FEBRUARY 2007

Iraq

According to the Interior Ministry, 1,646 civilians and 161 police were killed this month (CNN.com).

Guinea

Continued disagreement between President Lansana Conte and the country's political opposition over implementation of a power-sharing agreement led to more violent protests (AP).

1 FEBRUARY 2007

Iraq

Two suicide bombers attacked a market in Al Hilla, killing 73 people and wounding at least 163 (CNN.com).

1-3 FEBRUARY 2007

Israel, Gaza Strip

There were new clashes between Hamas and Fatah forces (AP).

2 FEBRUARY 2007

Environment

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report on global climate change which said, “The observed widespread warming of the atmosphere and ocean, together with ice-mass loss, support the conclusion that it is extremely unlikely that global climate change of the past 50 years can be explained without external forcing, and very likely that is not due to known natural causes alone.” It projected a rise in sea levels of 7-23 inches by 2100 and said human-caused warming and rises in sea-level "would continue for centuries... even if greenhouse gas concentrations were to be stabilized” (AP).

3 FEBRUARY 2007

Iraq

In Baghdad, a suicide bomber attack on a market in Sedriya, a mixed neighborhood of Sunni Arabs, Shiites and Kurds, killed at least 128 people and wounded 343 (CNN.com).

4 FEBRUARY 2007

Bangladesh, civil affairs

Authorities arrested media tycoon Musaddek Ali and several politicians (Reuters).

Iraq

A car bomb in Khalis killed four people (CNN.com).

5 FEBRUARY 2007

Iraq

Four car bombs in central and southwestern Baghdad killed 29 people and wounded 95 (CNN.com).

6 FEBRUARY 2007

United States, military affairs

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced President Bush's approval of a Department of Defense recommendation for the establishment of a new unified combatant command, Africa Command. Responsibility for operations in Africa had been divided between Central Command and European Command (AP).

8 FEBRUARY 2007

Israel, West Bank and Gaza Strip

Fatah and Hamas, at talks in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, reached agreement on a power-sharing government for the Palestinian Authority (PA). Hamas agreed to “respect” previous peace agreements with Israel (AP).

8-13 FEBRUARY 2007

Asia and the Pacific, diplomatic affairs

Talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program resumed between representatives of China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea and the United States. On the 13th an agreement was reached on implementation of the September 2005 agreement. North Korea was to shut down its main reactor and related facilities at Yongbyon within 60 days, allow IAEA inspections and begin discussions with the US on its other nuclear facilities in exchange for 50,000 tons of fuel oil or equivalent financial aid. Once it declared its programs and began to disable its facilities, it would qualify for another 950,000 tons of fuel oil or equivalent financial aid. In addition to plutonium production at Yongbyon, the US has said the North Koreans also have a uranium enrichment program; however, this was not explicitly addressed in the agreement (AP, CNN.com).

9 FEBRUARY 2007

Iraq

Car bomb attacks in Baghdad killed seven (CNN.com).

Israel

A small but violent protest by Muslims at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem over repair work being done nearby was dispersed by Israeli police (AP).

11 FEBRUARY 2007

Turkmenistan, politics

Acting leader Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov was elected President, easily defeating several other candidates, all from the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan (DPT) (Reuters, IFES).

12 FEBRUARY 2007

Iraq

Several bomb attacks in central Baghdad killed at least 90 people and wounded over 190.

A car bomb in Mandali killed four (CNN.com).

Germany, civil affairs

A court in Stuttgart ordered the release of former Red Army Faction (RAF) member Brigitte Mohnhaupt (Reuters).

13 FEBRUARY 2007

Uganda, foreign policy

Parliament unanimously approved a six-month initial deployment of two battalions of ground forces to Somalia on a peacekeeping mission. The troops were to be deployed to Mogadishu to protect the Somali government and help train a new army (AP).

Iraq

Two bomb attacks in Baghdad killed at least 20 people (CNN.com).

Algeria

The Al Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for several attacks in the north which killed six (CNN.com).

14 FEBRUARY 2007

Kosovo

The Serbian parliament rejected, by a 225-15 vote, a UN proposal for the future of Kosovo which would give it such great autonomy as to make it independent in all but name (AP).

15 FEBRUARY 2007

Iraq

Three car bombs killed at least seven people in Baghdad (CNN.com).

Israel, West Bank and Gaza Strip

The PA's Hamas-led government resigned and president Mahmoud Abbas asked Ismail Haniyeh to form a unity government (AP).

16 FEBRUARY 2007

United States, politics

The House of Representatives passed, 246-182, a resolution expressing disapproval of the modest increase in ground forces in Iraq recently approved by President Bush (CNN.com).

17 FEBRUARY 2007

Pakistan

A suicide bomber struck Quetta District Courts, killing 15 (AP).

Italy

Tens of thousands protested in Vicenza against the government's approval of the expansion of the US military base there (Reuters).

18 FEBRUARY 2007

Iraq

In southeast Baghdad, in the al-Jadida district, two car bombs killed 60 people and wounded at least 131.

By this time there were some 112,000 coalition and Iraqi security forces devoted to the operation named "Fardh Al-Qanoon” (Enforcing the Law), the Baghdad security crackdown.1

Lesotho, politics

In parliamentary elections the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy won a majority of seats (www.rulers.org).

18-19 FEBRUARY 2007

Thailand

There were dozens of bombings and other attacks across the south that killed eight people and wounded scores. Authorities attributed the attacks to Islamic militants targeting ethnic Chinese (AP).

19 FEBRUARY 2007

India

A bomb attack on a train passing through Panipat on its way to Lahore, Pakistan, killed at least 68 people, most of them Pakistanis (CNN.com).

Colombia, politics

Foreign minister Maria Consuelo Araujo resigned in connection with a scandal concerning alleged ties between the government and paramilitary groups. President Alvaro Uribe named Fernando Araujo to replace her (AP).

21 FEBRUARY 2007

Iraq

Three bomb attacks in Baghdad killed 16 people (CNN.com).

22 FEBRUARY 2007

Iraq

In Baghdad, two car bombs killed five (CNN.com).

23 FEBRUARY 2007

Iraq

Police in Baghdad said they had captured Issa Abdul-Razzaq Ahmed, a suspected al Qaeda operative (CNN.com).

24 FEBRUARY 2007

Iraq

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said that as a result of the security operation in Baghdad, 426 suspected insurgents had been detained and roughly the same number killed, and sectarian violence had been reduced (CNN.com).

25 FEBRUARY 2007

Iraq

In Baghdad, a suicide bombing attack on Mustansiriya University killed at least 40 people (CNN.com).

Senegal, politics

President Abdoulaye Wade was reelected with 55.9% of the vote; former Prime Minister Idrissa Seck had 14.9% and Ousmane Tanor Dieng had 13.6% (Reuters).

26 FEBRUARY 2007

Pakistan

There were reports at the beginning of March that security forces had, on this date, captured Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, the third-most-senior member of the Taliban's leadership council, in Quetta (Reuters).

Iraq

A car bomb in the Ramadi area killed 18 (CNN.com).

Diplomatic affairs, Serbia

The World Court, ruling on charges of genocide brought against Serbia by Bosnia in connection with the Srebrenica massacre in 1995, said Serbia was not directly responsible for the atrocity but had failed to do all it could to prevent it and also had failed to comply with its obligations to punish those accused of carrying it out (AP).

Costa Rica

Tens of thousands opposed to ratification of CAFTA demonstrated in San Jose (Reuters).

27 FEBRUARY 2007

Iraq

In Baghdad, three bomb attacks killed eight (CNN.com).

28 FEBRUARY 2007

Iraq

An insurgent attack on a village south of Falluja was defeated with heavy losses to the insurgents. In Falluja itself, a car bomb killed five people.

In Baghdad, a car bomb in the southwestern Bayaa neighborhood killed at least 10 (CNN.com).

Thailand, politics

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Pridiyathorn Devakula resigned (AP).

Notes

1. “More than 60 killed in three car bombings in Baghdad”, CNN.com, 18 February 2007.