In Kuwait
1990 — The Security Council condemns the raids on diplomatic missions
The Security Council adopted resolution 667 unanimously, fifteen votes with none against and none abstaining, condemning Iraqi raids on diplomatic premises in occupied Kuwait and the abduction of people holding diplomatic immunity, and demanding their immediate release and the reopening of the missions. The adoption date is carried on the face of the resolution itself.
1990 — Iraqi television broadcasts Bush’s address unedited
Iraqi television broadcast, unedited, a recorded address by President George H. W. Bush to the Iraqi people, telling them Iraq faced not America alone but the whole world, and demanding withdrawal from Kuwait, restoration of the legitimate government and release of those held. The address was recorded on the 12th and broadcast on the 16th; the broadcast is the event, not the recording.
1999 — Two sergeants of the Border Guard killed at pillar seventy
At two in the morning armed Iraqis opened fire across the demilitarised zone on a Border Guard patrol near boundary pillar seventy, inside Kuwaiti territory. Master Sergeant Awwad Ramadan Al-Zafiri and Sergeant Abdullah Nahyan Al-Mutairi were killed. Kuwait protested to the Security Council through its permanent representative.
2005 — Kuwait signs the nuclear terrorism convention
Kuwait signed the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism at UN headquarters, during the signing window opened alongside the World Summit, and ratified it eight years later on 5 September 2013. The 16th is the day of signature, not ratification, and many states signed it the same day.
In the world
1931 — Omar Al-Mukhtar hanged at the Soluk camp
Italian forces hanged Omar Al-Mukhtar, leader of the resistance in Cyrenaica, at the Soluk camp south of Benghazi before a crowd brought to the place, one day after an Italian military court in Benghazi sentenced him. Libya marks Martyr’s Day on this date. He was captured on the 11th; the two days are not the same.
1959 — De Gaulle recognises Algerians’ right to self-determination
In an address from the Élysée carried on radio and television, Charles de Gaulle recognised the right of Algerians to determine their own future and offered a vote within four years of a return to peace. It is the turn that opened the road to Évian and to independence in 1962.
1982 — The Sabra and Shatila massacre begins on the Thursday evening
Phalangist militiamen entered the Shatila camp at about six in the evening, from the west and the south. Israel’s own Kahan Commission fixes the killing from their entry into the camps on Thursday the 16th until their departure on Saturday the 18th, with Israeli forces holding the perimeter.
1987 — The Montreal Protocol, and Ozone Day with it
The Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was concluded at Montreal, entered into force on 1 January 1989, and now has 198 parties. Kuwait acceded on 23 November 1992. In 1994 the General Assembly proclaimed this date the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer.
2006 — The death of Fouad El-Mohandes
The Egyptian comic actor Fouad El-Mohandes died in Cairo at eighty-two, after half a century of radio, stage and screen that was staple listening in Gulf households. He was buried the following day.
Source: the United Nations Digital Library and its documents · the UN Treaty Collection · the American Presidency Project · Libyan Heritage House · France’s Institut national de l’audiovisuel · the text of the Kahan Commission report · Al Jazeera.
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