COLOMBIA Hopes of an end to the 34-year civil war are stimulated after the two largest rebel groups agree to peace talks with the Government, to start in August. Fifteen young women, kidnapped three weeks earlier by National Liberation Army guerrillas, are released unharmed after an international outcry.

NIGERIA The sudden death of imprisoned democracy campaigner Chief Moshood Abiola threatens to upset the process of reform. Early suspicions that the chief was murdered are allayed by an autopsy conducted by experts from Europe and Canada. New leader Abdulsalam Abubakar announces plans to hand over to a civilian government on 29 May 1999, following elections in the first quarter of 1999. Pro-democracy groups are not convinced.

PALESTINE The UN votes overwhelmingly to upgrade Palestine’s observer status. The new ‘super-observer’ post falls short of full UN membership, allowing Palestine to participate in General Assembly debate and co-sponsor resolutions on Middle East issues, but not giving voting rights. The resolution is passed against strong opposition from the US and Israel.

BHUTAN Reforms are agreed which drastically reduce the power of formerly absolute monarch King Wangchuck. The King will allow Parliament to choose the Cabinet and agrees that his continuance as monarch should rely on a regular vote of confidence.

AUSTRALIA A controversial bill severely restricting Aboriginal rights to claim title over ancestral lands is passed by Parliament. Campaigners describe the bill as ‘racist’, since it privileges the claims of (mainly white) farmers and mining companies over those of the indigenous population.

WEST PAPUA/INDONESIA 3,000 tribal people demanding independence from Indonesia occupy a government building in the town of Wamena. On the adjacent island of Biak seven die and several go missing when police open fire on pro-independence demonstrators. In the following days the bodies of 21 of the missing are washed ashore or turn up in fishing nets, all showing signs of torture or bullet holes.

SUDAN More than one million people are threatened with starvation in the continuing famine, the spread and severity of which has taken aid agencies by surprise.

ECUADOR Presidential elections are won by Jamal Mahuad, former mayor of Quito.

BOLIVIA Former military dictator General Hugo Banzer is elected President after winning just 22 per cent of the vote. Bolivians are concerned that his return to power may lead to a renewal of the human-rights violations of his earlier rule in the 1970s.

TURKEY Human-rights campaigner Akin Birdal is jailed for one year after being convicted of ‘provoking hatred’ in a speech in which he called for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish conflict.

PERU Oil giants Shell and Mobil pull out of a planned project to develop the Camisea gas field in the Amazon rainforest. The project, set to cost $40 million, was the cause of serious concern among environmental groups, but the pull-out appears to have been for financial reasons.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA A massive tidal wave kills around 2,000 people on the north-west coast of the island. Survivors are threatened by disease spread by decomposing corpses which cannot be buried fast enough in the hot climate.

ALGERIA A panel of international ‘information gatherers’ are allowed into the country to report on recent massacres. The Algerian authorities consistently blame all atrocities on Islamic fundamentalists but human-rights organizations report that the Government itself is implicated in some of the massacres.

ANGOLA Suspected Unita rebels killed 215 people at a village in Angola’s mining area.

GUINEA-BISSAU A ceasefire is announced between the Government and rebel troops after nearly two months of civil war.

WORLD 160 countries vote to approve a treaty setting up an International Criminal Court. (See special feature : International justice)

SOUTH AFRICA 21,000 witnesses later, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings come to an end. While exposing gruesome details of the apartheid regime, the Commission is criticized for failing to get leaders of the apartheid regime, especially former President PW Botha, to admit responsibility for abuses.

ONLINE CHRONICLE DESIGNED & MAINTAINED BY SIMON, Simon Loffler.