Iraq crisis timeline:
18 July 1990 In a memorandum to the Arab League, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tareq Aziz accuses Kuwait of draining oil from the Rumaila field, which straddles the two countries' borders, and of attempting to flood the oil market to precipitate the collapse of oil prices. The memorandum calls Kuwait's actions "tantamount to military aggression". Kuwait denies the charges.
1 August 1990 An Iraqi delegation walks out of talks with its Kuwaiti counterparts. Iraq says that Kuwait was not dealing seriously with the problems between the two countries.
2 August 1990 Iraq invades Kuwait. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) unanimously approves resolution 660 which calls for Iraq's immediate and unconditional withdrawal. The US embargoes oil imports from Iraq and freezes Iraqi and Kuwaiti assets in the US.
6 August 1990 UNSC resolution 661 imposes a mandatory and complete embargo on all investment and trade, including that in oil, with Iraq. President George Bush orders the deployment of US armed forces in Saudi Arabia in an operation named "Operation Desert Shield".
8-10 August 1990 At an emergency summit in Cairo, 12 Arab states vote to send troops to help defend Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states against Iraq. Meanwhile, Iraq appoints a puppet regime in Kuwait that declares a merger with Iraq.
1 September 1990 An emergency meeting of the Arab League in Cairo calls on Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait, pay reparations, and allow foreigners to leave both countries.
29 November 1990 The UNSC approves resolution 687, authorising use of "all necessary means" to force Iraq from Kuwait if Iraq does not withdraw from its neighbour by 15 January 1991.
17 January 1991 Airstrikes against Iraq by the US-led coalition begin at midnight under the rubric "Operation Desert Storm".
24 February 1991 Coalition forces begin their long-planned strikes by land and sea.
28 February 1991 Saddam Hussein calls on his troops to cease fire and Kuwait is liberated.
3 April 1991 UNSC resolution 687 specifies cease- fire conditions requiring Iraq to end its weapons of mass destruction programmes, recognise Kuwait, account for missing Kuwaitis, return Kuwaiti property and create a compensation fund for losses, damages and injuries related to the occupation.
16 April 1991 Following an Iraqi army offensive against Kurds in northern Iraq, President George Bush announces plans for a "no-fly zone" in northern Iraq that is enforced by US, French and British forces.
17 June 1991 The UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) is established to monitor Iraqi disarmament.
26 August 1992 The US, Britain and France impose a second no-fly zone in southern Iraq
19 November 1994 The Iraqi National Assembly recognises Kuwait's borders and its independence.
14 April 1995 UNSC Resolution 986 (oil-for-food) allows for the partial resumption of Iraq's oil exports to buy food and medicine. It is not accepted or implemented by Iraq until December 1996.
1996 A United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) report states that among children under the age five, there are 4,500 "excess deaths" every month primarily attributable to sanctions.
9 December 1996 Iraq starts implementing resolution 986 (oil-for-food) after several months of negotiations with the UN on terms of the agreement.
29 October 1997 Iraq's Revolution Command Council, the country's main decision-making body, announces that it will no longer allow US citizens and US aircraft to serve with UN arms inspection teams.
1998 A report by the World Health Organisation states that each month, between 5,000 and 6,000 Iraqi children die because of sanctions.
29 February 1998 Iraq denounces the last minute postponement (later cancelled) of an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers to plan an Arab summit dealing with the US-British airstrikes against Iraq.
30 September 1998 Denis Halliday, coordinator of the oil-for-food programme, resigns, charging that sanctions harmed innocent people.
31 October 1998 Iraq suspends cooperation with UN inspectors, accusing them of spying for the US.
16 December 1998 UNSCOM withdraws from Iraq.
16-19 December 1998 US and UK launch "Operation Desert Fox".
25 January 1999 The Iraqi delegation storms out of an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers in protest against Arab ministers' failure to denounce the US-British strike on Iraq and demand the lifting of sanctions.
8 February 1999 Iraq renews its proposal to the Arab League asking it to intervene to end Iraqi- Arab rifts.
24 March 1999 A delegation of Arab parliamentarians visits Baghdad for the first time since 1990.
28 July 1999 Scores of Arab representatives of political parties, intellectuals and artists attended in Baghdad a three-day conference to support Iraq. The conference called on Arab countries to break the sanctions unilaterally.
13 September 1999 Iraq chaired Arab League meetings for the first time since 1990.
7 November 1999 An anti-sanctions caravan led by British Labour MP George Galloway visits Iraq to express solidarity with the Iraqi people. Galloway describes sanctions as "one of the great crimes of the 20th century".
17 December 1999 UNSC resolution 1284 replaces the UNSCOM with UN Monitoring, Inspection and Verification Committee (UNMOVIC). Iraq rejects the resolution.
31 March 2000 Hans Von Sponeck, coordinator of the oil-for-food programme, resigns, saying sanctions had created a true human tragedy.
16 September 2000 Iraq accuses Kuwait of stealing oil from its southern fields, making threats that were reminiscent of those it made before its invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The Iraqi statement raised tension in the Gulf and sent the price of crude oil higher.
24 September 2000 France and Russia, two permanent members of the Security Council, start direct flights to Baghdad carrying humanitarian aid along with intellectuals, politicians and businessmen in defiance of US and British insistence on maintaining sanctions.
1 October 2000 Planes from Jordan, Yemen and Morocco arrive in Baghdad carrying food, medicine and high-ranking officials. The Egyptian Committee for the Lifting of Sanctions on Iraq arrives weeks later in its second trip to Baghdad (the first one was in 1998).
7 November 2000 Saudi Arabia opens a border crossing-point with Iraq to facilitate Saudi exports to Iraq under the oil-for-food programme for the first time since 1990.
December 2000 Iraq temporarily halts oil exports after the UN rejects its request that buyers pay a 50- cent-a-barrel surcharge into an Iraqi bank account not controlled by the UN.
16 February 2001 US and British aircraft strike Iraqi air defence targets near Baghdad.
7 July 2001 The Security Council rejects the US and Britain's "smart sanctions" proposal to replace the existing regime.
18 January 2002 Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa makes the first visit to Iraq by the head of the organisation in more than a decade.
29 January 2002 In his State of the Union Address to Congress, President George W Bush identifies Iraq as part of an axis of evil along with Iran and North Korea.
13 February 2002 Iraq says that it will not permit arms inspectors to enter the country "since Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction".
28 March 2002 The Arab summit in Beirut unanimously adopts a resolution that rejects any military offensive on Iraq.
2 May 2002 Iraq announces plans to return the Kuwaiti national archives through the Arab League in a gesture of good will.
3 May 2002 Iraq and the United Nations end three days of talks on disarmament programmes and weapons inspectors with no progress reported.
14 May 2002 UNSC resolution 1409 approves "smart sanctions" to replace the existing regime.
12 September 2002 President Bush addresses the UN General Assembly, denouncing the Iraqi leadership as posing a "grave and gathering danger", and calls for the UN to act. He states that unless Security Council resolutions are enforced, "action will be unavoidable".
16 September 2002 Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri sends a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan indicating that Iraq will accept the return of UN weapons inspectors "without conditions", after three-day marathon talks that included Moussa.
10 October 2002 President Bush signs a resolution by US Congress authorising him to use force against Iraq if necessary.
16 October 2002 Saddam Hussein wins a referendum -- securing 100 per cent of the vote -- for another seven-year term as president.
20 October 2002 The Iraqi government grants an unprecedented amnesty to almost all prisoners in Iraq, including political prisoners.
8 November 2002 UNSC unanimously adopts resolution 1441 outlining an enhanced inspection regime for Iraq's disarmament to be conducted by the UNMOVIC and IAEA.
13 November 2002 Naji Sabri delivers a letter to Annan informing him that Iraq will comply with UNSCR 1441.
November 2002 Moussa negotiates with Blix and Al-Baradei about including Arab inspectors on the UN team
18 November 2002 UN weapons inspectors resume their job in Iraq after a four-year absence.
7 December 2002 Iraq releases a 12,000-page document detailing its weapons programmes, as required by resolution 1441, one day ahead of the UN imposed deadline.
8 December 2002 The US seizes the unedited copy of the Iraqi dossier.
13-17 December 2002 Iraqi opposition groups meet in London to plan for Iraq after Saddam Hussein.
17 December 2002 Non-permanent UNSC members receive the Iraqi dossier. Syria does not attend the session in protest of the US's 'piracy' of the dossier.
30 December 2002 UNSC adopts a US-backed resolution tightening controls on imports to Iraq.
2 January 2003 More than 11,000 US troops prepare to head for the Gulf in the first of a full combat division sent there since the 1991 Gulf War. Their arrival would double the nearly 60,000 US personnel already in the region.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 9 - 15 January 2003 (Issue No. 620)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/620/re6.htm