War and Peace Quiz, 2006
The month-long conflict in Lebanon was primarily fought between Israel and
- About 1,150 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 150 Israelis, the majority of them soldiers, died in the 34 days of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas. The conflict exposed the weakness of the fragile new Lebanese government, which had next to no influence over Hezbollah during or after the fighting. Hezbollah, a pro-Syrian militant Shiite organization identified as a terrorist group by the U.S., has operated as a state-within-a-state in the south of Lebanon.
In March Basque separatists declared a cease-fire with which country?
- After four decades of violence, the militant Basque separatist group ETA announced a permanent cease-fire on March 24, 2006. ETA was responsible for more than 800 deaths and for terrorizing Spain with its bombings and other attacks.
In October, a report by the Independent Monitoring Commission in Northern Ireland indicated the following:
- The report indicated that the Irish Republican Army has ceased all paramilitary activity and declared "the IRA's campaign is over." This paves the way for the possibility of a power-sharing government between Northern Irish Catholic and Protestant groups in March 2007. See also The Northern Irish Conflict: A Chronology.
Which country—engulfed for years in anarchy and having only recently reestablished a fragile government—was attacked in 2006 by Islamic militias?
- In May 2006, Somalia's worst outbreak of violence in 10 years occurred, with Islamist militias seizing control of the capital, Mogadishu, and establishing control in much of the south. Somalia's transitional government, led by President Abdullahi Yusuf, remains intact and has the support of neighboring Ethiopia, which has clashed in the past with Somalia's Islamists. The international community has urged negotiations between the Islamists and the transitional government.
Uganda's 18-year-long battle against which group may be coming to an end?
- Uganda's long conflict against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), an extremist rebel group based in Sudan, has shown signs of abating, and the rebels have been discussing a truce. Between 8,000 and 10,000 children have been abducted by the LRA to form the army of "prophet" Joseph Kony, whose aim was to take over Uganda and run it according to his vision of Christianity. The boys are turned into soldiers and the girls into sex slaves. Up to 1.5 million people in northern Uganda have been displaced because of the fighting and the fear that their children will be abducted. Kony and four other LRA leaders are wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court.
In 2006, the U.S. military, facing spiraling violence in Iraq, launched a military campaign to establish security in what part of the country?
- In October, the U.S. military acknowledged that its 12-week-old campaign to establish security in Baghdad, which has been racked by sectarian death squads and insurgents, had been unsuccessful. Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV conceded that the campaign "has not met our overall expectations of sustaining a reduction in the levels of violence." The military had deployed 15,600 troops, and about 9,600 Iraqi Army soldiers and 30,000 Iraqi policemen assisted them. See also Iraq War Timeline.
In 2006, the Taliban intensified their attacks against the Afghanistan government. What area is thought to be the Taliban's base of operations?
- Waziristan, on the Afghan-Pakistani border, is a remote and lawless tribal region where Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar are suspected of hiding. It has become a major haven for Islamic militants, and is believed to be the base of operations for the Taliban's insurgency against the Afghanistan government. Afghanistan's leader, Hamid Karzai, still has only marginal control over large swaths of the country.
This country had declared a formal cease-fire between in 2002, halting its long and bloody civil war. That ceasefire was largely honored until 2006, when violations on both side escalated until the country was again immersed in outright war. Which country?
- Since 1978, the Tamil Eelan, often called the Tamil Tigers, have been fighting against the Sri Lankan government to secure a separate homeland. More than 60,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the civil war.
Which Asian Pacific island nation erupted in violence in April and May 2006, requiring Australian peace-keeping troops to restore order?
- East Timor descended into chaos in April and May 2006, when the prime minister, Mari Alkatiri, fired almost half the country's soldiers for striking. The fired soldiers, who had protested against low wages and alleged discrimination, then began rioting, and soldiers loyal to the prime minister started battling them. Soon the violence had spread to the police force and the civilian population, causing about 130,000 to flee their homes to avoid the bloodshed. Australian troops were called in to control the unrest.
This African country—one of the world's largest oil producers, and the supplier of one-fifth of the U.S.'s oil—has been the scene of a violent insurgency that intensified in 2006.
- Since 2004, Nigeria's oil-producing region, the Niger Delta, has been the scene of an insurgency. The desperately impoverished local residents have seen little benefit from Nigeria's vast oil riches, and rebel groups are fighting for a more equal distribution of the wealth as well as greater regional autonomy.. Violence by rebel groups has disrupted oil production and reduced output by about 20%.
