[Mohoender]

Europe experiences several changes. Voters in Norway refuse to join with the newly constituted European Union but those in Finland and Sweden accept. In June, in Italy, Democrazia Cristiana is disolved and a coalition led by Silvio Berlusconi is brought to power. It is known as Polo delle Libertà and composed of Lega Nord, National Alliance, Christian Democratic Centre and Union of the Centre. It brings a lot of hope among the population but this is short lived as the government fall when the Lega Nord leaves the coalition in December.

In Russia, in August, the All-National Congress of the Chechen People (NCChP) headed by former Soviet Air Force General Dzhokhar Dudayev launches a large-scale armed campaign to remove communist rule. It is opposed by a hill prepared Red Army which is still in a deep process of modernization. Soviet troops suffer greatly, ultimately come up on top but fail to crush Dudayev’s forces. Further east, relations between Russia and China continue to improve and both countries agree to de-target their nuclear weapons against each other while, talks start on a new treaty that would broaden the military collaboration between CSTO and China.

In Yugoslavia, the situation had evolved and the Croat-Bosniak war officially ends on February 23, when the Commander of HVO, general Ante Roso and commander of Bosnian Army, general Rasim Deliç, sign a ceasefire agreement in Zagreb. This is followed, in March, by a peace agreement establishing the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

A civil war shakes Yemen between April and October and, on May 21, southern leaders secede again and establish the Democratic Republic of Yemen under the leadership of Haidar Abu Bakr al-Attas. Warsaw Pact 2 recognizes it and sends supplies that are, surprisingly enough, paid by Saudi Arabia which had felt threaten by the reunification of Yemen. At last, a peace is signed in the Jordan Capital of Amman and Yemen’s reunification becomes history: The Republic of Yemen rules over the north with its capital at Sana’a while the Democratic Republic of Yemen rules in the South with its capital at Aden. Soon after, the beginning of the civil war in Yemen, another civil war breaks out between Kurdish factions in Iraki Kurdistan. Massoud Barzani's Kurdish Democratic Party, backed by Iran, launches an attack on Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. As a result, by year’s end, 2000 people had been killed on both sides. In July, as most of the world is looking at Kurdistan and Yemen, Israel and Jordan sign the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace, which formally ends the state of war that has existed between the nations since 1948, providing a point of stability in the region.

South Africa is now shaken by increasing popular unrest but reasserts its control over Walvis Bay. The leading party of Namibia (SWAPO) is reluctant to take action despite support from USSR and renounces its claim on the town. Almost at the same time, US troops are withdrawn from Somalia. Another important event takes place in Africa when, in April, both the Rwandan president and Burundi president die when a missile shot down their plane. That attack triggers what is to become the Rwandan Genocide.

All over this year, the entire American continent appears as the most stable area of the world outside what happens in Chiapas. On January 1, riots are starting in the separatist region of Chiapas (Mexico) and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), led by Commander Marcos and backed by Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, starts a guerilla war against the government in Mexico.