR HEAD EXPRESSES CONCERN ABOUT RUSSIA'S NEIGHBORS...
Army General Sergei Lebedev, who heads the SVR, marked its 85th anniversary by saying that "Russians cannot help but be concerned about new military bases and military contingents being deployed around our country. Therefore, the main task facing the [SVR] is to detect military threats to Russia in good time," Interfax reported on 19 December. He added that unspecified political changes in some CIS member states "influence our activity in a certain way. For example, a closer rapprochement between some CIS republics and NATO will regrettably force us to revise some aspects of our cooperation" with them, Lebedev said. Concerning the intelligence services of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which are among NATO's newest members, he said that the SVR "does not regard them as adversaries." Lebedev added that "naturally, [their] special services have intensified cooperation with NATO intelligence structures and have been in close contact with them. But I don't think they pose any serious threat to Russia, even though we know they are working against us."
...BUT DENIES THERE IS A 'MAIN ADVERSARY'...
General Lebedev told reporters on 19 December in Moscow that unspecified changes have taken place around the world in recent years to enable Russia to abandon the term "main adversary" in discussing its external relations, Interfax reported. He stressed that "new but no less serious threats and challenges facing our state's security have replaced old threats and challenges. Today the most serious threats come from international terrorism, and from religious and nationalist extremism. Hotbeds of tension along the perimeter of Russia's borders continue to smolder." Lebedev also referred to the fight against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and measures against drug trafficking, illegal arms trade, and illegal migration as priorities for the SVR. Asked whether progress has been made in recent years in reducing the threat from the development and proliferation of particularly dangerous weapons, Lebedev said that he cannot "give a definite answer to this question because this is a comprehensive problem and involves steps to counter the spread of both nuclear, chemical, and biological arms and related technologies and materials." He added, however, that "we have been working in close cooperation with other Russian agencies and foreign special services. Our joint efforts have made it more difficult [for terrorists and extremists] to acquire weapons of mass destruction and their components," he said.
...AND SAYS THAT IRAN HAS NO NUKES
In interviews marking the SVR's 85th anniversary, General Lebedev said in Moscow on 19 December that Iran has no nuclear weapons, Interfax reported. He added that "we have been monitoring the events surrounding Iran carefully. And we report about [them] to our superiors. We care about how the events develop. But, as of now, we have no information about Iran developing nuclear weapons." He stressed that "consequently, there is no reason to use force against Iran." Asked whether North Korea has nuclear weapons, Lebedev said, "We don't have [any such] information." He said that unnamed foreign governments are wrong to "scare [their] ordinary citizens...with [tales of] Russian spies," but he did not rule out confrontation in Russia's external relations. "As far as confrontation is concerned, I view it as a natural element of international relations. The only question is what exactly one means by it," Lebedev said. "Confrontation can be intellectual, psychological, political, [or] diplomatic. I can say that it continues to exist in relations between intelligence agencies because they, including the [SVR], primarily defend the interests of their own states."
PRO-MOSCOW CHECHEN LEADER CALLS FOR REDUCTION IN RUSSIAN TROOP PRESENCE
Speaking on 19 December at a press conference at Interfax's head office in Moscow, Alu Alkhanov argued that the Russian military presence in Chechnya should be reduced by "thousands" of men, and responsibility for the ongoing "antiterrorism" operation should be turned over to local law-enforcement agencies, Interfax reported. Alkhanov also claimed a dramatic reduction in the number of terrorist acts in Chechnya this year, from 113 in 2004 to 39 in 2005. Alkhanov said the draft power-sharing treaty between Chechnya and the federal government has been submitted to the newly elected Chechen parliament for approval, after which it will be forwarded to Moscow. But in a seeming contradiction, he also declined to rule out the possibility of merging Chechnya and Ingushetia to form a single federation subject, saying merely that the issue should be put to a referendum in both republics, ingushetiya.ru reported, quoting Interfax.

Airbornelawyer
12-20-2005, 11:41
Transcaucasia and Central Asia
MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRMEN VISIT AZERBAIJAN
The three co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group held talks in Baku on 16 December with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, Defense Minister Colonel General Safar Abiev, President Ilham Aliyev, and with the head of the former Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh, Nizami Bahmanov, Azerbaijani media reported. At a subsequent press conference, the co-chairs expressed cautious optimism that 2006 might mark a breakthrough in the peace process. They noted that an OSCE planning group is currently in Azerbaijan to assess needs for a peacekeeping contingent that would be deployed once a formal peace settlement is signed. They also said a meeting may take place in late January or early February between President Aliyev and his Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharian. But Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov told journalists in Baku on 19 December that the meeting between the two presidents should not be merely "a formality," and should take place only if there are "serious grounds" and a set agenda, zerkalo.az reported on 20 December.
ABKHAZ, SOUTH OSSETIAN LEADERS MEET
The leaders of the unrecognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Sergei Bagapsh and Eduard Kokoity, met in Moscow late on 18 December, Kokoity told Interfax the following day. Their talks focused on their respective conflicts with the Georgian central government and the status of efforts to resolve them. Bagapsh told RIA-Novosti last week that the two conflicts are interrelated and neither can be resolved in isolation. He also underscored the importance and relevance of the imminent talks on Kosova's status. On 19 December, a spokesman for an association representing Georgia's Ossetian population endorsed as "the first step toward restoring mutual trust" between the two sides the peace initiative Kokoity unveiled one week ago, regnum.ru reported. Meanwhile, repair work on the Inguri hydroelectric power plant in Abkhazia, which supplies electricity to Georgia, has been suspended indefinitely following the killing of the plant's security officer, Caucasus Press reported on 19 December (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 December 2005). The Siemens team conducting the repairs refuses to continue work without better security in place.
FRENCH DEFENSE MINISTER MEETS WITH TAJIK PRESIDENT
French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie met with Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov in Dushanbe on 19 December to discuss bilateral relations and military cooperation, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reported. After the meeting, Alliot-Marie commented, "We talked about the reconstruction of [Dushanbe airport's] runway and the stay of the [French] troops," Avesta reported. But Alliot-Marie deflected journalists' question on how long France's remaining 150 troops would stay in Tajikistan, ITAR-TASS reported. France recently reduced its contingent of troops in Tajikistan.

Southwestern Asia And The Middle East
INTERIM AFGHAN PARLIAMENTARY LEADERS APPOINTED...
The director of Afghanistan's National Assembly secretariat, Azizullah Ludin, announced the interim leaders of the National Assembly on 19 December, Pajhwak Afghan News reported. Qazi Habibullah Ramin was named the interim speaker of the People's Council (Wolesi Jirga) and Gharghashta Katawazi was chosen as his deputy. Wali Jan Saberi was selected as the provisional secretary of the People's Council. In the Council of Elders (Meshrano Jirga), Mohammad Isa Shinwari was nominated as the interim speaker. The interim appointments will be terminated once both houses elect their own officials. The National Assembly convened in Kabul for the first time on 19 December.
...AS OUTSPOKEN DELEGATE ATTACKS 'WARLORDS' IN PARLIAMENT
Speaking at a news conference after the National Assembly was inaugurated in Kabul on 19 December, Malalai Joya, a female representative from Farah Province in western Afghanistan, offered her "condolences to the people...for the presence of warlords, drug lords, and criminals," in the parliament, "The New York Times," reported on 19 December. Afghanistan's people "are like broken-winged pigeons caught in the claws of blood-sucking bats after being released from the Taliban cage," Joya said, adding that "most of these bats are in the parliament," AFP reported on 19 December. As a delegate to the Constitutional Loya Jirga in 2003, Joya objected to the presence of former mujahedin leaders in the assembly, calling them "criminals." That comment led to her expulsion from the meeting.
SPANISH PRIME MINISTER MAKES SURPRISE VISIT TO WESTERN AFGHANISTAN
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero visited Herat Province on 19 December to pay tribute to 17 Spanish servicemen who died there in August when their helicopter crashed, Madrid's RNE Radio 1 reported. Spanish Defense Minister Jose Bono and Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos accompanied Zapatero in the surprise trip to Herat, EFE news agency reported on 19 December. As part of his visit, Zapatero met with Spanish troops deployed in neighboring Badghis Province, Sada-ye Jawan Radio reported on 19 December. Spain currently has around 500 troops serving in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
IRAN DISMISSES CLAIMS ON PERSIAN GULF ISLANDS...
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi described on 19 December in Tehran as "baseless and unacceptable" the "repetitive positions" of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on three disputed islands in the Persian Gulf, IRNA reported the same day. Iran holds the islands, but they are also claimed by the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.). The GCC -- which is made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the U.A.E. -- reportedly referred to the matter in a 19 December closing statement of its 26th summit in Abu Dhabi. Assefi said Iran and the U.A.E. should pursue bilateral talks to reach an agreement on the fate of Abu Musa, one of the islands, IRNA reported. GCC Secretary-General Abd al-Rahman al-Attiyah said in Abu Dhabi on 18 December that Iran continues to occupy the islands in spite of many U.A.E. calls for "direct, peaceful negotiations" or the matter's referral to the International Court of Justice, according to the U.A.E. Information and Culture Ministry's website.
...WHILE GULF STATES CONCERNED OVER NUCLEAR NEIGHBOR
Foreign Ministry spokesman Assefi praised on 19 December the GCC's call on Israel to open its nuclear program to UN inspections, in a summit statement that urged a nuclear-free Middle East but failed to mention Iran, Reuters and IRNA reported the same day. This was not for lack of concern at Iran's program, as summit participants thoroughly discussed the program, especially the proximity of the nuclear power plant Iran is building in Bushehr on its southern coast, Reuters reported. U.A.E. Foreign Minister Rashid Abdullah al-Nuaimi told Reuters on 19 December that GCC states are "extremely worried and concerned" by the plant and the consequences of any mishap there. Oman's Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi said on 18 December that the GCC is not pressuring Iran over its program, and wants "good relations" with Iran, but he urged talks to resolve outstanding questions on this program, with due regard for "the environmental impact" of Bushehr, uaeinteract.com reported the next day. GCC Secretary-General al-Attiyah said on 18 December that GCC states do not fear Iran's program if it is peaceful, though "the issue will not be neglected" if it isn't. He told reporters "we do not want to see" the Bushehr reactor, "which is closer to our coast than...Tehran," posing "perils and damages to us," uaeinteract.com reported the next day.