July 1996, pgs. 30-35

Issues in the News

Compiled By Shawn L. Twing

ARABIAN PENINSULA

Kuwait

National Refinery to Start $100 Million Export Project:

Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) approved on May 4 extensive plans for a $100 million renovation of two piers serving as export terminals for Mina Al Ahmadi, the largest of three KNPC refineries which is responsible for producing an estimated 425,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Kuwait’s total 893,000 bpd of petroleum exports.

Mina Al Ahmadi currently is served by two piers, one of which will be totally renovated (the north pier), and another that will be renovated for short-term use (the south pier) and eventually replaced with a new facility. Engineering design contracts for the project will be issued in a few months according to a KNPC spokesman, and will be followed by the construction contract award shortly after.

Oman

Israel Opens Interests Office in Muscat:

Israel opened an interests office in Muscat, Oman’s capital city, on May 19, making it the first of its kind in an Arabian Gulf country. Israeli chief of mission Oded Ben Haim was greeted by officials from the Omani Foreign Ministry upon his arrival in Muscat. His Omani counterpart, Mouhsein Baloushi, arrived in Israel on May 24 to begin his assignment there.

Qatar

U.S. Will Deploy Aircraft to Qatar:

Following May 10 talks between U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry and Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, the Pentagon announced on May 14 that the United States will deploy a 34-aircraft Airpower Expeditionary Force (AEF) in Qatar beginning in late June.

The aircraft, which include F-15 and F-16 fighters as well as KC-135 refueling tankers, will augment U.S. forces already in the region and will be used in training exercises with U.S. allies on the Arabian peninsula. The AEF is scheduled to return to the United States by the end of August.

Qatar Declines Iran’s Offer for Defense Agreements:

Qatar declined an Iranian offer for mutual defense agreements extended during May talks between Iranian Defense Minister Mohammad Forouzandeh, and Qatari officials including the Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. During the four days of diplomatic meetings that ended on May 7, Iran surprised Qatar’s allies with the offer, which was interpreted by Western defense analysts as an Iranian attempt to gain a strategic foothold on the Arabian peninsula.

Two of Qatar’s closest neighbors and Gulf Cooperation Council allies are engaged in serious disputes with Iran. Bahrain accuses Iran of fomenting protests by members of Bahrain’s Shi’i majority against the Sunni ruling family. Iran also continues to occupy Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs, Arabian Gulf islands belonging to the United Arab Emirates. An unnamed Western diplomat told Reuters, “We know that Qatar, as a sovereign country, knows its best interests and will be wary of Iran’s designs” in the region.

Saudi Arabia

Four Executed for Bombing Saudi National Guard Headquarters:

Four Saudi nationals were publicly beheaded on May 31 for their involvement in the Nov. 13, 1995 car bombing of the Saudi Arabian National Guard headquarters in Riyadh. Five Americans and two Indians were killed and an additional 60 persons were wounded in the explosion at the National Guard military training facility.

The four men were apprehended by Saudi officials in April and confessed on television to the terrorist attack. An unnamed Saudi official told Reuters that the men had purchased the explosives in Yemen and had been influenced by a radical sheikh in Jordan who allegedly is connected to the Hezb Al Tahrir (Liberation Party), a radical Islamist organization.

The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh issued a security alert to the estimated 35,000 Americans living in the Kingdom after receiving anonymous threats of “retaliation” against American citizens if the four were executed.

Military Base To Be Built in the South:

Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan laid the foundation stone on May 8 for a multimillion-dollar military complex to be built in Jizan, a port city on the Red Sea near Saudi Arabia’s border with Yemen. According to Jane’s Defence Weekly, plans for the complex include a naval facility with drydocks and an air base.

Construction of the new facility is part of Saudi Arabia’s plan to double the size of its military, including the army which is supposed to reach 200,000 shortly after the turn of the century. The project’s scheduled completion date and estimated cost have not been disclosed by the Saudis, but a comparable project, the King Khalid Military City built from 1983 to 1985, cost an estimated $8 billion to complete. The new military base will be Saudi Arabia’s fourth large military facility.

GCC Panel Discusses Unified Electrical Grid:

Senior officials from the six GCC member statesSaudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emiratesmet in Riyadh on May 12 to discuss financing for a planned $1.6 billion project to unify the electrical grids of the six countries. The grid initially will link Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar. The UAE and Oman will be included later.

In addition to joint projects for power generation, GCC members also hope to meet growing demands for electricity by focusing on conservation. Saudi Arabia alone is expecting a surge in demand from the current 22,000 megawatts (MW) to an estimated 60,000 MW by 2020.

United Arab Emirates

UAE Rulers Approve Amending Constitution to Make it Permanent:

Rulers of the seven principalities that make up the United Arab Emirates approved a plan on May 20 to name Abu Dhabi as the country’s official capital and to make its 24-year-old temporary constitution a permanent document.

The two constitutional amendments will be passed on to the 40-member consultative Federal National Council for ratification. Formal unification of the seven emirates is planned by the time the country celebrates the 25th anniversary of its federation this December.

Yemen

Yemen, Eritrea Sign Agreement on Hanish Islands:

Yemen and Eritrea signed a French-brokered agreement in Paris on May 21 to solve their dispute concerning ownership of the Hanish islands in the Red Sea by establishing an arbitration tribunal that will reach a decision based on international law. Included in the accord was a commitment to “renounce the use of force against each other and decide to settle peacefully their dispute on questions of territorial sovereignty and maritime borders.”

In three days of fighting that erupted in December, nine soldiers were killed and Eritrea captured the largest of the Hanish islands. Both countries claim sovereignty over the island chain.

THE FERTILE CRESCENT

Jordan

King Hussein Receives Churchill Award:

Jordan’s King Hussein was awarded the 1996 Winston Churchill prize in London on May 20 for the Jordanian monarch’s personal courage in attempting to foster peace between Jordanians, Israelis and Palestinians. The award, given annually since 1987 to world leaders including Mikhail Gorbachev, was presented by Churchill’s grandson, who is a member of the British Parliament and also is named Winston Churchill.

Jordan Will Allow Publication of Iraqi Opposition Newspaper:

Iraqi opposition groups operating in Jordan will be allowed to establish their own newspaper, according to a May 4 announcement by Iraqi exiles. The Arabic newspaper will be published in Amman and will be called Iraq al Mustaqbal (Iraq of the Future). Several Iraqi opposition organizations have asked the Jordanian government to allow them to open offices in Jordan in an effort to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussain from power.

Lebanon

Trial Adjourned for Alleged Mossad Agents:

A Lebanese military court on May 15 adjourned the trial of three Lebanese nationals accused of orchestrating a December 1994 car bombing in Beirut that killed a Hezbollah leader and two others. Two of the defendants, Ahmad Hallaq and Tawfiq Nasser, were sentenced in absentia last year to death by a Lebanese military court. The new trial was postponed because the third defendant, Hussein Awdeh, had not been notified of the trial and his arrest warrant had not been issued.

The three men allegedly were recruited by Mossad, Israel’s international intelligence service. A date for the continuation of the proceedings is pending.

Syrian Troops Will Stay Until Israelis Leave Lebanon:

The Lebanese government stated on May 25 that Syria’s estimated 35,000 troops will remain in Lebanon as long as Israel continues to occupy Lebanese territory. Responding to a U.S. State Department report that compared Syria’s presence in Lebanon to Israel’s occupation of a so-called “security zone” in the south, Lebanon’s Interior Ministry said: “The Lebanese government still needs the help of Syrian troops on its territory to help face the many dangers threatening the country so long as the Israeli occupation does not end and Israeli aggression continues.”

Syria

U.S. Alleges Syrian Chemical Weapons Production:

Germany’s weekly Stern magazine reported in June that U.S. officials alerted their German counterparts to a Syrian chemical weapons facility currently under construction outside of the northern city of Aleppo. U.S. intelligence officials said the facility is a threat to Israeli security and compared it to Libya’s Tarhunah complex, which the U.S. says is a massive underground chemical weapons plant. Germany has said it will ensure that no Germans are involved in the Syrian plant’s construction.

U.S. Embassy Issues Warning to Americans in Syria:

The U.S. Embassy in Damascus in June warned Americans in Syria to “review their security practices” following reports of several explosions during May and June. The warning added that the attacks “do not appear to have been directed at American citizens or property.”

Turkey

President Demirel Survives Assassination Attempt:

Turkish President Suleyman Demirel survived an apparent assassination attempt on May 18 in Izmit, 50 kilometers east of Istanbul, where a man who pointed a gun at the Turkish leader was wrestled to the ground by Turkish security personnel. Ibrahim Gumrukcuoglu, 48, told Turkish police that he was upset about the Turkish-Israeli military cooperation agreement signed by the two countries in February. Although he claimed he only intended to fire into the air to scare Demirel, witnesses said that Gumrukcuoglu was pointing the gun directly at the president.

Gumrukcuoglu, who runs a pharmacy in Izmit, is thought to be an Islamist activist and reportedly yelled “Allah” prior to the attack. He had been arrested in 1992 for possessing illegal weapons.

Turkey-Greece Boat Collision Heightens Tension:

Tensions flared anew between Greece and Turkey after it was reported that naval vessels from the two countries collided on May 16 near the disputed Aegean island called Imia by the Greeks and Kardak by the Turks. The report surfaced during a trip planned by the Greek government to take Western journalists to the island near the Turkish mainland. Following the incident both countries reported air and maritime violations of territorial airspace and waters by the armed forces of the other state. The charges followed months of tension after the two countries threatened to go to war in January over the uninhabited island.

IRAN/IRAQ

Iran

Iran Building Port on Disputed Gulf Island:

Iran announced on May 28 that it is building a second port on the strategically important Arabian/Persian Gulf island of Abu Musa, whose ownership is disputed by Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) gave no technical details about the planned port aside from its scheduled completion date in May 1997. Although it is allegedly for civilian and commercial uses, Western defense analysts believe it will be used primarily for military purposes. Iran fortified Abu Musa in 1994 and 1995 with artillery, Hawk air-defense missiles, tanks and thousands of soldiers from its elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards. Unconfirmed reports suggest that Iran may also have placed chemical weapons on the islands.

Iran’s Parliament Passes Foreign Espionage Law:

Iran’s parliament in May extended the death penalty for espionage against the Islamic Republic. The new law, which covers military, economic, social and scientific espionage, requires the death penalty for anyone providing confidential information to foreigners, especially agents working for the United States and Israel. Also subject to the death penalty is anyone passing information to members of opposition groups attempting to overthrow the Iranian government. Iran’s former espionage laws called for the death penalty only in serious matters involving military and security-related espionage.

Rafsanjani Threatens to “Expose” U.S. Leaders:

Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said in a May 19 interview with the French journal Euro-News that Iran is in possession of documents that could influence upcoming presidential elections in the United States. “We have documents on the Americans and their two parties which we can publish on the threshold of the elections and influence public opinion in that country,” Rafsanjani said. He added, however, that Iran “does not play such games” and will “let the American people choose whomever they want because it doesn’t make any difference to us who rises to power in that country.” Rafsanjani did not provide any details about the alleged documents or their contents.

Iranian Tae Kwon Do Team Seeks Asylum in Belgium:

Four Iranian athletes competing in an international martial arts tournament in Belgium requested political asylum in May, arguing that their lives were in danger if they returned to Iran. The initial request by the unnamed athletes, part of Iran’s national Tae Kwon Do team, was denied, but they are appealing. A fifth athlete fled to an unspecified European country.

Iraq

Iraq Releases Prisoner of War:

Iraq released a female Kuwaiti prisoner on May 16, five years after the Iraqi army fled Kuwait in 1991. The prisoner, one of eight women listed among 600 persons who disappeared during Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait, is the second missing person to be accounted for by Iraqi officials. The first was a Kuwaiti whose remains were returned to Kuwait.

Representatives from Kuwait’s National Committee for Missing Persons and POW Affairs meet monthly with Iraqi officials to determine the fate of the remaining missing persons. Mariam Al Sane, whose brother, uncle and two cousins are missing after being taken prisoner by Iraqi soldiers, summarized the feelings of many Kuwaitis by saying: “Of course, it is another reason for hope that after five years someone is released now.”

ISRAEL/PALESTINE

Israel

Israel Launches Commercial Satellite:

Israel has become one of only eight countries to build a satellite and launch it successfully into orbit. Israel’s “Amos” communications satellite was orbited by a European Space Agency Ariane-4 rocket launched from Kourou, French Guiana. The Amos project, which has cost an estimated $200 million since its inception by Israel Aircraft Industries in 1988, will give Israel greater access to international communications, including cable television and the Internet. David Pollack, general manager of the Israeli company Spacecom, which is marketing Amos’ services, told The Jerusalem Post that “There will be a [communications] revolution” in Israel resulting from Amos, but that it won’t “happen overnight” because of the country’s existing communications infrastructure.

Amos will be stationed in a geo-stationary orbit above the west coast of Africa. It will begin operating on July 1 and has a planned life span of 10 years.

Israel Signs Trade Agreements With Czech Republic, Slovakia:

Israel and the Czech Republic signed a free-trade agreement in May that takes effect Jan. 1, 1997 and eliminates import taxes on 95 percent of the products traded between the two countries. Total Israeli-Czech trade for 1995 was $78.6 million.

Two days after signing the trade accord with the Czech Republic, Israel signed a similar agreement with Slovakia, also to take effect Jan. 1, 1997. Slovak-Israeli trade was $26 million in 1995. The agreements are the first of their kind for Israel with European countries outside of the European Union.

Outgoing Mossad Chief Identified:

Fifty-three-year-old Shabtai Shavit was identified as the head of Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence organization shortly after the Israeli government announced that he would be retiring from the organization which he has headed for the past seven years. Shavit, a 32-year veteran of the intelligence agency, finished his tour of duty on May 25. Israel’s Ma’ariv newspaper said that the former head of Mossad will be appointed director-general of the Maccabi medical insurance company.

Shavit was replaced by Danny Yatom, formerly military secretary for Prime Minister Shimon Peres.

First Female Combat Unit Ends Basic Training:

Israel’s first female combat unit graduated in May from basic training and will begin a three-month course at the Border Police training facility at Beit Horon, north of Jerusalem. Two of the 25 women chosen from a pool of 430 candidates were American-born. The Israel Defense Forces bar women from combat roles, but this first class of female combat soldiers is expected to undertake the same tasks as their male counterparts, except for patrolling the West Bank. Israel’s national police spokesman, Eric Bar-Chen, announced that Israel is “proud of our girls” and that he “wouldn’t want to meet them in a dark alley.”

French Film Depicts Peres :

French filmmaker Serge Moati’s May release of Shimon Peres: A Fight for Peace offered a rare insider’s glimpse of Palestinian-Israeli relations since the signing of the Oslo accords in 1993. Moati videotaped a 1994 meeting between then-Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat at Gaza’s Erez checkpoint. During the meeting Peres pulled from his pocket a copy of a letter to the U.S. Congress complaining of Israel’s non-compliance with several aspects of the Oslo accords. Peres forcefully explained to Arafat that if he continued to write letters complaining about Israel’s actions, “We shall answer, we shall have to answer. We shall say ‘you didn’t hand over to us the prisoners, you didn’t do this and that,’ which will kill the Palestinian story in the American Congress.” Peres added that “if we shall write a letter like this it will reach the American press, [and] it will be a catastrophe” for the Palestinians. Included in Peres’ comments were threats that Israel would scuttle the $500 million pledged by the U.S. Congress to the Palestinians if Yasser Arafat continued his complaints.

Clinton Is Israel’s Yes-man, Israeli Newspaper Says:

Yediot Ahronot, a leading Israeli daily, in an April 30 editorial dubbed U.S. President Bill Clinton as “Israel’s yes-man who agreed to Prime Minister Peres’ every request. The article, written while Peres was visiting the United States, reported that “Clinton has embraced Israel and its current government. He will probably go down in the history of Israel as the first American president to be a teddy bear nodding yes, yes.”

Noting that on the first day of Peres’ visit Clinton pledged an “unshakable” commitment to Israel’s security and offered to provide Israel with missile defense technology, Yediot Ahronot editorialist Nadom Barnes wrote: “Whoever reviews the course that relations between the two countries has taken over the past several decades cannot help but be impressed by the distance Clinton has covered. It is doubtful that an American leader ever applauded on a public stage where the prime minister of Israel was being praised for being the patron of the nuclear facility in Dimona…It is unlikely that an American president [other than Clinton] would have defended Israeli shelling of a neighboring state [Lebanon] which led to so many deaths…Clinton, who has politician’s blood running through every vein, understands that support must be given Peres now and he is doing this.”

Palestine

Arafat’s Health Fine Despite Collapse in Cairo:

PNA President Yasser Arafat’s collapse after a May 12 press conference with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan’s King Hussein was stress-related, according to physicians who examined him at an Egyptian military hospital where Arafat was rushed after the incident. Arafat’s personal physician told reporters in Amman that the Palestinian leader was in “excellent health,” and that Arafat fainted because of a stress-induced drop in blood pressure and low blood sugar.

Abbas Named Secretary-General:

The Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee named Mahmud Abbas, also known by his pseudonym Abu Mazen, as the new secretary-general of the PLO, replacing Jamal Surani. Abbas, who is considered PNA President Yasser Arafat’s closest deputy, is one of the principal Palestinian architects of the Oslo accords and heads the Palestinian delegation on a permanent peace settlement with Israel.

Shaath Discusses PNA Difficulties In the United States:

Palestinian National Authority Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Dr. Nabil Shaath has complained in Washington of problems created for the Palestinian government by right-wing Jewish groups wielding influence in the U.S. Congress. At a May meeting sponsored by the National Association of Arab Americans, Shaath said, “The closer the Palestinians and Israelis get to the peace process, the more difficult we find our going in the United States.” He complained that U.S. Jewish groups have lobbied Congress to delay $500 million in aid promised the Palestinians under the Oslo accords while simultaneously supporting unconditionally every request for aid by Israel. Shaath said that “when it comes to aid for Palestine, it’s ‘sorry, its Congress,’ ‘sorry, it’s the Senate,’ or ‘sorry, it’s Ben Gilman.” Representative Benjamin Gilman (R-NY), a Jewish supporter of Israeli anti-peace groups, has been leading a one-man war in the U.S. House of Representatives against aid to the Palestinians.

Shaath said that what the Palestinians want from the United States is “real support” in the peace process, not unlike that which is given to Israel.

THE NILE VALLEY

Egypt

Egypt, Turkey Revive Defense Agreement:

Egypt and Turkey agreed to revive an agreement on technical cooperation in defense research following a two-day visit in May to Ankara by Egypt’s Foreign Minister Amr Mousa. The original agreement, dating to 1990, resulted in the delivery of 46 Turkish-made F-16 aircraft to Egypt.

Mousa’s visit to Turkey followed the February announcement that Turkey and Israel had signed a defense treaty that, among other provisions, allowed Israeli pilots to train in Turkish airspace. Mousa left his meetings with Turkish Foreign Minister Oltan Sungurlu saying that he was satisfied that the Turkish-Israeli agreement would not upset the strategic balance in the Middle East.

Turkey’s Anatolia news agency said that “Turkey has military cooperation agreements with several countries, but the agreement with Egypt is the most important.”

New Tourist Police Chief Appointed:

Gen. Gamal Saleh has been appointed by Egypt’s Interior Ministry as the new chief of tourist police. Saleh, a 29-year veteran of numerous security departments in the Egyptian government, promised a hard-line approach to dealing with terrorism directed at tourists visiting Egypt. Tourism, one of three so-called “pillars” of the Egyptian economy, has recovered recently from a serious slump that resulted when Egypt’s radical Gama’a Al Islamiyya (“Islamic Group”) first unleashed a wave of violence in hopes of undermining the government of President Hosni Mubarak.

Chinese President Visits Egypt:

Chinese President Jiang Zemin met in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for five days of bilateral discussions from May 13-17. The talks concluded with the signing of three cooperative agreements between the two countries including protocols for labor relations, economic cooperation and technological exchange, and a program for cultural cooperation.

During his visit, Jiang voiced China’s support for Egypt’s initiative to make the Middle East a region free of weapons of mass destruction. Currently Israel, a non-signatory nation to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), is the only nuclear weapons state in the Middle East. It is believed to possess an undeclared nuclear arsenal containing 200 to 300 warheads.

Sudan

53 Killed in Plane Crash:

Fifty-three people were killed when a Sudanese passenger plane crashed in the Khartoum suburb of Haj Yusef on May 3, apparently in an attempt to land during a sandstorm that enveloped Khartoum’s airport and surrounding areas. Egypt’s Middle East News Agency reported that 48 passengers and five crew members were killed when the plane crashed into an unoccupied house. The aircraft, a Russian-made Antonov 24 operated by the private Federal Air Company, was on a flight from Bahr Al Ghazal state in southern Sudan, 1,000 kilometers southwest of Khartoum. Sudanese officials blamed the crash on poor visibility resulting from the sandstorm.

Hamas Says It Will Stay in Sudan:

The Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas announced in Khartoum on May 16 that it would not leave Sudan despite reports that its offices had been closed down by Sudanese officials. Hamas’ Khartoum representative, Munir Saeed, told the Arabic newspaper Al Ray Al Akbar that the organization’s logo above its offices had been taken down three months earlier in response to international pressure leveled against Sudan. He added, however, that Hamas activities in Sudan are focused on “information activity,” which is allowed under Sudanese law.

The United Nations Security Council recently demanded that Sudan stop its support for international terrorism and hand over three Egyptians allegedly involved in the plot to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia last year. Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al Bashir said in an interview published in the London magazine Al Wasat that “Anyone who is engaged in activities hostile to the government of his country or other governments and who is resident in Sudan must leave immediately.”

NORTH AFRICA

Algeria

Former Interior Minister Assassinated by GIA Guerrillas:

Algeria’s radical Armed Islamic Group (GIA) assassinated former Algerian Interior Minister Muhammad Hardi on May 3 in the Algiers suburb of Oued Smar. Witnesses said that three young men shot Hardi as he was getting into his car in a parking lot.

Although former high-ranking government officials in Algeria are assigned a security detail after their tenures in office, Hardi is the second former interior minister to be assassinated by radical members of Algeria’s Islamic opposition. Former Interior Minister Aboubakr Belkaid was assassinated in Algiers last September by opposition guerrillas.

Libya

Gaddafi Says Inspect Israel’s Unconventional Arms First:

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi reacted to U.S. requests for full disclosure regarding an alleged Libyan chemical weapons complex by saying the U.S. should look first at Israel’s unconventional weapons programs before turning its attention toward Libya. Libya’s official news agency, JANA, quoted Gaddafi saying, “America wants to search over Libya. We told them search over the Israelis first. They said the Israelis cannot be searched. We then told them ‘you are wasting your effort and time.’” The JANA report did not specify through what channels this reputed conversation took place.

U.S. intelligence officials believe that Libya is constructing a massive underground chemical weapons facility. Libya has responded to U.S. criticism by repeatedly calling on the international community to inspect Israel’s Dimona nuclear complex in the Negev desert, the site of Israel’s undeclared nuclear weapons program.

Arab League Reiterates Support For Libya in Pan Am 103 Bombing:

Arab League Secretary General Esmat Abdel Meguid met in May with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and reiterated his organization’s support for Libya in the investigation into the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The Arab League has been trying to lift the U.N.-imposed embargo against Libya that began in 1992 when Libya failed to turn over two men suspected of involvement in the bombing. Libya has said that it would like the matter settled in the International Court of Justice with certain conditions, but the United States and Britain have repeatedly rejected the idea, saying that the men should be tried in Scotland where the crime occurred. Meguid is quoted by Libya’s JANA news service saying that the Arab League opposes U.S. “threats” against Libya which he described as a “violation of the United Nations charter.”

Morocco

Polisario Front Warns of New Eruption of Violence:

Mohammad Abdel Aziz, head of the Polisario Front organization that disputes Morocco’s claims of sovereignty over the Western Sahara, reacted to a U.N. decision not to organize a referendum on the issue by warning that a new round of violence could erupt. U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali recommended in May that the identification process for people living in the area—a key factor in conducting a referendum—not be pursued until both sides agree to cooperate with the United Nations Mission for the Organization of a Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). Abdel Aziz reacted by sending a letter to the United Nations addressing the international community which read, in part: “the prospect of the disengagement of…MINURSO…aggravated by Moroccan provocations, renders probable and imminent the resumption of hostilities.” The United Nations will retain its military presence dividing the potential combatants, but it will be reduced by some 20 percent. An African diplomat quoted by Agence France Presse described MINURSO’s mission as effectively “dead.”

THE SUBCONTINENT

Afghanistan

Thousands Gather for Anti-Mine Demonstration:

Some 2,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Kabul on May 30 and delivered a statement to the U.N. office there supporting a moratorium against the use of land mines. The procession was led by survivors of land mine explosions and was attended by thousands of women, children and mine removal personnel. Land mine experts believe that Afghanistan is the second most thickly mined country in the world, with an estimated 10 to 15 million anti-personnel mines scattered throughout the country. Estimates show that an Afghan becomes a victim of a land mine explosion every hour.

Islamic Opposition Groups Joins With Government:

The Sunni Muslim Hezb-e-Islami (“Party of Islam”) of former Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar allied its 12,000 fighters with the Kabul government in May against the Taleban militia, another Sunni group, who has besieged the Afghan capital and surrounding areas. In exchange, Hekmatyar will be given the posts of prime minister, minister of defense and minister of finance.

Pakistan

U.S. To Give Pakistan Proceeds From F-16 Sale:

Clinton administration officials announced on June 5 that it will sell F-16s to Indonesia and give the proceeds to Pakistan. Pakistan originally purchased and paid for 28 F-16 multi-role fighters from the United States for $658 million, but Congress blocked their delivery under the terms of the Pressler Amendment which forbids the United States from selling arms to a country that appears to have an undeclared nuclear weapons program.

Under the terms of the recently passed Brown Amendment, named after its Senate sponsor, Hank Brown (R-CO), Congress permitted the release of $350 million in miscellaneous military hardware to Pakistan, but not the aircraft. Instead the U.S. government has sought another buyer for the F-16s, with the proceeds to be used to reimburse Pakistan. Indonesia has agreed to buy 11 of the F-16s initially, with the option to buy the remainder. Opposition to the sale has been expressed by several human rights groups because of Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor, a former Portuguese colony. West Timor and surrounding islands have been part of Indonesia since 1949, when the country obtained its independence from Holland.

U.S. Will Not Penalize Pakistan for Purchase of Ring Magnets:

U.S. State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns announced in May that the United States will not penalize the Pakistani government for its alleged purchase from China of ring magnets which can be used to enrich uranium for use in nuclear weapons. India’s embassy in Washington responded to the ring magnet controversy by urging the Clinton administration to halt the delivery of all weaponry purchased by Pakistan. Burns announced, “The Brown Amendment is in place and there is no reason to change it,” signalling that Washington had decided to ignore reports of the illegal Chinese sale.

THE UNITED STATES

Washington

White House Confirms Palestinians Honoring Oslo Accords:

The White House published its semi-annual report in May confirming that the Palestinian National Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization were fulfilling their peace agreements with Israel. The White House said Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has honored his commitment to amend the Palestinian Covenant, and has cracked down on Palestinian terrorists operating from areas under PNA control. The report is required by Congress as part of legislation committing the U.S. to provide economic assistance to the PNA.

State Department Releases 1995 Terrorism Survey:

The U.S. Department of State released its annual survey of international terrorism in April which details international terrorist attacks by number, type and country. The 75-page report, Pattern of Global Terrorism: 1995, recorded only 6 anti-American terrorist incidents in the Middle East in 1995, compared to 21 in Europe and 62 in Latin America. Topping the list of states in the region which sponsor terrorism was Iran, which the State Department labeled the “premier state sponsor of international terrorism.”