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International Events February 2011

“Civilian” President for Myanmar

• Thein Sein, a military general-turned-civilian leader, was elected Myanmar's first President
under its 2008 Constitution, which came into force in February. His election was officially
portrayed as a key step along the final lap of the military government's roadmap towards
democracy.

• Mr. Thein Sein (65) was chosen by the Presidential Electoral College in Myanmar's
administrative capital of Nay Pyi Taw. The College was constituted on the basis of results of a
controversial “democracy-restoring” general election, which was held in November last. New
civilian representatives and the junta's military nominees formed the Electoral College.

• Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), which was
de-registered before the 2010 general election, did not participate in it.Still unsettled is the
future role of the junta leader, Senior General Than Shwe. Regional observers expect him to
call the political shots from behind the scenes.

Khanal sworn in Premier

• Nepal's President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav administered the oath of office and secrecy to newly-
elected Prime Minister and chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist
Leninist) Jhalanath Khanal .

U.S. piles up pressure on Pakistan

• The U.S. is mounting pressure on Pakistan at various levels to secure the release of the
American “diplomat” who has been in police custody since January 27 for killing two armed
Pakistanis in “self-defence” in Lahore.

• Maintaining that Davis was being illegally detained in gross violation of international law, the
spokesperson said the U.S. government had notified to Islamabad on January 20, 2010, that the
American diplomat was assigned to the embassy as a member of the administrative and
technical staff. “Under the Vienna Convention and Pakistani domestic law, he is entitled to full
criminal immunity and cannot be lawfully arrested or detained.''

Bashir endorses vote result

• In a little more than five months, Southern Sudan is slated to become the world's newest
country. Final results of independence referendum announced show that 98.8 per cent of the
ballots cast were for secession from Sudan's north. The mud-hut town of Juba will be its capital.

• Two decades of war between the predominantly Muslim north and rebels in the Christian-
animist south killed at least 2 million people before a 2005 peace agreement was reached.
Residents are jubilant to have their own country at last, though much work remains.

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• Sudan President Omar al-Bashir backed the final results and said he wanted to be the first to
congratulate the south on their new state. His remarks seemed designed to help ensure a
continuous flow of southern oil through the pipelines in the north. About 98 per cent of
Southern Sudan's budget comes from oil revenue.

Cambodia denies posting troops at temple

• Amid simmering tensions across the Thailand-Cambodia border, despite a lull in the artillery
exchanges , both countries have stepped up a war of words on the alleged militarisation of the
mediaeval Temple of Preah Vihear .

• Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva demanded that Cambodia's “practice of stationing
military forces at the temple must end entirely.” The positioning of troops “is a clear violation
of the objective” that influenced a U.N.-sponsored body to endorse the temple as a world
heritage site, said Mr. Abhisit.

• Rejecting the Thai version, Cambodia's Foreign Ministry said “there have never been and there
will never be Cambodian soldiers at the Temple of Preah Vihear.”

MUBARAK STEPS DOWN, EGYPT REJOICES

• Egypt's youthful uprising has prevailed, after taking on for 18 days the full might of the
dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak, President for 30 years.

• Soon after evening prayers were said, a grim faced Vice-President Omar Suleiman, a long-
serving regime loyalist, announced on state television that Mr. Mubarak had resigned. He read
out a statement: “President Hosni Mubarak has decided to step down from the office of
President of the republic and has charged the High Council of the armed forces to administer
the affairs of the country.”

• Mr. Mubarak assumed power in 1981 following the assassination of Anwar Sadat during a
military parade.

• Analysts say that after the military's assertion, the country is returning to a model defined by
Gamal Abdel Nasser, modern Egypt's founder, of running the state by an army officers' council.
Defence Minister Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi has emerged as the new
strongman and will remain so till the time the political transition is complete.

• For the first time since the January 25 revolt began, protesters decided to directly take on the
President by marching towards the heavily guarded presidential palace. A stand-off with the
military had begun there but it melted into scenes of joy in the face of Mr. Mubarak's
announced exit from the presidency.

Pro-democracy protests rock Bahrain, Yemen

• The political upheavals in Tunisia and Egypt have now begun to have a serious impact on other
parts of West Asia, including the Gulf, where Bahraini security forces for a second day in
running battled protesters seeking political reform.

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• Thousands of protesters converged at the symbolic Pearl Roundabout, a famous monument
representing the six Gulf countries: Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates
and Saudi Arabia.

• Protesters said they identified Pearl Roundabout as their version of Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square,
the epicentre of the Egyptian uprising.

$3.1-billion aid for Pakistan

• U.S. President Barack Obama has proposed to Congress $3.1 billion in financial assistance to
Pakistan for the year 2012.

• This is part of the administration's continued funding for operations and assistance in Iraq,
Afghanistan and Pakistan.

• Of this, $1.9 billion has been proposed to promote a secure and stable Pakistan with a focus on
energy, economic growth, agriculture, health, education, and strengthening the Pakistan's
government.

• $1.5 billion of this is part of the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Bill.

• In addition to this $1.9 billion, Mr. Obama has also proposed $1.2 billion to Pakistan under the
Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) Budget. This includes $1.1 billion for the Pakistan
Counterinsurgency Capability Fund (PCCF) to provide critical equipment and training for
Pakistani security forces.

Vicious crackdown in Bahrain

• Bahrain's sectarian divide deepened with a loyalist demonstration for the ruling Sunni royalty
and vicious crackdown by the police on the majority Shia community demonstrating at the
famous Pearl Roundabout, now a visible symbol of revolt in the shadow of Cairo's Tahrir
Square.

• Though tiny in size, Bahrain is a major factor in international geopolitics, being home to the
American navy's fifth fleet, and on account of its proximity to the Shia-dominated oil-bearing
eastern provinces of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

• As protests intensified, Kuwait emerged, as the second frontier in the pro-democracy campaign
in the Gulf.

• In Libya, which also is a major oil bearing nation, the city of Benghazi has become the
epicentre of the pro-democracy revolt.

China plays down “Jasmine” threat; tightens security

• Chinese officials have ruled out the likelihood of unrest after calls for a “Jasmine Revolution”
circulated on the Internet, saying Chinese people had “a common aspiration” for stability and
development.

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• The call for protests in 13 Chinese cities, which originated from a United States-based website,
received little response. Nevertheless, the government appeared to take the threat seriously.

Thai-Cambodia nod for monitors

• The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed to deploy Indonesian observers
in both Cambodia and Thailand along the disputed stretch of their border near the mediaeval
Preah Vihear Hindu temple. This was announced by Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty
Natalegawa after an urgent ASEAN ministerial meeting in Jakarta.

• Sporadic but intense firing across the Thai-Cambodian border claimed at least five lives, with
unofficial estimates being higher.

• Indonesia is the current Chair of ASEAN, while Thailand and Cambodia are also in the 10-
member group.

• While the temple was awarded to Cambodia by the International Court of Justice in 1962 and a
United Nations-sponsored panel more recently declared the place of worship as a world heritage
site, the Thai-Cambodian border in the temple vicinity has remained in dispute.

U.S.-Russia air transit deal

• The Russian Parliament ratified an agreement with America on air transit of military cargoes to
Afghanistan.

• The agreement allows the U.S. Air Force to fly weapons, military property and personnel to
Afghanistan via the Russian air space free of navigation charges and sets the ceiling of 4,500
flights annually.

• After its signing in July 2009, the agreement was in force as a temporary arrangement pending
ratification. It opened a new supply route for the 140,000-strong Afghanistan International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF) as the Taliban stepped up attacks on the NATO convoys
moving through Pakistan.

• The U.S. has sent 780 planes across Russia to date, ferrying 115,000 troops and 19,000 tons of
cargoes, said Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov presenting the pact in the State
Duma, the Lower House.

• The transit agreement helped Moscow win Washington's cooperation in fighting the narcotics
threat from Afghanistan, Russia's top diplomat told the legislators.

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