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2006 - A troubled world |
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Harjit Singh
The year 2006 has left many marks on history. Globally the year 2006 started with the United States getting more and more involved in Iraq, not out of will but out of compulsion as insurgency and violence mounted and the American casualties rose. The year ended with the execution of former President Saddam Hussein after a kangaroo trial which saw the judges being changed, witnesses being tutored and the defendants being denied the right to cross-examine the witnesses. The hanging itself left a bad taste in the mouth as a secretly filmed video showed him being jeered at by Shia onlookers and the Prosecutor from the court threatening to walk out if the taunts did not stop. The year saw the hardline US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld losing his job and the Iraq Study group recommending a new strategy on Iraq, to be unveiled in the next few days by President Bush, and a staggered reduction of US forces.
The world also saw the Middle East running deeper into violence. Departure of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from the Israeli scene after a stroke left him in coma, and his replacement by Ehud Olmert, had raised hopes that he would be more moderate than Sharon, who had the reputation of a hawk. But, the way he continued to rain bombs on Palestinian civilians and then went the whole hog against the Hezbullah entrenched in southern Lebanon was proof that Jerusalem was receiving directions from the United States and not pursuing the hawkish policies on its own. The Palestinian peace process received a setback after the elections there catapulted up the Hamas to power. Mehmoud Abbas, a Fatah leader is the President of the country, and the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh the Prime Minister. There is little love lost between the two. Though a truce has been hammered out and the two sides have agreed to withdraw their forces from the streets, it is unlikely to last long.
The African continent too has been on the boil. In Somalia, Islamic militants took control of the capital, Mogadishu. They have, of course, been driven out by Ethiopian forces in support of the interim Government there, but the militants have mixed up with the refugees and would lie low until they have consolidated their position. It means that a very uncertain future holds out for the country. In Sudan too, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the war ravaged Darfur region, but President al-Bashir is resisting the UN demand to send a peace keeping force there.
In South America, the leftist wave is blowing in full strength and one after another, the Governments opposed to the United States are emerging victorious. Much to the displeasure of Washington, Hugo Chavez led a leftist wave across Latin America. By the end of the year, Leftists were in power in Cuba, Nicaragua, Brazil, Venezuela, Chile, Equator, Bolivia and Peru.
Nearer home in Asia, another country defied the American might when North Korea carried out a nuclear test despite warnings of grave consequences by the United States. All that North Korea did was to promise not to carry out another test and return to the six-party peace talks. But, little progress has been made in the opening session in Beijing as the North is demanding nuclear weapons power status and as the year ended, there emerged reports of Pyongyang preparing for a second test.
Another country that is now engaged in uranium enrichment, Iran, is refusing to kowtow to the UN Security Council which has imposed sanctions on trading in nuclear related material. President Ahmedinejad has threatened to walk out of the NPT if more sanctions were imposed.
The other mentionable events during 2006 were the coup by the Fijian military chief against the civilian Government, declaration of emergency in the Philippines in February after an alleged coup against President Gloria Arroyo was foiled and the death of former Yugoslav President Slabodan Milosevic in his cell in the UN war crimes tribunal’s detention centre at The Hague.
India also had a troubled neighbourhood. The year 2006 signed off with a disturbing legacy that India could not ignore – Pakistan’s restive Baluchistan Province, the lengthening dark shadows of theTaliban and the Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and return of a civil war like situation in Sri Lanka.
Pakistan found itself involved in a two-front war against terrorism – in its south-western province of Baluchistan on the one hand and the tribal region on its border with Afghanistan on the other. Both NWFP and Baluchistan remained in the grip of militancy in 2006 and the situation in Baluchistan came to a boil when Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed on August 26 in a military operation. On the other side of the border, Pakistan continued to be accused by Afghanistan President of not doing enough to stop the Taliban remnants from using its territory for infiltration and for setting up training camps. On Sept. 5, Pakistan Government, which denies Kabul’s charges, signed a deal with local tribal leaders in North Waziristan to end violence. But, this has not impressed either the US or Afghanistan who say this will give the Taliban elements licence to operate openly there.
In Afghanistan itself, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda made rapid inroads throughout 2006. The NATO forces took control of southern Afghanistan where the Taliban pose the most serious threat. Hundreds have been killed. But, at the same time, NATO forces have also suffered high casualties.
In Sri Lanka, the Norway-sponsored peace initiative lay in tatters in the year that has just ended. The armed conflict between the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE resumed with greater ferocity. The attempt to strengthen the truce failed at the Geneva talks when the LTTE delegation refused to come to the table. The death of their chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham is seen as another setback to the peace talks and in his Heroes Address this year, LTTE chief Prabhakaran said the ceasefire was almost defunct although in subsequent statements, the LTTE said, it stands by the truce. For President Mahinda Rajapakse, the Supreme Court has created another challenge to cope with after it ruled the temporary merger of the North and the East null and void. This is likely to further increase tension between the Tamils and Sinhalas and between the Tamils and the Tamil-speaking Muslims.
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