new internationalist
YUGOSLAVIA President Slobodan Milosevic is indicted by the UN War Crimes Tribunal; the first time a serving head of state has ever been indicted for war crimes. NATO troops enter Kosovo following a peace deal after three months of bombing. An estimated 200,000 refugees return home.
LEBANON Israel’s auxiliaries withdraw from the ‘security zone’ in occupied south Lebanon for the first time since 1985.
SLAVAKIA In the country’s first direct presidential elections, Rudolph Schuster, Slovakia’s pro-Western government candidate, defeats Vladimir Mecia, the former authoritarian Prime Minister.
INDONESIA The first free elections for four decades take place.
SOUTH AFRICA Thabo Mbeki succeeds Nelson Mandela as President following a 66-per-cent landslide ANC victory in the second democratic elections since the fall of apartheid in 1992.
CHINA Fearing protest on the tenth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, Chinese officials block access to some internet sites and to some foreign television channels.
ALGERIA President Bouteflika proposes granting 20,000 political prisoners amnesty in an attempt to end the seven-year battle with Islamic groups.
TURKEY The Kurdish separatist leader, Abdullah Ocalan, is sentenced to death for terrorism after a trial which human-rights organizations call a travesty of justice. The self-proclaimed Kurdish parliament warns tourists to stay away from Turkey.
SUDAN Nubian tribes in the south face starvation thanks to the Government’s refusal to allow access to aid. The Nubian population has already decreased from a million to just 50,000.
WORLD The Red Cross reports that 1998 was the worst year for natural disasters in modern times. Some 96 per cent of those killed were in poor countries.
ETHIOPIA Israel embarks on its mission to air-lift 4,000 Ethiopian Jews from the impoverished Quara region.
NORTH KOREA Talks open with US in Beijing, designed to end American sanctions. But talks between North and South Korea are postponed after their navies clash in disputed waters.
BELGIUM Following scares about dioxin traces in meat, Coca-Cola products containing sub-standard carbon dioxide are banned.
BOLIVIA The US Overseas Private Investment Corporation’s decision to approve a $200-million loan for a gas pipeline causes environmental groups to fear for the fragile ecosystem of the Chiquitano Forest through which the pipeline would pass.
