An Cosantóir

10 | world strategic review EUROPE On 15 Oct, President Mary McAleese, visited our troops de- ployed with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in South Lebanon. The President was welcomed at Camp Shamrock in the town of Tibnin by UNIFIL Head of Mission and FC Maj Gen Alberto Asarta Cuevas and the Irish Bn's OC Lt Col Frank Bolger. The President laid a wreath at the Memorial dedicated to the 47 Irish peacekeepers that died in the service of peace in south Lebanon. The FC thanked the Irish President for her country's support to UNIFIL. "Contributions to UNIFIL by Ireland and other na- tions are vital for us to effectively implement our mandate and to maintain peace and security in southern Lebanon," he said. AFRICA This month the German frigate FGS KOELN, participat- ing in EUNAVFOR Somalia – Operation Atalanta, has recently escorted M/V CARO- LINE SCAN to the Kenyan port Mombasa. The ship is chartered by the World Food Programme and will be loaded with urgently needed food for the people in Somalia. A German Vessel Protection Detachment was embarked on the merchant vessel during the escort and optimised the safety of the merchant ves- sel. Earlier in the month FGS KOELN successfully disrupted a suspect Pirate Action Group's (PAG) supply boat, a whaler, operating in the Somali Basin about 200 nautical miles East of Tanzania. MIDDLE EAST Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas handed over a historic request to the UN Sec-Gen Ban Ki-moon, to admit the state of Palestine as a full member. Abbas said he was ready to return to negotiations based on the 1967 borders, saying he did not want to isolate or de- legitimise Israel. ASIA Vladimir Putin, Rus- sian Prime Minister, formally declared his intention to re-enter the Kremlin. The intention is for Mr Putin to swap positions with the cur- rent President, Dmitry Medvedev, in elections to be held next March. Hamid Karzai, President "Here I declare that the Pal- On 20 Oct, KFOR troops in northern Kosovo fired teargas to disperse hundreds of Serbs as they begin dismantling a barricade blocking contested border crossings into Serbia. Over the last several months Serbs in north of Kosovo have dug in their heels after customs officials were sent from Pristina to take over border crossings in that region. The Pristina authori- ties had also given instructions for the illegal crossing points from Kosovo to Serbia to be blocked off. K-Serbs asked Bel- grade to send in security forces. Over the past number of weeks several Serbs and KFOR person- nel have been injured in clashes. An Cosantóir November 2011 Libya's National Transitional Council's acting PM Mah- moud Jibril, announced that the former Libyan President, Muammar Gaddafi died from a bullet wound to the head received in crossfire between government fighters and his own supporters in Sirte on Oct 20. A doctor present dur- ing Gaddafi's final moments said he died from two bullet wounds, one to the head and the other to the chest. With the fall of Bani Walid and Sirte, Gaddafi's hometown, the last major pockets of resistance to the NTC appear to have been overcome. estine Liberation Organisation is ready to return immediately to the negotiating table on the basis of the adopted terms of reference... and a complete cessation of settlement ac- tivities." The move was met by consternation by Israel and the US. Other states had urged Pal- estine to seek observer status along the lines as the Vatican. Captured Israeli soldier Sgt Gilad Shalit was handed over to Israeli authorities in the latest step of a prisoner ex- changed involving more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. Sgt Shalit (25) was taken across the frontier from the Gaza Strip into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and driven to Isra- el's Vineyard of Peace border crossing, where a helicopter waited to fly him to an Israeli air base for a reunion with his parents. Simultaneously Israel freed 477 Palestinian prisoners, most of them to the Gaza Strip, where they were met by Hamas leaders. of Afghanistan, signed a strategic pact with India. The agreement is the first of its kind for the Afghan government. The move caused immediate alarm in Pakistan who is becom- ing increasingly at odds with the United States and Kabul. Myanmar's govern- ment have been increas- ingly relaxing their hard line position. In a surprise announcement they granted amnesty to more than 6,300 pris- oners; monks, former rebel fighters, and politi- cal prisoners. The recent central figure in al-Qaeda since the death of Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki, an American of Yemeni descent, was killed by an American drone in an un- governed part of Yemen.

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