International Events February 2011

International Events February 2011

“Civilian” President for Myanmar

• Thein Sein, a military general-turned-civilian leader, was elected Myanmar's first President under its 2008 Constitution, which came into force in February. His election was officially portrayed as a key step along the final lap of the military government's roadmap towards democracy.

• Mr. Thein Sein (65) was chosen by the Presidential Electoral College in Myanmar's

administrative capital of Nay Pyi Taw. The College was constituted on the basis of results of a controversial “democracy-restoring” general election, which was held in November last. New civilian representatives and the junta's military nominees formed the Electoral College.

• Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), which was de-registered before the 2010 general election, did not participate in it.Still unsettled is the future role of the junta leader, Senior General Than Shwe. Regional observers expect him to call the political shots from behind the scenes.

Khanal sworn in Premier

• Nepal's President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav administered the oath of office and secrecy to newlyelected Prime Minister and chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) Jhalanath Khanal . U.S. piles up pressure on Pakistan

• The U.S. is mounting pressure on Pakistan at various levels to secure the release of the

American “diplomat” who has been in police custody since January 27 for killing two armed Pakistanis in “self-defence” in Lahore.

• Maintaining that Davis was being illegally detained in gross violation of international law, the spokesperson said the U.S. government had notified to Islamabad on January 20, 2010, that the American diplomat was assigned to the embassy as a member of the administrative and technical staff. “Under the Vienna Convention and Pakistani domestic law, he is entitled to full criminal immunity and cannot be lawfully arrested or detained.''

Bashir endorses vote result

• In a little more than five months, Southern Sudan is slated to become the world's newest

country. Final results of independence referendum announced show that 98.8 per cent of the ballots cast were for secession from Sudan's north. The mud-hut town of Juba will be its capital.

• Two decades of war between the predominantly Muslim north and rebels in the Christiananimist south killed at least 2 million people before a 2005 peace agreement was reached. Residents are jubilant to have their own country at last, though much work remains.

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• Sudan President Omar al-Bashir backed the final results and said he wanted to be the first to congratulate the south on their new state. His remarks seemed designed to help ensure a continuous flow of southern oil through the pipelines in the north. About 98 per cent of Southern Sudan's budget comes from oil revenue.

Cambodia denies posting troops at temple

• Amid simmering tensions across the Thailand-Cambodia border, despite a lull in the artillery exchanges , both countries have stepped up a war of words on the alleged militarisation of the mediaeval Temple of Preah Vihear .

• Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva demanded that Cambodia's “practice of stationing  military forces at the temple must end entirely.” The positioning of troops “is a clear violation of the objective” that influenced a U.N.-sponsored body to endorse the temple as a world heritage site, said Mr. Abhisit.

• Rejecting the Thai version, Cambodia's Foreign Ministry said “there have never been and there will never be Cambodian soldiers at the Temple of Preah Vihear.”

MUBARAK STEPS DOWN, EGYPT REJOICES

• Egypt's youthful uprising has prevailed, after taking on for 18 days the full might of the

dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak, President for 30 years.

• Soon after evening prayers were said, a grim faced Vice-President Omar Suleiman, a longserving regime loyalist, announced on state television that Mr. Mubarak had resigned. He read out a statement: “President Hosni Mubarak has decided to step down from the office of President of the republic and has charged the High Council of the armed forces to administer the affairs of the country.”

• Mr. Mubarak assumed power in 1981 following the assassination of Anwar Sadat during a military parade.

• Analysts say that after the military's assertion, the country is returning to a model defined byGamal Abdel Nasser, modern Egypt's founder, of running the state by an army officers' council. Defence Minister Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi has emerged as the new strongman and will remain so till the time the political transition is complete.

• For the first time since the January 25 revolt began, protesters decided to directly take on the President by marching towards the heavily guarded presidential palace. A stand-off with the military had begun there but it melted into scenes of joy in the face of Mr. Mubarak's announced exit from the presidency. Pro-democracy protests rock Bahrain, Yemen

• The political upheavals in Tunisia and Egypt have now begun to have a serious impact on other parts of West Asia, including the Gulf, where Bahraini security forces for a second day in running battled protesters seeking political reform.

• Thousands of protesters converged at the symbolic Pearl Roundabout, a famous monument representing the six Gulf countries: Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

• Protesters said they identified Pearl Roundabout as their version of Cairo's iconic

Tahrir Square

, the epicentre of the Egyptian uprising. $3.1-billion aid for Pakistan

• U.S. President Barack Obama has proposed to Congress $3.1 billion in financial assistance to Pakistan for the year 2012.

• This is part of the administration's continued funding for operations and assistance in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

• Of this, $1.9 billion has been proposed to promote a secure and stable Pakistan with a focus on energy, economic growth, agriculture, health, education, and strengthening the Pakistan's government.

• $1.5 billion of this is part of the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Bill.

• In addition to this $1.9 billion, Mr. Obama has also proposed $1.2 billion to Pakistan under the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) Budget. This includes $1.1 billion for the Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund (PCCF) to provide critical equipment and training for Pakistani security forces. Vicious crackdown in Bahrain

• Bahrain's sectarian divide deepened with a loyalist demonstration for the ruling Sunni royalty and vicious crackdown by the police on the majority Shia community demonstrating at the famous Pearl Roundabout, now a visible symbol of revolt in the shadow of Cairo's

Tahrir Square

.

• Though tiny in size, Bahrain is a major factor in international geopolitics, being home to the American navy's fifth fleet, and on account of its proximity to the Shia-dominated oil-bearing eastern provinces of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

• As protests intensified, Kuwait emerged, as the second frontier in the pro-democracy campaign in the Gulf.

• In Libya, which also is a major oil bearing nation, the city of Benghazi has become the

epicentre of the pro-democracy revolt. China plays down “Jasmine” threat; tightens security

• Chinese officials have ruled out the likelihood of unrest after calls for a “Jasmine Revolution” circulated on the Internet, saying Chinese people had “a common aspiration” for stability and development.

• The call for protests in 13 Chinese cities, which originated from a United States-based website, received little response. Nevertheless, the government appeared to take the threat seriously. Thai-Cambodia nod for monitors

• The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed to deploy Indonesian observers in both Cambodia and Thailand along the disputed stretch of their border near the mediaeval Preah Vihear Hindu temple. This was announced by Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa after an urgent ASEAN ministerial meeting in Jakarta.

• Sporadic but intense firing across the Thai-Cambodian border claimed at least five lives, with unofficial estimates being higher.

• Indonesia is the current Chair of ASEAN, while Thailand and Cambodia are also in the 10- member group.

• While the temple was awarded to Cambodia by the International Court of Justice in 1962 and a United Nations-sponsored panel more recently declared the place of worship as a world heritage site, the Thai-Cambodian border in the temple vicinity has remained in dispute. U.S.-Russia air transit deal

• The Russian Parliament ratified an agreement with America on air transit of military cargoes to Afghanistan.

• The agreement allows the U.S. Air Force to fly weapons, military property and personnel to Afghanistan via the Russian air space free of navigation charges and sets the ceiling of 4,500 flights annually.

• After its signing in July 2009, the agreement was in force as a temporary arrangement pending ratification. It opened a new supply route for the 140,000-strong Afghanistan International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) as the Taliban stepped up attacks on the NATO convoys moving through Pakistan.

• The U.S. has sent 780 planes across Russia to date, ferrying 115,000 troops and 19,000 tons of  cargoes, said Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov presenting the pact in the State Duma, the Lower House.

• The transit agreement helped Moscow win Washington's cooperation in fighting the narcotics threat from Afghanistan, Russia's top diplomat told the legislators.