East Timor

Indonesia-based guerillas began infiltrating more deeply into the country in late July, according to statements made on 23 October by Sergio Vieira de Mello, head of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) (Reuters).

2 JULY 2000

Mexico, Politics

The Presidential election was held. National Action Party (PAN) candidate Vincente Fox defeated Francisco Labastida of the incumbent Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), ending several decades of PRI rule. The PRI also lost its majority in the Senate (Reuters).

Mongolia, Politics

Parliamentary elections were held. The communist Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) won most of the contested seats. The MPRP wants to reverse some economic policies, including privatization of state industries (Reuters).

2-9 JULY 2000

Northern Ireland

There was sporadic violence, mainly by protestants opposed to a ban on marches through certain Catholic areas in and around Belfast (Reuters).

3 JULY 2000

Brazil, Economic Policy

President Fernando Cardoso met with the Landless Movement (MST). He promised to settle a quarter of a million families and bring basic infrastructure to 80% of rural areas by 2002. Cardoso's administration has redistributed 16 million hectares (40 million acres), twice what was redistributed during the 35 years before his election (Reuters).

4 JULY 2000

Fiji, Politics

The military established an interim civilian government. Laisenia Qarase was named Prime Minister. His government is to prepare a new constitution within two years. Qarase said there would not be a return to the 1997 constitution that preceded martial law (Reuters). The military declared martial law last month in response to the abortive coup and ongoing hostage crisis (see 19 May).

5 JULY 2000

Diplomatic Affairs

The UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for a global embargo on diamonds from Sierra Leone (Reuters). The RUF rebels control most diamond producing areas in the country and have used diamonds as an important source of income.

7 JULY 2000

Fiji

Supporters of George Speight stormed a police station in Korovou (Reuters).

9 JULY 2000

Israel, Politics

Prime Minister Barak's ruling coalition lost its majority in the Knesset due to the defection of a few parties opposed to the course of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations (Reuters).

Fiji, Politics

George Speight and his ethnic Fijian rebels agreed to release deposed Prime Minister Chaudhry and other hostages on the 13th in return for amnesty and the end of the military-sponsored Qarase government (Reuters).

10 JULY 2000

Northern Ireland

Protestants rioted in Belfast, Portadown and other towns. There was also an attack on Protestants in Aghalee (Reuters).

11 JULY 2000

Fiji

Speight supporters occupied several businesses and other facilities around the country (Reuters).

11-25 JULY 2000

Diplomatic Affairs

An Israeli-Palestinian summit meeting was held at Camp David, near Washington, D.C., in an attempt to reach a framework agreement on final status issues. Both sides were under some domestic pressure to avoid making concessions, as exemplified by a demonstration against the talks by 150,000 Israelis in Tel Aviv on the 16th. The summit ultimately broke down over the issues of control of East Jerusalem and arrangements for Palestinian refugees (Reuters).

12 JULY 2000

Spain

The ETA exploded a car bomb in Madrid. There were no deaths (Reuters).

13 JULY 2000

Fiji

Speight released deposed Prime Minister Chaudhry and the other hostages. The Great Council of Chiefs appointed Ratu Josefa Iloilo president. Iloilo was the rebels' preference for the post (Reuters).

15 JULY 2000

Sierra Leone

A UN relief force freed over 200 UN troops who were being held by the RUF rebels at Kailahun (Reuters).

Spain

A minor Popular Party official was assassinated in Malaga, apparently by the ETA (Reuters).

Iran

The pro-Iraq rebel Mujahideen Khalq Organization claimed to have conducted a mortar attack on the Iranian intelligence ministry in Tehran (Reuters).

Iran, Research

Iran flight-tested the Shahab-3 MRBM. Range is reportedly 808 miles (Reuters).

17 JULY 2000

Syria, Politics

Bashar al-Assad was sworn in as President. In a speech to parliament, he said Syria would continue to demand that Israel return all territory gained from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Assad indicated there would be little or no change toward democracy for Syria's political system. He broke with previous domestic policy, saying there needed to be reform and deregulation of the economy (Reuters).

Kosovo

Serbs violently clashed with NATO troops in Mitrovica (Reuters).

18 JULY 2000

Diplomatic Affairs

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Chinese President Jiang Zemin in Beijing. They issued a joint statement critical of the US's tentative plans for anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems in North America and Asia, charging the US with seeking "unilateral military and security advantages" and with planning to violate the 1972 ABM Treaty (Reuters).

The US has said its prospective systems will not be designed to be able to defend against larger nuclear arsenals of states such as Russia or China, but only to defend against the relatively small arsenals that could be acquired by states such as North Korea and Iran. The US has, however, sought to renegotiate the ABM Treaty with Russia. It is not yet clear whether the US is willing to abrogate this treaty in order to deploy the systems currently being proposed.

19 JULY 2000

Diplomatic Affairs

Russian President Putin met North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to discuss North Korea's missile program (Reuters).

21 JULY 2000

Colombia

There were battles between National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels and Carlos Castanos' outlawed United Self-Defense Forces (AUC) around the San Lucas mountain range in Bolivar and Antioquia provinces (Reuters).

22 JULY 2000

China, Civil Affairs

It was the first anniversary of the government's ban on the Falun Gong spiritual movement. The group attempted a peaceful demonstration in Tiananmen Square. Several small groups around the square made a coordinated effort to unfurl banners but were largely overwhelmed by police before they could do so. About 200 were arrested.

According to Falun Gong members in the US, tens of thousands have been arrested or detained in China since the ban began (Reuters).

Pakistan, Politics

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was sentenced to 14 years of hard labor and banned from political office for 21 years in a trial on corruption charges (Reuters).

Sierra Leone

UN troops drove off some rebels from the Freetown-Masiaka road (Reuters).

24 JULY 2000

Spain

A car bomb attack in Getxo, probably by the ETA, injured four people (Reuters).

Cyprus

Hundreds of Turkish Cypriots violently protested against the government of the Turkish-controlled northern part of the island over a banking scandal (Reuters).

26 JULY 2000

Fiji

The military arrested rebel leader George Speight near Suva (Reuters).

28 JULY 2000

Peru

Alberto Fujimori was sworn in as President while thousands of Peruvians rioted in Lima against him (Reuters).

29 JULY 2000

Spain

Former Basque provincial governor Juan Maria Jouregui was assassinated in Tolosa, probably by the ETA terrorist group (Reuters).

30 JULY 2000

Venezuela, Politics

President Hugo Chavez was reelected to a six-year term (Reuters).

31 JULY 2000

Israel, Politics

The Likud party brought a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Ehud Barak in the Knesset. The vote was 50-50 with 8 abstentions; 61 votes were needed for the motion to pass in the 120 member body (Reuters).

Nigeria

About 60 gunmen took over two Royal Dutch/Shell oil rigs in the Niger Delta. They demanded jobs and cash from service contractors on the rigs (Reuters).

31 JULY-3 AUGUST 2000

United States, Politics

The Republican Party held its nominating convention in Philadelphia. It selected Texas state Governor George W. Bush as its nominee for the presidential election in November; former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney is the nominee for Vice President.

Bush has suggested that he would be both more systematic and more restrained in military interventions abroad than the current Administration, though he supported the intervention in Kosovo. He has said that the armed forces are underfunded, and that the US should deploy ABM defenses even if it violates the 1972 ABM Treaty with Russia.

On domestic policy, Bush has proposed a large cut in federal income taxes in light of projected surpluses in the federal budget. He also has advocated partial privatization of the Social Security income security program as a means of ensuring its future solvency -- which is currently in doubt. Bush favors a combination of partial privatization and more careful monitoring of the system of primary and secondary education, which is mostly run by state and local governments, the aim being to increase competition and thus improve performance.