Jane's Intelligence Review - Country Risk Watch

Country Risk Watch

*Brief Korean naval clash highlights tensions in the region
Patrol craft from the North Korean and South Korean navies engaged in a brief armed clash on 10 November, highlighting the tense situation in ...
13-Nov-2009

Italian authorities capture leading Camorra mafia fugitives
One of Italy's 30 most dangerous fugitives was arrested near Naples on 1 November along with his brother, a day after another brother was ...
13-Nov-2009

Indonesian officials resign over growing corruption scandal
On 5 November, two senior law enforcement figures resigned over a corruption scandal that threatens to weaken President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's credibility. The two ...
13-Nov-2009

*Chávez calls on military to prepare for war
On 8 November, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez called on the military, civilian militias and workers to prepare themselves for war, signalling that ongoing tensions ...
13-Nov-2009

*Ship's capture increases fear of Hizbullah
Israeli special forces' seizure of the Francop vessel and its cargo of weapons on 4 November has confirmed the potential for a renewed outbreak ...
13-Nov-2009

Malagasy leaders sign new power deal
Madagascar's rival political leaders agreed a new deal on 7 November that will see Andry Rajoelina remain as transitional president, but with two co-presidents ...
13-Nov-2009

Azerbaijan jails militants for terrorism
An Azerbaijani court sentenced 26 people to jail on 5 November for involvement in terrorist attacks in Baku during 2008, illustrating the threat of ...
13-Nov-2009

*Bosnia-Herzegovina risks social protest over war pensions
The World Bank urged political leaders in Bosnia-Herzegovina on 5 October to push through difficult economic and social measures to which it had committed ...
16-Oct-2009

*Argentina protests at UK Falklands upgrade
On 22 September, the Argentine government criticised the deployment of four new British fighter aircraft to the Falkland Islands and expressed its regret at ...
16-Oct-2009

Iran 'does not fear' possible US restrictions on gasoline
On 8 October, Iranian Minister of Oil Massoud Mir-Kazemi said Tehran does not fear US steps to restrict its access to gasoline products on ...
15-Oct-2009

Instability in Guinea increases tensions within ruling junta
Allies of Guinea's military leader denied a split within the junta, amid high tensions following a bloody protest on 28 September, Radio France Internationale ...
15-Oct-2009

*Co-ordinated attacks hit Pakistan's Punjab
On 15 October, militants launched three near-simultaneous attacks in Lahore, targeting two police training buildings and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), killing at least ...
15-Oct-2009

US envoy gets mixed Israeli messages
US Middle East envoy George Mitchell received conflicting signals from Israeli government ministers on his latest visit to the country on 8 October. First, ...
15-Oct-2009

Summit falls short of East Asian vision
China, Japan and South Korea's second trilateral summit in Beijing on 10 October demonstrated continued regional co-operation but did not realise the vision of ...
15-Oct-2009

*Japan's electoral result to shift international relations
The opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) won a landslide victory in the 30 August general elections, denoting a paradigm shift in the country's ...
18-Sep-2009

Uganda hunts LRA rebels in Central African Republic
Uganda is continuing its offensive against Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, extending into the Central African Republic, Uganda's New Vision online reported on 7 ...
18-Sep-2009

Venezuela confirms arms and oil deals with Moscow
On 13 September, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez confirmed that Russia would open a USD2.2 billion credit line for arms purchases, indicating an upswing in ...
18-Sep-2009

*Arctic exercises highlight resources race
On 17 August, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper began a five-day visit to view ongoing military exercises in his country's Arctic region in a ...
18-Sep-2009

*Indonesia police claim Noordin Top is dead
Four suspected militants were killed and three others arrested during a counter-terrorism raid in Indonesia's Central Java province on 17 September, according to police. ...
18-Sep-2009

Huge Northern Ireland bomb defused
A British army bomb disposal team in Northern Ireland made safe a 272 kg (600 lb) bomb near the border with the Republic of ...
18-Sep-2009

Slovakian police and protesters clash at anti-Roma rally
Five police personnel were injured as they attempted to disperse an anti-Roma march in the eastern Slovakian town of Sarisské Michalany on 9 August. ...
14-Aug-2009

Russia and Georgia bicker over South Ossetia
Georgia accused Russia of seizing territory around the separatist region of South Ossetia on 2 August as tensions mounted ahead of the anniversary of ...
14-Aug-2009

Inter-tribal clashes undermine south Sudan security
More than 180 people in Akobo county, in southern Sudan's Jonglei State, were killed in a dawn raid by suspected rival tribesmen on 2 ...
14-Aug-2009

Baitullah's death unlikely to ease militancy
Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud was reported on 7 August to have been killed in a US missile strike in South Waziristan tribal agency. ...
14-Aug-2009

US moves to bolster Somali government
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Somalia's President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on 6 August, bolstering US efforts to support the fragile Somali ...
14-Aug-2009

Cuba continues to face economic crisis
On 31 July, Cuban President Raúl Castro announced the postponement of the Communist Party Congress alongside new measures to combat worsening economic indicators, suggesting ...
14-Aug-2009

Deaths mark Yemen's war anniversary
At least two people were killed in demonstrations in Yemen on 8 July on the 15th anniversary of the end of the country's civil ...
17-Jul-2009

Sudan reschedules polls to April 2010
Sudan's election commission has postponed the country's general elections from February to April 2010. Under the January 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended ...
17-Jul-2009

*Uighur protests inflame China's far west
Inter-ethnic violence in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) has suggested Beijing's transmigration policies may be destabilising the country's far west. At least 192 ...
17-Jul-2009

Ingush president injured in suspected militant attack
The president of the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, was seriously wounded in a suicide car bomb attack on 22 June. Yevkurov ...
17-Jul-2009

*Police injured in Ulster parades violence
On 13 July, Sinn Féin blamed the Real IRA for sporadic violence accompanying Orange Order parades across Northern Ireland in which 21 police officers ...
17-Jul-2009

Papua mining deaths increase tensions in Indonesia
The rebel Free Papua Movement (Organisasi Papua Merdeka: OPM) denied shooting an Australian mine worker in Indonesia's Papua province on 14 July. Drew Grant,...
17-Jul-2009

*Negotiations begin following Honduran bloodless coup
Costa Rican President Oscar Arias is mediating negotiations between ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya and the new government of interim leader Roberto Micheletti. Two ...
17-Jul-2009

*Mexican police and military drug raids target politicians
On 26 May, federal police and military raids in the Mexican Pacific state of Michoacán led to the arrest of 10 mayors and 18 ...
19-Jun-2009

Militant attacks strike eastern Uzbekistan
On 26 May, the Uzbek government reported the most serious militant attacks in the country for several years when a suicide bomber and gunmen ...
19-Jun-2009

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