From CSCE to OSCE: a Timeline

From CSCE to OSCE: a Timeline

T

his publication is intended to offer a historical perspective on the development of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) and its successor, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), over the past 30 years since their foundation. It does so using the mixed format of a textual timeline and a selection of contemporary photographs. The timeline conveniently shows, on the top half of the page, many of the key events in the development of both bodies. The section below sets these against the broad landscape of international politics that shaped that development.

In doing so, the publication cannot help but offer a reflection on the enormous changes in the world over the final quarter of the 20th century and the first five years of the new Millennium.

Europe was a very different place 30 years ago. The challenges facing the CSCE as it launched the Helsinki Process in 1975 were the challenges posed by the Cold War. Today, the threat of violence and insecurity confronting the OSCE is of a quite different nature.

Rather than armed multi-national blocs opposing one another across a divided Europe, the world now faces a series of non-state actors prepared to use terrorism against civil populations to press their causes on the international stage.

Both the CSCE and the OSCE have demonstrated flexibility in meeting different challenges in appropriate ways. But while the security environment in the world changed dramatically at certain points, in 1989 as well as in 2001, what have not changed fundamentally are the key values and commitments of the participating States. The 35 States of the CSCE are now the 55 States of the OSCE but their shared values remain at the core of freedom. In meeting these new or renewed challenges facing humanity – from terrorism to trafficking, from intolerance to torture – it is important never to lose sight of this simple fact.

December The visit of West German Chancellor Willy Brandt to Poland – and his gesture of kneeling in front of a monument for the Warsaw ghetto victims – typifies the importance of Ostpolitik in restoring confidence between former enemies.

1972

1970

1970s 22 November Preparatory talks for the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) begin in Dipoli, Finland. The talks conclude on 8 June 1973 with a set of Final Recommendations known as the ‘Blue Book’.

May United States and Soviet Union sign SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) in Moscow, an agreement that froze at existing levels the number of strategic ballistic missile launchers of both sides.

18 September Substantive working phase of the CSCE begins in Geneva. Experts from the participating States take part in the first-ever multilateral East-West negotiating process, which ends on 21 July 1975.

October An oil embargo by a number of Arab oil-exporting States against the United States, Europe and Japan for their support of Israel, provokes a global energy crisis.

1974

1973

3 to 7 July First stage of the CSCE is held in Helsinki, at which the foreign ministers of the 35 participating States outline their positions on European security and adopt the Blue Book, launching the ‘Helsinki Process’.

February Nobel Prize winning writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn is expelled from the Soviet Union.

March After five months, the Arab oil-exporting States decide to end the oil embargo.

August Watergate scandal provokes U.S. President Richard Nixon’s resignation.

30 July First CSCE Summit of Heads of State or Government takes place and culminates on 1 August 1975 in the signing of the Helsinki Final Act.

1977

1975

1970s 4 October First Follow-Up Meeting to the CSCE Helsinki Summit begins in Belgrade. As agreed in the Final Act, the participating States continue the multilateral process by periodically exchanging views on the implementation of the provisions of the Act and the tasks deďŹ ned by the Conference.

The Belgrade Meeting ends on 9 March 1978.

September Fifteen States, including the United States and the Soviet Union, sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Pact, curbing the spread of nuclear weapons.

31 October to 11 December First Meeting of Experts on the Peaceful Settlement of Disputes is held in Montreux, Switzerland.

1979

1978

20 June to 28 July Experts from the participating States meet in Bonn to prepare the Hamburg ScientiďŹ c Forum in 1980.

13 February to 26 March Experts meet in Valetta, Malta to discuss Economic, ScientiďŹ c and Cultural Co-operation in the Mediterranean.

June United States and the Soviet Union sign the SALT II agreement in Vienna.

December Soviet Union invades Afghanistan.

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annihilation exist. The powerful impetus provided

well on Earth. History will judge this Conference

by this meeting of leaders of 35 States participating

not by what we say here today, but by what we do

in the Conference is intended to help everyone in

tomorrow – not by the promises we make, but by

and beyond Europe to live in peace.”

the promises we keep.”

Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Central

Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States

Committee of the Communist Party of the Union

of America

of Soviet Socialist Republics

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July 1975 “Helsinki: the largest diplomatic post-war ballet. For three days, the Finnish capital hosted 35 heads of State and Government for the third and final phase of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE). ... The ‘Final Act’ of this conference, which will be signed on 1 August, appears as a sort of ‘code of conduct’ or ‘rules of the game’ in Europe.”

Le Figaro, 30 July 1975 © Magnum Photos, Jean Gaumy

9

1980s 1980

11 November Second CSCE Follow-Up Meeting takes place in Madrid.

The event concludes on 9 September 1983.

January Andrei Sakharov, a Russian scientist and human right activist, is arrested in Moscow and exiled to Gorky.

March U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

August Lech Walesa leads the first of many strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland.

September After weeks of strikes, the nationwide independent trade union ‘Solidarnosc’ is established in Poland.

1981

18 February to 3 March CSCE Scientific Forum takes place in Hamburg, Germany.

December Polish Prime Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski declares a state of martial law to prevent dismantling of the communist system by ‘Solidarnosc’.

May Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

7 May to 17 June CSCE experts meet in Ottawa, Canada to discuss progress on human rights.

1985

1984

17 January 1984 to 19 September 1986 Conference on ConďŹ dence- and Security-Building Measures and Disarmament in Europe is held in Stockholm.

15 October to 25 November CSCE States hold a Cultural Forum in Budapest.

March Mikhail Gorbachev succeeds Konstantin Chernenko as leader of the Soviet Union.

1986

4 November 1986 to 19 January 1989 Third Follow-Up Meeting takes place in Vienna. It concludes with the adoption of a Final Document in which the CSCE States call for an agreement on conventional arms and respect for human rights.

April After a reactor at the nuclear power station in Chernobyl melts down, emitting high discharges of radioactivity into the atmosphere, the Soviet Union admits that a nuclear accident has occurred.

October U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavik, Iceland, to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe, but the talks end with no agreement.

December Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov returns to Moscow after almost seven years of internal exile.

1987

1980s December The IntermediateRange Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C. by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

9 March Negotiations on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe begin in Vienna between the 23 CSCE participating States that were members of either NATO or the Warsaw Pact.

30 May to 23 June First Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE is held in Paris.

October Thousands of Latvians demonstrate in the capital, Riga, for greater independence from the Soviet Union.

1989

1988

16 October to 3 November Meeting on the Protection of the Environment takes place in Sofia.

February Soviet Union pulls out its troops of Afghanistan.

October After 18 years in power, the Communist leader of East Germany, Erich Honecker, steps down.

November Entire leadership of the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia resigns to make way for democratic changes.

December Brandenburg Gate in Berlin opens for the first time in almost three decades, with thousands of people on the streets witnessing an event that effectively ends the division of East and West Germany.

December Deposed Romanian President and Communist party leader Nicolae Ceausescu, and his wife Elena are shot by a firing squad after a secret military tribunal found them both guilty of crimes against the state.

1989

1989 “T

he re-unification of the Germans is taking place differently from how we had imagined it. Nobody should pretend at this moment to know what concrete form the relationship between the peoples of both States will take. The only important issue is that they move into a different kind of relationship, one in which they can develop together in freedom. ... It was always my conviction that the separation through concrete, barbed wire and lethal borders stood against the current of history. Only this summer I brought it to paper, without knowing exactly what would happen in autumn: Berlin will live and the wall will fall. ... The security we can offer to our neighbours and also to the big powers of this world is that we are not seeking a solution to our problems that is not part of our duties vis-à-vis peace and Europe. And in the common conviction that the European community has to be further developed and the fragmentation of our continent needs to be overcome definitively.

Willy Brandt, former German Chancellor, speaking in Berlin Schöneberg on 10 November 1989 © Magnum Photos, Guy Le Querrec

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1990 19 March to 11 April Conference on Economic Cooperation in Europe is held in Bonn, Germany.

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11 January 300,000 people demonstrate in Lithuania for the country’s independence.

7 February Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agrees to give up its monopoly on power.

13 February Agreement is reached on a two-stage plan to reunite Germany.

16

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11 March Lithuania declares independence from the Soviet Union.

15 March Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first President of the Soviet Union.

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24 April West and East Germany agree to merge their currencies and economies on 1 July.

5 to 29 June Second Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE takes place in Copenhagen, setting down specific provisions on commitments in the human dimension, including on the conduct of free elections.

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20 May First postcommunist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania.

1 June U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty to end chemical weapons production and start destroying their stockpiles.

AFP/DANIEL JANIN

1 and 2 October CSCE foreign ministers gather in New York. Their annual meetings are later formalized, first as the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and then as the Ministerial Council.

24 September to 19 October CSCE representatives meet in Palma de Mallorca for talks on co-operation with Mediterranean States.

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12 September In Moscow, the two German States and the Four Powers sign the Treaty on the Final Settlement with respect to Germany, paving the way for German re-unification.

17 November Negotiations on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures result in the adoption of the 1990 Vienna Document.

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3 October East and West Germany re-unify.

19 to 21 November Second CSCE Summit of Heads of State or Government is held in Paris. The meeting ends with the adoption of the Charter of Paris for a New Europe, marking the end of the Cold War, and the establishment of a permanent Secretariat in Prague and the Office for Free Elections in Warsaw.

On the sidelines of the Summit, 22 participating States sign the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE Treaty, 19 November).

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9 December Slobodan Milosevic becomes President of Serbia.

15 October Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

17

1991

“T

he CSCE/OSCE has provided Europe with the world’s most dense network of arms control arrangements, closely interlinked with an ongoing

security dialogue, which has been institutionalized since 1992. The two main pillars of this unique arms control regime are Confidence- and Security-Building Measures (CSBMs), later augmented by limitations and reductions applying to conventional weapons and military personnel under the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE 1990) and the Concluding Act of the Negotiation on Personnel Strength of Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (1992). There are three distinct CSBM regimes: the Helsinki Final Act regime (in force since 1975), the Stockholm Document regime (since 1986), and the Vienna Document regime (since 1990).”

The Culture of Dialogue: The OSCE Acquis 30 Years after Helsinki, Centre for OSCE Research, Hamburg 2005

A Romanian officer supervises the destruction of a Soviet-made tank on 30 November 1991. The tank is being dismantled as part of a conventional weapons reduction plan taking place under a CSCE agreement. © Agence France Press/EPA

15 January to 8 February Third Meeting of Experts on the Peaceful Settlement of Disputes is held in Valletta, Malta.

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9 February Voters in Lithuania vote for independence.

15 February Visegrad Agreement, establishing co-operation to move toward free-market systems, is signed by the leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland.

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1991

2 and 3 April Parliamentary leaders from the participating States meet in Madrid to discuss the establishment of a CSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

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28 May to 7 June A Symposium on Cultural Heritage is held in Cracow, Poland.

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3 March Latvia and Estonia vote to become independent of the Soviet Union.

31 March Albania holds first multi-party elections.

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19 and 20 June First Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs takes place in Berlin. German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher becomes the CSCE’s first Chairman-inOffice, holding the post until January 1992.

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12 June Boris Yeltsin is elected as President of Russia.

25 June Croatia and Slovenia declare their independence from Yugoslavia.

10 September to 4 October Third Meeting on the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE takes place in Moscow, at which the participants state categorically and irrevocably that commitments undertaken in the human dimension are matters of direct and legitimate concern to all CSCE States. At an additional ministerial-level meeting (10 September), Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are admitted to the CSCE as participating States.

1 to 19 July Expert Meeting on National Minorities is held in Geneva.

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1 July Warsaw Pact is oďŹƒcially dissolved.

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18 August Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is put under house arrest while vacationing in the Crimea. The attempted coup collapses in less than 72 hours.

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1 September Uzbekistan declares its independence.

20 August Estonia declares its independence from the Soviet Union.

21 August Latvia declares its independence.

24 August Ukraine declares its independence.

31 August Kyrgyzstan declares its independence.

4 to 15 November Experts meet in Oslo for a Seminar on Democratic Institutions.

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14 October Bulgarians celebrate the end of the rule of the Communist Party.

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27 November United Nations Security Council unanimously adopts Resolution 721, opening the way for the establishment of peacekeeping operations in Yugoslavia.

25 December Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as President of the Soviet Union.

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1 December Ukrainian voters overwhelmingly approve a referendum for independence from the Soviet Union.

8 December Leaders of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine sign an agreement ending the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States.

31 December Soviet Union oďŹƒcially ceases to exist.

21

December 1991

“D

ear compatriots, fellow citizens, as a result of the newly formed situation, the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent

States, I cease my activities in the post of the U.S.S.R. President. I am taking this decision out of considerations based on principle. I have firmly stood for independence, self-rule of nations, for the sovereignty of the republics, but at the same time for preservation of the union state, the unity of the country. ... We live in a new world. The Cold War has ended, the arms race has stopped, as has the insane militarization which mutilated our economy, public psyche and morals. The threat of a world war has been removed. ... I am leaving my post with apprehension, but also with hope, with faith in you, your wisdom and force of spirit. We are the heirs of a great civilization, and its rebirth into a new, modern and dignified life now depends on one and all. ... I wish all the best to all of you.”

Mikhail Gorbachev, resigning as President of the Soviet Union on 25 December 1991 © Magnum Photos/Gueorgui Pinkhassov

1992 1 January // Czechoslovakia takes over the CSCE Chairmanship

30 and 31 January Second Council of Ministers in Prague decides to expand the mandate of the Office for Free Elections and renames it the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). Its mandate includes not only the observation of elections and training of election officials but also the monitoring of participating States’ human rights records.

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9 January Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina declare their own republic.

15 January Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ceases to exist. Slovenia and Croatia gain independence.

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4 March Negotiations on Confidenceand SecurityBuilding Measures produce the Vienna Document 1992.

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1 March After a majority of Muslim and Croatian communities vote for the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite the objections of the Bosnian Serbs, violent clashes take place in Sarajevo.

24 March Treaty on Open Skies, setting out the framework for a regime of observation flights over the territory of participating States, is signed in Helsinki.

At an additional meeting in Helsinki at ministerial level, Croatia, Georgia and Slovenia are admitted to the CSCE as participating States. In addition, the participants decided to convene a CSCE-led conference to seek a peaceful settlement for the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.

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6 April Bosnia and Herzegovina secedes from Yugoslavia.

5 April Siege of Sarajevo

by Bosnian Serbs begins.

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1 May An opposition rally in Dushanbe, Tajikistan marks the beginning of increasingly violent confrontations between government and opposition supporters, spiralling eventually into a civil war which will last until 1997.

9 and 10 July CSCE Heads of State or Government gather in Helsinki for their third Summit meeting.

The meeting ends with the adoption of a final document, The Challenges of Change. The States also establish the institution of the High Commissioner on National Minorities, the Forum for Security Co-operation and the Economic Forum.

3 to 5 July First Annual Session of the CSCE Parliamentary Assembly is held in Budapest.

8 July CSCE suspends the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia by ‘consensus minus one’.

10 July Concluding Act of the Negotiation on Personnel Strength of Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE-1A) is signed in Helsinki.

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20 July Vaclav Havel resigns as President of Czechoslovakia.

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8 September CSCE Missions of Long Duration in Kosovo, Sandjak and Vojvodina become the first field operations to be deployed by the CSCE. 10 September CSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje is deployed to help prevent the spread of tension and conflicts in southeastern Europe.

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13 December CSCE Mission to Estonia is established.

6 November CSCE Mission to Georgia is established.

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14 and 15 December Third Council of Ministers takes place in Stockholm, and the participating States create the post of Secretary General.

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3 November Bill Clinton defeats George H.W. Bush in the U.S. presidential election.

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25 November Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia votes to split the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with effect from 1 January 1993.

25

March 1992

“H

uman rights are not a utopian ideal. They embody an international consensus on the minimum conditions for a life of dignity. Respect for

human rights requires determination and co-operative efforts. It also requires legal frameworks at the national and international levels within which individuals and groups can claim their rights. Only that possibility will give human rights their full meaning for every member of every society – the marginalized and excluded, as well as the powerful and influential.”

Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 14 January 2005

“T

he participating States express their strong determination to ensure full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, to abide by the rule

of law, to promote the principles of democracy and, in this regard, to build, strengthen and protect democratic institutions, as well as to promote tolerance throughout society. To these ends, they will broaden the operational framework of the CSCE, including by further enhancing the ODIHR, so that information, ideas, and concerns can be exchanged in a more concrete and meaningful way, including as an early warning of tension and potential conflict. In doing so, they will focus their attention on topics in the Human Dimension of particular importance. They will therefore keep the strengthening of the Human Dimension under constant consideration, especially in a time of change.”

CSCE Helsinki Document 1992, The Challenges of Change

Albanian refugees in Brindisi, Italy Š Magnum Photos/ Ferdinando Scianna

1993

OSCE/BOBO

1 January // Sweden takes over the CSCE Chairmanship

15 June The CSCE’s first Secretary General, Wilhelm Höynck of Germany, takes up his official duties.

4 February Permanent Council establishes the Mission to Moldova.

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3 January In Moscow, outgoing U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II).

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20 January Bill Clinton succeeds George H. W. Bush as U.S. President.

26 January Vaclav Havel elected President of the Czech Republic.

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26 February In New York City, a bomb in a van parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center goes off, killing six and injuring over a thousand.

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6 to 9 July Second Annual Session of the CSCE Parliamentary Assembly is held in Helsinki.

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23 September Mission to Latvia is created.

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25 November A meeting of the Special Committee of the CSCE Forum for Security Co-operation in Vienna and Rome adopts documents regarding stabilizing measures for localized crisis situations, principles governing conventional arms transfers, military contacts and defence planning.

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30 November to 1 December Fourth Council of Ministers takes place in Rome. The Ministers agree on the final document, CSCE and the New Europe – Our Security is Indivisible, and establish the Mission to Tajikistan.

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1 November Maastricht Treaty takes effect, formally establishing the European Union.

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9 November The Stari Most bridge (Old Bridge) in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, is destroyed by shelling from Bosnian Croat positions.

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1993

“T

he dissolution of the communist system in Eastern Europe proved to be a watershed for Yugoslavia, encouraging nationalist sentiments in its republics and laying the groundwork for the election of several separatist-minded governments by 1990 ...

In hindsight, Bosnia’s descent into war seemed almost unavoidable.”

Washington Post, Special Balkans Report, October 1998

“T

he siege of Sarajevo was the longest siege in the history of modern warfare. It lasted from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996. ... An estimated 12,000 people were killed and another 50,000 wounded during the siege. Reports indicate an average of approximately 329 shell impacts per day during the course of the siege, with a high of 3,777 shell impacts on 22 July 1993. The shellfire caused extensive damage to the city’s structures, including civilian and cultural property.” www.wikipedia.org

“No building in Sarajevo represents the magnitude of destruction more than the twin Unis Towers in Sarajevo. Home to the largest commercial enterprise in Bosnia, it was reduced to a skeleton of twisted steel and broken glass.� www.friendsofbosnia.org Š Magnum Photos/Gilles Peress

1994 1 January // Italy takes over the CSCE Chairmanship

30 April Latvia and Russia sign an agreement on the Legal Status of the Skrunda Radar Station during its temporary Operation and Dismantling, g establishing an OSCE Representative to the Joint Committee on the Skrunda Radar Station.

19 February Deployment of OSCE Mission to Tajikistan.

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14 January U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin sign the Kremlin accords which stop the preprogrammed aiming of nuclear missiles to targets and also provide for the dismantling of the nuclear arsenal in Ukraine.

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5 February A Serb mortar shell kills 68 and wounds about 200 in a Sarajevo marketplace.

9 February The so-called Vance-Owen peace plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina is announced.

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6 March Referendum in Moldova results in the electorate voting against possible reunification with Romania.

15 June Permanent Council establishes the Mission to Ukraine.

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12 May Armenia and Azerbaijan, the parties to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, agree to observe an informal ceasefire.

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6 to 8 June Ceasefire negotiations for the Yugoslav War begin in Geneva.

The participants agree to stop hostilities for one month, but fighting breaks out again after only a few days.

4 to 8 July Third Annual Session of the CSCE Parliamentary Assembly is held in Vienna.

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28 November A meeting of the Special Committee of the CSCE Forum for Security Cooperation is held in Budapest. The participants adopt documents regarding the global exchange of military information, principles governing nonproliferation and a Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security.

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5 and 6 December Fourth CSCE Summit of Heads of State or Government adopts the Budapest Document 1994: Towards a Genuine Partnership in a New Era. The Summit decides to change the name of the CSCE to the OSCE, giving it a new political impetus and reflecting the institutional changes implemented since 1990.

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15 December The Permanent Council, which meets weekly and is responsible for the day-to-day affairs of the CSCE, holds its first meeting.

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11 December Russian President Boris Yeltsin orders troops into the Chechen Republic and the first Chechen war begins.

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1994

“D

eploring the continuation of the conflict and the human tragedy involved, the participating States welcomed the

confirmation by the parties to the conflict of the cease-fire agreed on 12 May 1994 through the mediation of the Russian Federation in co-operation with the CSCE Minsk Group. ... [T]hey pledged to redouble the efforts and assistance by the CSCE. They strongly endorsed the mediation efforts of the CSCE Minsk Group and expressed appreciation for the crucial contribution of the Russian Federation and the efforts by other individual members of the Minsk Group. They agreed to harmonize these into a single co-ordinated effort within the framework of the CSCE.” CSCE Budapest Document 1994, Towards a Genuine Partnership in a new Era

Mourning the dead of Nagorno-Karabakh: it is estimated that between 20,000 and 30,000 people from both Armenia and Azerbaijan lost their lives during the conflict, and that more than one million were forced to flee their homes.

The OSCE Minsk Group was formed to engage in negotations to find a peaceful settlement of this conflict. © Magnum Photos/Thomas Dworzak

1995 1 January // Hungary takes over the OSCE Chairmanship

16 March Permanent Council establishes the OSCE Liaison Office in Central Asia in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

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1 January Austria, Finland and Sweden enter the European Union. The World Trade Organization is established, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

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11 April Permanent Council establishes the OSCE Assistance Group to Chechnya.

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19 April 168 people die in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

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7 May Jacques Chirac is elected President of France.

5 to 9 July Fourth Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is held in Ottawa.

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11 July Bosnian Serbs overrun the enclave of Srebrenica, declared by the United Nations to be a ‘safe haven’. It is estimated that up to 7,000 Muslim civilians are killed and buried in mass graves.

10 August Chairman-in-Office appoints a Personal Representative on the Conflict Dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference.

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4 August Croatians launch Operation Storm against Serbian forces in Krajina and force them to withdraw to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

7 and 8 December Fifth Ministerial Council (formerly the Council of Ministers) takes place in Budapest.

The Council establishes the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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28 August Mortar bomb kills 37 civilians on a Sarajevo market square. NATO launches Operation Deliberate Force, attacking Bosnian Serb positions in response to the shelling of Sarajevo.

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14 December General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (also known as the Dayton Peace Accords) is formally signed in Paris, giving the OSCE the mandate to help elaborate and implement three specific instruments: an agreement on confidence- and security-building measures in Bosnia and Herzegovina; a sub-regional arms control agreement; and a regional arms control agreement applicable ‘in and around the former Yugoslavia’.

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1 November The combatants in the war in Yugoslavia begin negotiations at WrightPatterson US Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

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16 November International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) charges Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic with genocide.

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November 1995

“W

e have reached a day many believed would never come. After three weeks of intensive

negotiations in Dayton, the leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia have agreed to end the war in the former Yugoslavia. They have agreed that four years of destruction is enough. The time has come to build peace with justice. ... Today’s agreement assures the continuity of a single state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with effective federal institutions, a single currency, and full respect by its neighbours for its sovereignty. The city of Sarajevo, which has gripped the world’s attention for the last four years, will no longer be divided. ... I trust that one day, people will look back on Dayton and say: This is the place where the fundamental choices were made; this is where the parties chose peace over war, dialogue over destruction, and reason over revenge; this is where each of us accepted the challenge to make those choices meaningful and to make them endure.”

U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, 15 December 1995, speaking at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio

Dayton, Ohio, 1995: Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic at the Balkan Peace Conference. © Magnum Photos/Burt Glinn

1996 1 January // Switzerland takes over the OSCE Chairmanship

15 to 31 May First Conference to review the Operation of the CFE Treaty and the Concluding Act of the Negotiation on Personnel Strength is held in Vienna.

18 April Permanent Council establishes the OSCE Mission to Croatia.

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29 February Siege of Sarajevo is lifted.

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19 March Sarajevo becomes a united city when Muslim-Croat authorities take control of the last district held by Bosnian Serbs.

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27 May Following intense diplomatic efforts by the OSCE Assistance Group to Chechnya, the Chechen and Russian leadership sign a ceasefire agreement in Moscow.“

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27 May Russian President Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechen rebels for the first time since the beginning of the first Chechen war and negotiates a ceasefire.

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10 June Peace talks begin in Northern Ireland without Sinn Fein.

14 September OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina organizes presidential and parliamentary elections in the country. It will organize all subsequent polls until the general elections of 11 November 2000.

5 to 9 July Fifth Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly takes place in Stockholm.

+VMZ

"VHVTU

4FQUFNCFS

19 September Chairman-in-OďŹƒce appoints former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez as his Personal Representative for the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

0DUPCFS

AFP/SAEED KHAN

27 September In Afghanistan, the Taliban capture the capital city Kabul after driving out President Burhanuddin Rabbani and executing former leader Mohammad Najibullah.

2 and 3 December Fifth OSCE Summit of Heads of State or Government takes place in Lisbon. It concludes with the endorsement by the participants of the Lisbon Declaration on a Common and Comprehensive Security Model for Europe for the 21st Century.

/PWFNCFS

%FDFNCFS

5 November Democrat incumbent Bill Clinton defeats Republican challenger Bob Dole to win his second term as U.S. President.

41

September 1996

“T

he elections held on 14 September were in

the first instance a success because they were held ... We all know that there were serious deficiencies in the political environment in which they took place. But even taking this into account, no one disputes that their results gave a more or less accurate reflection of the will of the peoples of Bosnia one year after the end of the war. Nevertheless, based on these election results, the process of setting up the common institutions of the country has begun. It has been difficult and it has been slow – but it has been moving forward week by week during the two months that have passed since the results of the elections were certified.”

Carl Bildt, High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the Peace Implementation Council in London, 4 December 1996

At a polling station in Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 14 September 1996 © Magnum Photos/Gilles Peress

1997 1 January // Denmark takes over the OSCE Chairmanship

4 March Following serious disturbances in Albania due to the collapse of fraudulent investment schemes, the Chairman-in-Office sends former Austrian Chancellor Franz Vranitzky as his Personal Representative to Tirana.

+BOVBSZ

23 January Madeleine Albright becomes the first female U.S. Secretary of State.

44

4 February After initially contesting the results, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic recognizes opposition victories in the November 1996 elections.

.BSDI

2 May Tony Blair is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

"QSJM

.BZ

12 May Russian-Chechen Peace Treaty signed.

OSCE

20 January Bill Clinton starts his second term as United States President.

'FCSVBSZ

27 March Permanent Council establishes the OSCE Presence in Albania.

27 June Signing of the General Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and National Accord in Tajikistan, ending five years of civil war. The OSCE Mission to Tajikistan is a guarantor of the Peace Agreement, facilitating its implementation with regard to political and military issues as well as the return of refugees.

+VOF

HH

5 and 8 July Sixth Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is held in Warsaw.

+VMZ

"VHVTU

8 July NATO invites the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland to join the alliance in 1999.

5 November Permanent Council establishes the post of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, and appoints German Parliamentarian Freimut Duve as ďŹ rst Representative.

18 September Permanent Council establishes the OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group in Belarus.

4FQUFNCFS

0DUPCFS

27 October Stock markets around the world crash because of fears about a global economic crisis.

/PWFNCFS

18 and 19 December Sixth Ministerial Council takes place in Copenhagen.

%FDFNCFS

3 December In Ottawa, Canada, representatives from 121 countries sign a treaty prohibiting the manufacture and deployment of antipersonnel landmines.

45

“1997

was a tumultuous and tragic year for

Albania, in which approximately 2,000 people lost their lives during a popular revolt, the government’s violent response, and the chaos that ensued. ... The spark for the mass protests was the collapse of criminally linked high-risk investment schemes in November and December 1996, in which large sections of the population lost their life savings. ... An OSCE mission, headed by former Austrian Chancellor Franz Vranitzky, was instrumental in brokering the creation of the reconciliation government and organizing ... elections.”

Human Rights Watch World Report 1998

Mass demonstrations are held in Albania’s capital, Tirana, in February 1997. © Magnum Photos/Nikos Economopoulos

1998 1 January // Poland takes over the OSCE Chairmanship

11 March OSCE Permanent Council decides to enhance temporarily the monitoring capabilities of the OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje, to permit adequate observation of the borders with Kosovo and the rest of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

+BOVBSZ

48

.BSDI

28 February Serbian police begin to attack so-called “terrorist gangs” in Kosovo.

AFP/JOEL ROBINE

2 January Russia begins to circulate new roubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.

'FCSVBSZ

"QSJM

4 June In response to the worsening situation in Kosovo, the OSCE Permanent Council decides to increase the number of border monitors between Albania and the Kosovo section of its frontier with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

.BZ

+VOF

25 October Permanent Council establishes the OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM).

7 to 10 July Seventh Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly takes place in Copenhagen.

23 July Permanent Council establishes the OSCE Centres in Almaty, Ashgabad and Bishkek.

+VMZ

"VHVTU

7 August Near-simultaneous bomb explosions at the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya kill 224 people and injure over 4,500.

30 September Together with the European Union, the OSCE creates and leads a ‘Friends of Albania’ Group, bringing together countries and international organizations active in providing Albania with financial support, technical assistance and other forms of aid.

4FQUFNCFS

23 September UN Security Council adopts Resolution 1199, calling for the withdrawal of the Serbian security forces from Kosovo and a ceasefire between the warring parties.

15 October OSCE Mission to Croatia takes over the work of monitoring the local police in the Croatian Danube region from the UN. This marks the beginning of the OSCE’s activities in the field of police monitoring and training.

0DUPCFS

2 and 3 December Seventh Ministerial Council is held in Oslo.

/PWFNCFS

%FDFNCFS

1 November European Court of Human Rights is instituted.

19 November U.S. House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee begins impeachment hearings against President Bill Clinton arising from the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

49

October 1998

“D

uring its nearly five months in Kosovo, the OSCE KVM ... along

with other international organizations, contributed enormously to stability, the alleviation of human suffering, and the protection of innocent civilians of all Kosovo’s ethnic communities. The local employees of these organizations laboured alongside the international staff to achieve a peaceful resolution of the Kosovo conflict.”

James P. Rubin, Spokesman, U.S. Department of State, 1 April 1999

The Kosovo Verification Mission – the OSCE’s largest-ever field operation, with more than 1,800 staff – was mandated to verify the compliance of all parties with UN Security Council Resolution 1199.

The Mission was deployed in October 1998. © Magnum Photos/Thomas Dworzak

1999 1 January // Norway takes over the OSCE Chairmanship

19 March OSCE Chairman-inOffice, Norwegian Foreign Minister Knut Vollebaek, decides to withdraw the Kosovo Verification Mission due to the deteriorating security situation.

+BOVBSZ

1 January Eleven European Union countries adopt the euro as their new currency, with the first banknotes and coins to come into circulation in January 2002.

52

'FCSVBSZ

.BSDI

12 March Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic join NATO. 24 March NATO launches air strikes against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, in response to the collapse of negotiations over the Kosovo crisis.

1 June Permanent Council establishes the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, following the closure of the OSCE Office in Ukraine on 30 April 1999.

"QSJM

7 April Kosovo’s main border crossings are closed

by Serbian forces to prevent ethnic Albanians from leaving.

.BZ

27 May ICTY indicts Slobodan Milosevic and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.

8 June Kosovo Verification Mission is dissolved.

+VOF

9 June Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and NATO sign a peace treaty, ending the Kosovo crisis.

16 November OSCE adopts the Vienna Document on Confidenceand Security-Building Measures, building on the Vienna Documents agreed in 1990, 1992 and 1994.

1 July Permanent Council establishes the OSCE Mission in Kosovo. On the same day, it places the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe under the auspices of the OSCE.

16 November Permanent Council establishes the OSCE Office in Baku.

OSCE

7 to 10 July Eighth Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is held in St Petersburg.

22 July Permanent Council establishes the OSCE Office in Yerevan.

+VMZ

29 and 30 July At an international summit meeting in Sarajevo, the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe is founded.

31 October Joint Committee on the Skrunda Radar Station is disbanded.

"VHVTU

4FQUFNCFS

19 August In Belgrade, tens of thousands of Serbians rally to demand the resignation of President Milosevic.

18 and 19 November OSCE Heads of State or Government gather in Istanbul for their sixth Summit.

They adopt a Charter for European Security, sign the adapted Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, and call for a political settlement in Chechnya.

0DUPCFS

12 October According to the UN, a woman in Sarajevo gives birth to the six billionth person on the planet.

27 October Gunmen open fire in the Armenian parliament, killing Prime Minister Vazgan Sarkisian, Parliament Chairman Karen Demirchian and six other members of parliament.

22 December Mandate of the OSCE Mission to Georgia is expanded to include monitoring of the border with the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation.

/PWFNCFS

%FDFNCFS

31 December Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia; Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is appointed Acting President.

53

November 1999

“H

ere today are leaders of more than 20 countries that were not even in

existence when the Final Act was signed in Helsinki in 1975 because they were not free. ...

Clearly, we must adapt the OSCE to meet new realities. The charter we’ve negotiated recognizes that the greatest threats to our security today are as likely to come from conflicts that begin within states as between them.”

U.S. President Bill Clinton at the OSCE Istanbul Summit, 18 November 1999

“R

ussia is firmly committed to constructive co-operation within the framework

of the Summit. I am convinced that both Russia and the other members of the OSCE are today especially in need of respectful dialogue, not mutual reproaches and moralizing. We all have an equal interest in ensuring stability and security throughout the European area. The years since the OSCE came into being, and particularly this year, have given rise to great expectations and, at the same time, great disappointments.

Europe has found itself facing new challenges.”

President of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin, at the Istanbul Summit © AFP/Itar-Tass

2000 1 January // Austria takes over the OSCE Chairmanship

18 February To assist the OSCE Centre in Bishkek in carrying out its work, the OSCE Permanent Council decides to establish a new field off fice in the city of Osh, southern Kyrgyzstan.

+BOVBSZ

'FCSVBSZ

56

.BSDI

26 March Vladimir Putin is elected President of Russia.

"QSJM

AFP/EPAITARTASS POOL

6 February Tarja Halonen is elected first female president of Finland.

16 March OSCE Permanent Council decides to adopt a Regional Strategy for South-eastern Europe, reinforcing the Organization’s existing support for the Stability Pact.

.BZ

+VOF

11 November Bosnia and Herzegovina holds elections, the last ones organized and administered by the OSCE Mission.

28 October Under the supervision of the OSCE, Kosovo holds its first democratic municipal government elections.

6 to 10 July Ninth Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly takes place in Bucharest.

+VMZ

"VHVTU

12 August Russian submarine Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea, resulting in the deaths of all 118 men on board.

4FQUFNCFS

6 September In New York, the United Nations Millennium Summit begins with more than 180 world leaders present.

27 and 28 November OSCE foreign ministers gather in Vienna for the annual Ministerial Council meeting. They take decisions on the Organization’s role in south-eastern Europe and on a document curtailing the flow of small arms and light weapons.

0DUPCFS

4 October President Slobodan Milosevic leaves office after widespread demonstrations throughout Serbia and the withdrawal of Russian support.

27 November Newly-elected Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica signs the Helsinki Final Act, the Charter of Paris for a New Europe, and the Istanbul Charter for European Security, bringing the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia back into the OSCE fold.

/PWFNCFS

%FDFNCFS

7 November Republican challenger George W. Bush defeats Democrat VicePresident Al Gore in the U.S. presidential election, but the final outcome is not known for over a month because of disputed votes in Florida.

57

On 28 October, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo organizes the province’s ďŹ rst free and fair election ever.

OSCE/Lubomir Kotek

October 2000

La

st month’s municipal elections were a great success, because technically

speaking the task taken on by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe – which should be congratulated on the success – and UNMIK was not a simple one, and above all because these elections were the result of a real political transformation. ... The leaders of all the political parties have committed themselves to accepting the results, and now they will begin to deal with the institutional transfer of responsibilities.”

Bernard Kouchner, Head of the UN Interim Administration in Kosovo, Address to the UN Security Council, 16 November 2000

2001 1 January // Romania takes over the OSCE Chairmanship

OSCE/JOSUE ANSELMO

11 January Permanent Council establishes the OSCE Mission to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (renamed in February 2003 as OSCE Mission to Serbia and Montenegro).

+BOVBSZ

'FCSVBSZ

20 January George W. Bush succeeds Bill Clinton as U.S. President after prevailing over Al Gore in the disputed 2000 election.

60

.BSDI

"QSJM

1 April Slobodan Milosevic surrenders to police special forces and is transported to The Hague to be tried on charges of war crimes before the ICTY.

.BZ

7 June Tony Blair’s Labour Party is elected for a second term in the UK general election.

+VOF

3 and 4 December Ninth Ministerial Council is held in Bucharest and ends with the Bucharest Ministerial Declaration and the Bucharest Plan of Action for Combating Terrorism.

6 to 10 July Tenth Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is held in Paris.

+VMZ

"VHVTU

9 September Ahmed Shah Massoud, influential leader of the Northern Alliance, is assassinated in Afghanistan.

4FQUFNCFS

AFP/MICHEL PORRO

11 September Around 3,000 people are killed in terrorist attacks in the United States. Extremists hijack several civilian planes and fly them into the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon building in Washington. Another plane crashes in rural Pennsylvania.

0DUPCFS

7 October A coalition of states, led by the United States, attack Afghanistan to drive out the extremist alQaida network.

13 and 14 December Some 300 representatives of OSCE participating States and the UN meet in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan to discuss measures to counter terrorism in Central Asia.

31 December Mandates of the OSCE Missions to Estonia and to Latvia expire.

/PWFNCFS

12 November Taliban forces abandon the Afghan capital, Kabul, ahead of advancing Northern Alliance troops, who take the city two days later.

%FDFNCFS

2 December U.S. firm Enron collapses, at the time the largest bankruptcy in history.

22 December Hamid Karzai is sworn in as head of the interim government in Afghanistan.

61

“September 11, 2001 a black day for humanity – is a tragedy that has also become a lesson and a reference point for a determined global struggle against terrorism.”

Ambassador Jan Kubis, OSCE Secretary General, at an international anti-terrorism conference on 6 September 2002 © REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine

2002 1 January // Portugal takes over the OSCE Chairmanship

1 January Treaty on Open Skies, signed in 1992, oďŹƒcially enters into force.

+BOVBSZ

'FCSVBSZ

16 January UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida, and the Taliban.

64

"QSJM

12 February Trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic begins at the ICTY in The Hague.

AFP/JERRY LAMPEN

1 January Introduction of euro banknotes and coins in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Portugal.

.BSDI

.BZ

+VOF

6 and 7 December Tenth Ministerial Council takes place in Porto. The participants agree on a Porto Ministerial Declaration, the OSCE Charter on Preventing and Combating Terrorism, and a Declaration on Trafficking in Human Beings.

6 to 11 July Some 300 parliamentarians meet for the 11th Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Berlin.

+VMZ

"VHVTU

21 November At the NATO Summit in Prague, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia are invited to become members.

4FQUFNCFS

0DUPCFS

25 November U.S. President George W. Bush signs the Homeland Security Act, establishing the Department of Homeland Security in the largest U.S. government reorganization since the creation of the Department of Defense in 1947.

30 December Permanent Council establishes the OSCE Office in Minsk. The OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group in Belarus ceased to exist on 31 December 2002.

31 December Mandate of the OSCE Assistance Group to Chechnya expires.

/PWFNCFS

%FDFNCFS

27 December Suicide truck-bomb attack destroys the headquarters of Chechnya‘s Moscow-backed Government, killing 72 people.

65

January 2002

“T

he Treaty on Open Skies entered into force on January 1, 2002, and currently has 30 States Parties. The Treaty establishes a regime of unarmed aerial observation flights

over the entire territory of its participants. The Treaty is designed to enhance mutual understanding and confidence by giving all participants, regardless of size, a direct role in gathering information about military forces and activities of concern to them. Open Skies is one of the most wideranging international efforts to date to promote openness and transparency of military forces and activities. ... The Treaty was negotiated by the then-members of NATO and the Warsaw Pact, and was signed in Helsinki, Finland, on March 24, 1992.

Bureau of Arms Control, U.S. Department of State, 4 June 2004

“T

he implementation of the Open Skies Treaty shows that this efficient tool makes military activities transparent and supplements other multilateral disarmament regimes,

the Russian Foreign Ministry has said in connection with a Vienna session of the Open Skies Consultative Commission scheduled for January 20. The session will focus on ‘further upgrading of the mechanism of observer flights and specify some provisions of the Treaty to balance rights and obligations of the signatories,’ the ministry said. Russia has made observer flights in the skies of Great Britain, Germany, Turkey, Italy and a number of other countries ... since August 1, 2002, the Ministry said. Meanwhile, Turkey, Greece, the United States and some other countries ... have made inspection flights in the skies of Russia.”

ITAR-TASS news agency, 14 January 2003

Aircraft used for Open Skies observation flights include US-built C-130 Hercules planes.

US Air Force

2003 1 January // Netherlands takes over the OSCE Chairmanship

MIKHAIL EVSTAFIEV

+BOVBSZ

'FCSVBSZ

17 June OSCE hosts an international conference in Vienna on anti-Semitism.

.BSDI

MILAN OBRADOVIC

12 March Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic is assassinated in Belgrade.

19 March International coalition led by the United States attacks Iraq.

68

"QSJM

.BZ

12 May Suicide truck-bomb attack kills at least 60 at a government compound in northern Chechnya.

16 May In Casablanca, Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured in a terrorist attack.

+VOF

5 to 9 July 12th Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is held in Rotterdam.

+VMZ

"VHVTU

11 August NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year history.

4 and 5 September Almost 400 participants discuss ways to fight racism, xenophobia and discrimination at an international OSCE conference in Vienna.

4FQUFNCFS

10 September Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh is stabbed in a Stockholm department store and dies the next day.

1 and 2 December 11th Ministerial Council takes place in Maastricht. It ends with the adoption of the OSCE Strategy to Address Threats to Security and Stability in the Twenty-First Century, the OSCE Strategy Document for the Economic and Environmental Dimension, and a Statement on South-Eastern Europe as a Region of Co-operation.

At the same meeting, several OSCE States pledge to provide immediate assistance to Georgia to help organize presidential and parliamentary elections, following the country’s ‘Rose Revolution’.

0DUPCFS

/PWFNCFS

15 November Two car bombs explode simultaneously in Istanbul, Turkey, targeting two synagogues.

The attacks, for which al-Qaida claims responsibility, kill at least 25 people and wound more than 300.

%FDFNCFS

23 November Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze resigns following the ‘Rose Revolution’, marked by weeks of mass protests by the population over fraudulent elections.

20 November Several bombs explode in Istanbul, killing 28 people, including the British Consul General, and injuring more than 400.

69

November 2003

G

eorgia: Shevardnadze declares emergency as Opposition names interim President.

Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze has declared a state of emergency following what he called an attempted ‘coup d’etat.’ In live televised comments Shevardnadze said, “We have to bring order to the country.” The announcement came after opposition supporters seized control of the parliament today after weeks of protests against disputed election results. Shortly after Shevardnadze’s statement, the Opposition declared one of its leaders, Nino Burdjanadze, as interim President.

Shevardnadze was earlier whisked out of parliament by bodyguards after demonstrators forced open the door of the chamber and stormed in as he was giving a speech before the opening session of the newly elected parliament. Opposition leader Mikhail Saakashvili told the chamber, “The Velvet Revolution has taken place in Georgia.” The Opposition has been protesting the 2 November parliamentary elections, which they say were rigged in favour of political parties loyal to Shevardnadze.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Tbilisi, 22 November 2003

“I

commend the people of Georgia for having achieved political change in a peaceful and dignified manner, without resorting to violence.

Both the demonstrators and the security forces behaved with admirable restraint. I deeply respect the brave decision of President Shevardnadze to step down in order to avoid a further escalation of tension. It is up to the people of Georgia to determine their own political future and I want them to know that they can count on the OSCE’s support in their efforts to establish full democracy and the rule of law. If support is needed in the preparation of early elections, and if the people of Georgia so desire, the OSCE stands ready to provide active assistance in this process, for the benefit of its people and for the interest of peace and stability in the OSCE area.”

2003 OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Netherlands Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, The Hague, 24 November 2003

Opposition supporters demonstrating on Tbilisi’s Parliament Square, November 2003 © Magnum Photos/Thomas Dworzak

2004 1 January // Bulgaria takes over the OSCE Chairmanship

15 March Chairmanship urges the Georgian authorities to exercise restraint in a standoff with the leadership of the breakaway Georgian republic of Ajara.

The crisis ends in May with the resignation of Ajara’s leader, Aslan Abashidze.

+BOVBSZ

4 January Mikhail Saakashvili wins the presidential election in Georgia.

'FCSVBSZ

.BSDI

26 February President of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Boris Trajkovski, is killed in a plane crash near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

11 March Simultaneous explosions of bombs planted by extremists kill 190 people on rush hour trains in Madrid.

14 March Vladimir Putin wins a second term as Russian president.

UNMIK/AFRIM HAJRULLAHU

72

28 and 29 April OSCE holds a highprofile conference in Berlin on the fight against antiSemitism. More than 400 people attend the event.

"QSJM

17 March Violence breaks out over two days in Kosovo. Nineteen people are killed, 139 Serbian homes are burned, schools and businesses are vandalized, and over 30 orthodox monasteries and churches are burned and destroyed.

13 May OSCE Chairmanin-Office appoints a Special Representative on Trafficking in Human Beings.

.BZ

+VOF

1 May European Union expands from 15 to 25 member states, taking in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Malta and Cyprus as new members.

7 September OSCE and Afghanistan sign a Memorandum of Understanding on the deployment of an OSCE Election Support Team to assist the electoral authorities with the holding of the presidential election on 9 October. A Team of 50 OSCE election experts is deployed in mid-September.

13 and 14 September Brussels hosts an international OSCE conference on the fight against racism, xenophobia and discrimination.

5 to 9 July 13th Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly takes place in Edinburgh.

+VMZ

"VHVTU

1 September Chechen rebels take more than 1,000 people hostage, mostly children, in a school in Beslan, Northern Ossetia. They demand the release of Chechen rebels imprisoned in neighbouring Ingushetia and the independence of Chechnya from Russia.

4FQUFNCFS

3 September Russian forces end the siege in Beslan.

At least 335 people (including at least 32 of some 40 hostagetakers) are killed and at least 700 people are injured.

25 November At the request of the Chairman-in-Office, the OSCE Secretary General travels to Ukraine to hold consultations to find a solution to the political crisis that followed the presidential election in the country. The situation is eventually resolved in December and a repeat second round of the presidential election takes place on 26 December with the participation of 1,300 international observers sent by the OSCE.

0DUPCFS

29 October European Heads of State sign in Rome the Treaty and Final Act establishing the first European Constitution.

6 and 7 December 12th Ministerial Council takes place in Sofia, ending with the Sofia Ministerial Statement on Preventing and Combating Terrorism and a Statement of the Ministerial Council on the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict. The ministers also decide to establish a Panel of Eminent Persons to review the effectiveness of the OSCE and advise on its future.

23 December Chairman-in-Office appoints three Personal Representative to promote tolerance and non-discrimination.

/PWFNCFS

21 November Following international criticism of the conduct of the second round of the presidential election in Ukraine, protest rallies begin in Kyiv.

Twelve days later, the Supreme Court annuls the result and a new poll is scheduled.

%FDFNCFS

26 December Viktor Yushchenko wins the re-run of the second round of the Ukrainian presidential election.

73

“T

here was heated debate in Ukraine’s Parliament Saturday, before lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a

resolution declaring the disputed presidential election run-off invalid. And a newly formed working group met to try to find a way out of the political impasse, which has brought tens of thousands of opposition supporters into the streets. ... The Secretary General of the OSCE, Jan Kubis, tells VOA he is hopeful the working group will be successful. ‘What is expected is not

“I

have been following very closely the rerun of the presidential election in

only that they are starting today, but that they will deliver some

Ukraine. The preliminary findings of the

results very quickly, in a matter of one, two days, because the

International Election Observation Mis-

fact that these political negotiations, consultations, that they

sion, led by the OSCE, establish that the

have started does not mean this is an exercise which could or

conduct of the 26 December election proc-

should last for weeks. It is not. Simply, the dynamics of the

ess brought Ukraine substantially closer

development will not allow this.’ ... Meanwhile, supporters of

to meeting OSCE election commitments

pro-Western challenger Yushchenko demonstrated for a sixth

and Council of Europe and other Europe-

day in the streets of Kyiv.”

an standards. We are now waiting for the

Lisa McAdams, Voice of America, 27 November 2004

official announcement of the final results by the Central Electoral Commission.”

Javier Solana, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, 27 December 2004

December 2004 The roundtable in Kyiv’s Marinsky Palace around which met Ukraine’s two rival presidential candidates on 6 December 2004. Clockwise, starting from Ukraine’s then President Leonid Kuchma (top centre): Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus; Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich; European Union common foreign policy chief, Javier Solana; Polish Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz; Ukrainian Parliament speaker Volodimir Litvin; OSCE Secretary General Jan Kubis; Speaker of the Russian State Duma, Boris Gryzlov; presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko; and Polish President Aleksandr Kwasniewski. © AFP/ Sergei Supinsky

2005 1 January // Slovenia takes over the OSCE Chairmanship

17 February Panel of Eminent Persons for examining ways to strengthen the OSCE’s effectiveness holds its first meeting at Brdo Castle near Ljubljana.

+BOVBSZ

20 January George W. Bush is inaugurated in Washington, D.C. for his second term as President of the United States.

23 January Viktor Yushchenko is sworn in as the third President of Ukraine.

76

'FCSVBSZ

8 and 9 June OSCE holds a conference on combating antiSemitism and other forms of intolerance in Cordoba, Spain.

.BSDI

24 March ‘Tulip Revolution’ in Kyrgyzstan reaches its climax with the overthrow of President Askar Akayev.

The crowd calling for his removal storms Government House and riots occur throughout the capital.

"QSJM

2 April Pope John Paul II dies. Millions flock to Rome to pay their last respects to the Pontiff.

27 June Panel of Eminent Persons presents its final report to the OSCE Chairmanship.

.BZ

29 May French voters resoundingly reject the European Constitution in a referendum.

+VOF

1 June Dutch voters also reject the European Constitution.

OSCE

1 to 5 July OSCE Parliamentary Assembly holds its 14th Annual Session in Washington, D.C.

+VMZ

7 July Four explosions in the London underground and on a bus kill more than 50 people and injure over 200. The attacks are claimed by Islamic extremists.

"VHVTU

5 and 6 December OSCE holds its 13th Ministerial Council in Ljubljana.

4FQUFNCFS

14 to 16 September New York hosts the largest UN World Summit in history.

18 September Some 68 million Afghans cast their votes in the first legislative elections for over three decades.

18 September Angela Merkel of the conservative CDU and Gerhard Schröder of the Social-Democratic Party both claim victory in Germany’s federal election.

0DUPCFS

/PWFNCFS

27 October Two teenagers accidentally electrocute themselves in SeineSaint-Denis, France, an incident which leads to countrywide violent unrest that lasts for more than 12 days and only subsides after President Jacques Chirac declares a state of emergency.

%FDFNCFS

22 November Christian-Democrat Angela Merkel becomes Germany‘s first woman chancellor.

77

March 2005

“I

n our view the OSCE has, until now, successfully fulfilled the

role it is expected to play in a crisis situation in one of the participating countries. The events in Kyrgyzstan highlight the important role of the OSCE in supporting stability in the wider European region. The EU hopes that all participating States will fully support the OSCE as the multilateral organization best equipped to take the lead role in dealing with the situation in Kyrgyzstan. ... We highly appreciate the initiative taken by the OSCE Chairman, Minister Dimitrij Rupel, pledging the Organization’s full support to help Kyrgyzstan move towards stability, unity and democracy. ... The OSCE – with its increased involvement in Kyrgyzstan as well as its ongoing work in neighbouring countries in Central Asia – is uniquely placed to offer such a framework, as has been demonstrated effectively during the last few weeks.”

European Union statement at the OSCE Permanent Council, 7 April 2005

Demonstrators in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in March 2005. © Magnum Photos/Thomas Dworzak

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