Post by bot on Jun 2, 2004 2:53:22 GMT -5
Major political, economic events in post-war Iraq
www.chinaview.cn 2004-06-02 15:38:43
BEIJING, June 2 (Xinhuanet) -- UN special envoy for Iraq Lakhdar Brahimi confirmed on Tuesday that Sunni Muslim tribal leader GhaziYawar was appointed as president of Iraq in a new interim administration. Following is a chronology of major events of post-war political and economic reconstruction in Iraq.
June 1, 2004 -- The United Nations special envoy for Iraq Lakhdar Brahimi confirmed Ghazi Yawar as the new Iraqi president.Meanwhile, Lakhdar Brahimi also said that Ibrahim Jaffari from theShiite al-Daawa Islamic Party and Rose Noori Shawis of Massoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party were appointed as vice presidents.
Brahimi said he had passed on recommendations for a 26-member cabinet to newly-appointed Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
The interim Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), which was hand-picked by the US-led coalition authority last July, was dissolved after the new Iraqi president was appointed and the new cabinet took shape.
The council had originally been expected to remain in office until the handover of sovereignty on June 30.
The United States and Britain revised a UN draft resolution on Iraq in a bid to gain support from China, Germany, France and other Security Council members for the Iraqi power transfer.
The new draft, obtained by Xinhua, stipulates that the US-led multinational force would leave Iraq "upon the completion of the political process" in late 2005 or probably in early 2006.
May 28, 2004 -- Iyad Allawi was named as prime minister of the new Iraqi government which took power on July 1 and will rule Iraquntil nationwide elections in January 2005.
Allawi, a Shiite Muslim physician, was endorsed unanimously by the US-installed Iraqi Governing Council to become prime minister of the interim government.
Allawi is a secular Shiite Muslim and former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party. He turned against the former regime and went into exile to oppose it.
He was formerly secretary-general of the Iraq National Accord which he helped set up in 1991, an opposition group made up in part by former military officers who had defected from Saddam Hussein's regime.
May 27, 2004 -- Salam al-Khafaji, a female member of the Iraqi Governing Council, survived an assassination attempt on her way back from Najaf.
An aide to the member confirmed the attack, saying some security guards were injured when Khafaji traveled in a three-car convoy from Najaf to Baghdad.
Khafaji was in Najaf to help negotiate a cease-fire between US-led coalition forces and militias supporting radical Shiite clericMoqtada al-Sadr.
The US-led coalition agreed to suspend military operations in Najaf after Shiite leaders struck a deal with al-Sadr to withdraw his Mehdi Army from the holy cities.
British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon announced that Britain would send about 370 extra troops to Iraq, just nearly a month before the planned June 30 power transfer.
May 26, 2004 -- The US overseer in Iraq, Paul Bremer, said the US-led coalition in Iraq created a 25-million-dollar fund to compensate thousands of Iraqis victimized by Saddam Hussein.
The money will come from the Development Fund for Iraq that includes the oil revenue and foreign assets, and will be controlled by Baghdad's interim government after the US-led coalition hands over power on June 30.
May 25, 2004 -- US Secretary of State Colin Powell admitted that the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal has done serious damageto the US efforts in Iraq and the US image around the world.
May 24, 2004 -- US President George W. Bush said the United States will keep the current troop level of 138,000 in Iraq for "as long as necessary" and will send more if needed.
He laid out his administration's strategy in Iraq in a bid to rally domestic and international support five weeks before the US-led coalition is prepared to transfer power to Iraqis on June 30.
"There are five steps in our plan to help Iraq achieve democracy and freedom," Bush said in a prime-time address at the US Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Bush said the notorious Abu Ghraib prison where US soldiers abused Iraqi prisoners would be demolished if the new Iraqi government agrees after June 30.
The United States and Britain introduced a UN draft resolution endorsing the formation of a new Iraqi government by June 30 to govern the country and authorizing the continued presence of a US-led multinational force there.
May 21, 2004 -- About 350 Honduran soldiers deployed in Iraq returned home, more than a month earlier than scheduled amid mounting violence in Iraq.
The last Spanish troops left their Iraqi base in the southern Iraqi town of Diwaniya and crossed the border into Kuwait later.
May 19, 2004 -- US top military commander in Iraq told a Senatepanel that the abuse of prisoners in Iraq will be investigated thoroughly up the chain of command, he himself included.
Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, commander of the US forces in Iraq, said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that additional criminal charges may be filed as the investigation wenton.
May 17, 2004 -- The rotating president of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), Izzedin Salim, was killed by a car bomb at a checkpoint in Baghdad. Salim, also known as Abdul Zahra Othman Mohammad, was in his car waiting to enter the main US-led coalition compound in Baghdad when the car bomb exploded.
March 8, 2004 -- The 25 members of the Iraqi Governing Council signed an interim constitution for the country. The move was considered a key step toward a planned power handover from the US-led coalition to the Iraqi people on June 30.
Feb. 19, 2004 -- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said early elections in Iraq before the transfer of power are not feasible.
Oct. 24, 2003 -- The international donors' conference for the reconstruction of Iraq raised a total of 33 billion US dollars. Delegations from 73 countries, 20 international organizations and 13 non-governmental organizations attended the conference in Madrid, Spain.
Oct. 16, 2003 -- The UN Security Council voted unanimously for a US-proposed draft resolution on Iraq, authorizing the transformation of the occupying force in Iraq into a US-led multinational force and allowing the Iraqi Governing Council to present until Dec. 15 a timetable for drafting a new constitution and holding elections.
Oct. 15, 2003 -- Iraqi citizens began to use a new currency as Iraqi banks started exchanging the old bank notes with Saddam Hussein's image for a new set of dinars. Printed in Britain, the new currency is clear of Saddam's face and, instead, emblazoned with palm trees, spiral minaret and head portrait of the ancient King Hammurabi.
Sept. 21, 2003 -- Iraq unveiled a series of economic and financial reforms allowing foreign investors into all sectors except natural resources, ending 30 years of state economic control.
Sept. 9, 2003 -- Arab foreign ministers decided to allow the US-backed Iraqi Governing Council to represent Iraq at the Arab League until an elected legitimate government is formed, a move seen as the league's official recognition of the council.
Sept. 1, 2003 -- The Iraqi Governing Council named the first cabinet since the US-led coalition forces toppled the former regime of Saddam Hussein. The new government consisted of 25 members, with 13 ministries going to Shiite Muslims, five to Sunnis, five to Kurds, one to Turkmens and one to Christians, the same composition as the council itself.
July 13, 2003 -- The US-backed Iraqi Governing Council held itsinaugural meeting, becoming the first national executive body in the country since the ouster of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
June 22, 2003 -- Senior US officials unveiled plans for Iraq's economic reconstruction and political transformation during the World Economic Forum extraordinary meeting in Jordan. The United States envisioned an open Iraqi market and planned to establish a political council and convene a broad constitutional conference inthe near future.
May 11, 2003 -- Commander of Coalition Forces Tommy Franks saidformer Iraqi ruling Baath Party had been dissolved.
May 6, 2003 -- US President George W. Bush named veteran US diplomat and counterterrorism expert Paul Bremer as the top civil administrator to lead post-war reconstruction and political transition in Iraq. Enditem
www.chinaview.cn 2004-06-02 15:38:43
BEIJING, June 2 (Xinhuanet) -- UN special envoy for Iraq Lakhdar Brahimi confirmed on Tuesday that Sunni Muslim tribal leader GhaziYawar was appointed as president of Iraq in a new interim administration. Following is a chronology of major events of post-war political and economic reconstruction in Iraq.
June 1, 2004 -- The United Nations special envoy for Iraq Lakhdar Brahimi confirmed Ghazi Yawar as the new Iraqi president.Meanwhile, Lakhdar Brahimi also said that Ibrahim Jaffari from theShiite al-Daawa Islamic Party and Rose Noori Shawis of Massoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party were appointed as vice presidents.
Brahimi said he had passed on recommendations for a 26-member cabinet to newly-appointed Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
The interim Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), which was hand-picked by the US-led coalition authority last July, was dissolved after the new Iraqi president was appointed and the new cabinet took shape.
The council had originally been expected to remain in office until the handover of sovereignty on June 30.
The United States and Britain revised a UN draft resolution on Iraq in a bid to gain support from China, Germany, France and other Security Council members for the Iraqi power transfer.
The new draft, obtained by Xinhua, stipulates that the US-led multinational force would leave Iraq "upon the completion of the political process" in late 2005 or probably in early 2006.
May 28, 2004 -- Iyad Allawi was named as prime minister of the new Iraqi government which took power on July 1 and will rule Iraquntil nationwide elections in January 2005.
Allawi, a Shiite Muslim physician, was endorsed unanimously by the US-installed Iraqi Governing Council to become prime minister of the interim government.
Allawi is a secular Shiite Muslim and former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party. He turned against the former regime and went into exile to oppose it.
He was formerly secretary-general of the Iraq National Accord which he helped set up in 1991, an opposition group made up in part by former military officers who had defected from Saddam Hussein's regime.
May 27, 2004 -- Salam al-Khafaji, a female member of the Iraqi Governing Council, survived an assassination attempt on her way back from Najaf.
An aide to the member confirmed the attack, saying some security guards were injured when Khafaji traveled in a three-car convoy from Najaf to Baghdad.
Khafaji was in Najaf to help negotiate a cease-fire between US-led coalition forces and militias supporting radical Shiite clericMoqtada al-Sadr.
The US-led coalition agreed to suspend military operations in Najaf after Shiite leaders struck a deal with al-Sadr to withdraw his Mehdi Army from the holy cities.
British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon announced that Britain would send about 370 extra troops to Iraq, just nearly a month before the planned June 30 power transfer.
May 26, 2004 -- The US overseer in Iraq, Paul Bremer, said the US-led coalition in Iraq created a 25-million-dollar fund to compensate thousands of Iraqis victimized by Saddam Hussein.
The money will come from the Development Fund for Iraq that includes the oil revenue and foreign assets, and will be controlled by Baghdad's interim government after the US-led coalition hands over power on June 30.
May 25, 2004 -- US Secretary of State Colin Powell admitted that the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal has done serious damageto the US efforts in Iraq and the US image around the world.
May 24, 2004 -- US President George W. Bush said the United States will keep the current troop level of 138,000 in Iraq for "as long as necessary" and will send more if needed.
He laid out his administration's strategy in Iraq in a bid to rally domestic and international support five weeks before the US-led coalition is prepared to transfer power to Iraqis on June 30.
"There are five steps in our plan to help Iraq achieve democracy and freedom," Bush said in a prime-time address at the US Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Bush said the notorious Abu Ghraib prison where US soldiers abused Iraqi prisoners would be demolished if the new Iraqi government agrees after June 30.
The United States and Britain introduced a UN draft resolution endorsing the formation of a new Iraqi government by June 30 to govern the country and authorizing the continued presence of a US-led multinational force there.
May 21, 2004 -- About 350 Honduran soldiers deployed in Iraq returned home, more than a month earlier than scheduled amid mounting violence in Iraq.
The last Spanish troops left their Iraqi base in the southern Iraqi town of Diwaniya and crossed the border into Kuwait later.
May 19, 2004 -- US top military commander in Iraq told a Senatepanel that the abuse of prisoners in Iraq will be investigated thoroughly up the chain of command, he himself included.
Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, commander of the US forces in Iraq, said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that additional criminal charges may be filed as the investigation wenton.
May 17, 2004 -- The rotating president of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), Izzedin Salim, was killed by a car bomb at a checkpoint in Baghdad. Salim, also known as Abdul Zahra Othman Mohammad, was in his car waiting to enter the main US-led coalition compound in Baghdad when the car bomb exploded.
March 8, 2004 -- The 25 members of the Iraqi Governing Council signed an interim constitution for the country. The move was considered a key step toward a planned power handover from the US-led coalition to the Iraqi people on June 30.
Feb. 19, 2004 -- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said early elections in Iraq before the transfer of power are not feasible.
Oct. 24, 2003 -- The international donors' conference for the reconstruction of Iraq raised a total of 33 billion US dollars. Delegations from 73 countries, 20 international organizations and 13 non-governmental organizations attended the conference in Madrid, Spain.
Oct. 16, 2003 -- The UN Security Council voted unanimously for a US-proposed draft resolution on Iraq, authorizing the transformation of the occupying force in Iraq into a US-led multinational force and allowing the Iraqi Governing Council to present until Dec. 15 a timetable for drafting a new constitution and holding elections.
Oct. 15, 2003 -- Iraqi citizens began to use a new currency as Iraqi banks started exchanging the old bank notes with Saddam Hussein's image for a new set of dinars. Printed in Britain, the new currency is clear of Saddam's face and, instead, emblazoned with palm trees, spiral minaret and head portrait of the ancient King Hammurabi.
Sept. 21, 2003 -- Iraq unveiled a series of economic and financial reforms allowing foreign investors into all sectors except natural resources, ending 30 years of state economic control.
Sept. 9, 2003 -- Arab foreign ministers decided to allow the US-backed Iraqi Governing Council to represent Iraq at the Arab League until an elected legitimate government is formed, a move seen as the league's official recognition of the council.
Sept. 1, 2003 -- The Iraqi Governing Council named the first cabinet since the US-led coalition forces toppled the former regime of Saddam Hussein. The new government consisted of 25 members, with 13 ministries going to Shiite Muslims, five to Sunnis, five to Kurds, one to Turkmens and one to Christians, the same composition as the council itself.
July 13, 2003 -- The US-backed Iraqi Governing Council held itsinaugural meeting, becoming the first national executive body in the country since the ouster of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
June 22, 2003 -- Senior US officials unveiled plans for Iraq's economic reconstruction and political transformation during the World Economic Forum extraordinary meeting in Jordan. The United States envisioned an open Iraqi market and planned to establish a political council and convene a broad constitutional conference inthe near future.
May 11, 2003 -- Commander of Coalition Forces Tommy Franks saidformer Iraqi ruling Baath Party had been dissolved.
May 6, 2003 -- US President George W. Bush named veteran US diplomat and counterterrorism expert Paul Bremer as the top civil administrator to lead post-war reconstruction and political transition in Iraq. Enditem