March 2001

1

Bashir

Australia: Marie Bashir takes office as governor of New South Wales.

2

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Alija Behmen is nominated as prime minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. His government is approved by the House of Representatives and sworn in on March 12.

Chérestal

Antonio

Haiti: Jean-Marie Chérestal is sworn in as prime minister. Joseph Philippe Antonio becomes foreign minister, Gustave Faubert finance minister, and Henri-Claude Ménard interior minister.
United States: Former Illinois governor (1953-61) William G. Stratton dies.

3

Chad: Former prime minister (1958-59) Gabriel Lisette dies.

Boye

Senegal: Prime Minister Moustapha Niasse resigns. Mame Madior Boye is appointed prime minister.
Sierra Leone: In a cabinet reshuffle, Ahmed Ramadan Dumbuya becomes foreign minister and Peter Kuyembeh finance minister.

4

Andorra: In parliamentary elections, the Liberal Party wins 15 of 28 seats, the Social Democratic Party 6, the Democratic Party 5, and the Unió Laurediana 2. Turnout is 81.6%.
Benin: In presidential elections, incumbent Mathieu Kérékou wins 47.1% of the vote, former president Nicéphore Soglo 28.9%, former prime minister Adrien Houngbédji 13.5%, and Bruno Amoussou 4%. Turnout is 87.7%. On March 16 Soglo, claiming fraud, declares his nonparticipation in the runoff planned for March 18, which is then postponed to March 22. On March 19 Houngbédji also withdraws, leaving fourth-placed Amoussou to run against Kérékou. Kérékou wins 83.6% in the runoff against 16.4% for Amoussou. Turnout is 53.4%.
Djibouti: Dileita Mohamed Dileita is named prime minister. He is sworn in March 7.
Equatorial Guinea: A new government is formed with Cándido Muatetema Rivas as prime minister and Baltasar Engonga Edjo as finance minister.
Samoa: In parliamentary elections, the Human Rights' Protection Party of Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi wins 23 of 49 seats against 13 seats for the Samoan National Development Party.
United States: Former Minnesota governor (1939-43) Harold E. Stassen and former Ohio governor (1963-71, 1975-83) James A. Rhodes die.

5

Argentina: In a cabinet reshuffle, Ricardo López Murphy becomes economy minister and Horacio Jaunarena defense minister.
Japan: Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori survives a no-confidence vote (274-192).

6

Brazil: São Paulo governor Mário Covas Júnior dies. Vice Governor Geraldo Alckmin Filho becomes governor.
Federated States of Micronesia: In parliamentary elections, only nonpartisans are elected.

7

Sharon

Peres

Israel: Ariel Sharon takes office as prime minister. Shimon Peres becomes foreign minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer defense minister, Silvan Shalom finance minister, and Eli Yishai interior minister.

8

Brazil: Former Ceará governor (1983-87) Luiz Alves Coelho da Rocha dies.

Landry

Canada: Bernard Landry takes office as premier of Quebec.

11

Philippines: Former acting foreign secretary (1985-86) Pacifico A. Castro dies.

12

Canada: In Alberta elections, Premier Ralph Klein's Progressive Conservatives win 61.8% of the vote (74 of 83 seats), the Liberals 27.3% (7), and the New Democrats 8.1% (2).
Switzerland: Former president of the government of Bern (1962-63, 1970-71) Hans Tschumi dies.
Uganda: In presidential elections, incumbent Yoweri Museveni wins 69.3% of the vote and Kizza Besigye 27.8%. Turnout is 70.3%.

14

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Gerhard Sontheim becomes acting Brcko supervisor.

Momoedonu

Fiji: In an apparent attempt to observe constitutional formalities following a court ruling that the post-coup government of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase was illegal and that Mahendra Chaudhry was the legal prime minister, Ratu Josefa Iloilo (whose tenure as interim president, according to the court ruling, expires on March 15, but who is officially sworn in as president on the latter date, having been confirmed by the Great Council of Chiefs) dismisses Chaudhry and installs Ratu Tevita Momoedonu as prime minister, only to reappoint Qarase on March 16.
Paraguay: José Antonio Moreno Ruffinelli is named foreign minister.

15

India: Defense Minister George Fernandes resigns. On March 18 it is announced that Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh will take on the additional charge of the defense ministry.
Spain: Juan Vicente Herrera Campo is elected president of the Junta of Castilla-León (48-34).

16

Argentina: Interior Minister Federico Storani resigns. On March 19 Economy Minister Ricardo López Murphy resigns after only two weeks in the post. On March 20 Domingo Cavallo is sworn in as economy minister and Ramón Mestre as interior minister.
South Korea: Former prime minister and acting president (1980) Park Choong Hoon dies.

19

Guinea-Bissau: President Kumba Ialá dismisses Prime Minister Caetano N'Tchama. Foreign Minister Faustino Imbali is sworn in as prime minister on March 21. In the new government announced on March 25, Antonieta Rosa Gomes is foreign minister and Maj. Lucio Soares defense minister; Interior Minister Artur Sanhá and Finance Minister Rui Duarte de Barros are retained.
Guyana: In presidential and parliamentary elections, President Bharrat Jagdeo's People's Progressive Party/Civic wins 53.1% of the vote (34 of 65 seats) against 41.7% (27) for the People's National Congress/Reform, led by Desmond Hoyte. Turnout is 89.4%.
Philippines: Gen. Angelo Reyes is sworn in as defense secretary.

20

New Caledonia: President of the Government Jean Lèques resigns.
Romania: Former prime minister (1979-82) Ilie Verdet dies.

22

Pires

Cape Verde: Pedro Pires is sworn in as president.
New Zealand: Dame Sian Elias, the chief justice, becomes acting governor-general after the term of Sir Michael Hardie Boys expired.
Samoa: Misa Telefoni Retzlaff is named finance minister.
Switzerland: Former Landammann of Schwyz (1976-78) Karl Bolfing dies.

25

Austria: In state elections in Wien, the Social Democratic Party wins 46.8% of the vote (52 of 100 seats), the Freedom Party 20.3% (21), the Austrian People's Party 16.4% (16), the Greens 12.5% (11), and the Liberal Forum 3.5%. Turnout is 66%.
Germany: In state elections in Baden-Württemberg, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) wins 44.8% of the vote, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) 33.3%, the Free Democratic Party (FDP) 8.1%, the Greens 7.7%, and the Republicans 4.4%. Turnout is 62.6%. In Rheinland-Pfalz, the SPD wins 44.7%, the CDU 35.3%, the FDP 7.8%, and the Greens 5.2%. Turnout is 62.1%.
Russia: In Tatarstan, President Mintimer Shaymiyev is reelected with 79.6% of the vote; the three other main candidates are trailing with less than 6% of the vote each. Turnout is 79.4%. In Amur oblast, Head of the Administration Anatoly Belonogov wins 46.7% of the vote against about 20% for Leonid Korotkov.

26

Han

South Korea: In a cabinet reshuffle, Han Seung Soo becomes foreign minister and Kim Dong Shin defense minister.
Somalia: Southern faction leaders establish the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council. The five co-chairmen are Hussein Aydid, Hilowle Iman Umar, Aden Abdullahi Nur, Hassan Muhammad Nur "Shatigadud," and Abdullahi Sheikh Ismail; the chairmanship is to rotate monthly but Aydid is chosen as first chairman with a mandate for six months. Mowlid Ma'ane Mohamoud is named secretary-general and Yusuf Omar al-Azhari secretary for foreign affairs.
Ukraine: President Leonid Kuchma fires Interior Minister Yuriy Kravchenko and replaces him with Yuriy Smirnov.

27

Vorachith

Chong

Laos: Finance Minister Boungnang Vorachith is named as prime minister; Gen. Douangchay Phichith becomes defense minister and Soukan Mahalat finance minister in the reshuffle.
Malaysia: Datuk Chong Kah Kiat becomes chief minister of Sabah.

28

Belarus: Defense Minister Alyaksandr Chumakau is dismissed and replaced with his predecessor, Leanid Maltseu.

Gryzlov

Russia: Sergey Ivanov is named defense minister and Boris Gryzlov interior minister in a cabinet reshuffle.

Gonsalves

Straker

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: In parliamentary elections, the Unity Labour Party wins 12 of 15 seats and the New Democratic Party of Prime Minister Arnhim Eustace 3. On March 29 Ralph Gonsalves is sworn in as prime minister. The new government includes Gonsalves as finance minister, Louis Straker as foreign minister, and Vincent Beache as minister of national security.

29

Greenland: Former governor of Eric the Red's Land (1932-33) Helge Ingstad dies.
Federated States of Micronesia: Ieske K. Iehsi is sworn in as foreign minister.
Saint Lucia: Foreign Minister George Odlum is fired.

30

Nauru: Parliament ousts President Bernard Dowiyogo in a vote of no confidence and reelects former president René Harris.

31

Bajamal

Yemen: President Ali Abdullah Saleh fires Prime Minister Abdul Karim al-Iryani and asks Foreign Minister Abdul Qader Bajamal to form a new government.