5 December 2011
Ten years after the 2001 Petersberg Conference, States have re-convened in Bonn to deliberate on the future of Afghanistan after the foreign troop withdrawal scheduled for 2014. While about 100 countries are attending the conference, Pakistan, one of the key players in the region, is boycotting the conference in protest of a NATO attack on a border checkpoint last month.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk
5 December 2011
The International Court of Justice finds finds that Greece, by objecting to the admission of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to NATO, has breached its obligation under Article 11, paragraph 1, of the Interim Accord of 13 September 1995.
Source: http://www.icj-cij.org
28 November 2011
Yesterday, the Arab League approved a series of sanctions against the Syrian regime, thereby accepting the responsibility to respond to the violence of the Syrian government against its people. These include an asset freeze, an investment embargo and halting transactions with the Syrian central bank. Direct neighbour-states Iraq and Lebanon abstained from voting. The sanctions follow a deadline which passed last Friday to allow hundreds of observers into the country as part of a peace deal.
Source 1: www.nytimes.com
Source 2: www.bbc.co.uk
28 November 2011
Evidence has emerged of unregulated tuna fishing in Libyan waters during this year’s conflict. EU boats are implicated in the fishing, which the European Commission believes could be judged illegal. The issue led to heated discussion at the recent Istanbul meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), where it was decided that research will be carried out into the events.
Source: BBC News – Tuna fished ‘illegally’ during Libya conflict
28 November 2011
NATO’s claim that it was retailing against gunfire from the Pakistani side of the border has been denied by Pakistan, which in return has lodged protests against both the United States and NATO in connection to the incident in which NATO air forces killed at least 25 soldiers in strikes against two military posts at the northwestern border with Afghanistan. Pakistan’s government already ordered the US to vacate an airbase used for drone strikes in Afghanistan, and announced that it would would “revisit and undertake a complete review of all programmes, activities and co-operative arrangements” with the US, and US-led forces in Afghanistan, “including diplomatic, political, military and intelligence”.
Source 1: Guardian – Pakistan orders US to leave airbase in row over deadly Nato assault
Source 2: NY Times – Tensions Flare Between U.S. and Pakistan After Strike