Directory

1993 CE

The Oslo Accords are signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization; the 1993 World Trade Center bombing kills six people and injures more than 1,000 in New York City; the Battle of Mogadishu takes place during the Somali Civil War; the Waco siege ends in a deadly fire after a 51-day standoff; Pablo Escobar is killed by Colombian security forces; the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis culminates in the shelling of the Russian parliament; Michael Jackson is accused of sexual abuse; the Burundian Civil War begins following the assassination of President Melchior Ndadaye; and the 1993 Storm of the Century brings widespread destruction across eastern North America.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 1 – Czechoslovakia ceases to exist, as the Czech Republic and Slovakia separate in the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia.source
  • January 7 – The Fourth Republic of Ghana is inaugurated, with Jerry Rawlings as president.source
  • January 20 – Bill Clinton and Al Gore are inaugurated as US President and Vice President.source
  • January 25 – Social Democrat Poul Nyrup Rasmussen succeeds Conservative Poul Schlüter as Prime Minister of Denmark.source
  • February 4 – Members of the right-wing Austrian Freedom Party of Austria split to form the Liberal Forum in protest against the increasing nationalistic bent of the party.source
  • March 13 – 1993 Australian federal election: Paul Keating's Labor government is re-elected with an increased majority, defeating the Liberal/National Coalition led by John Hewson.source
  • March 27 – Following a rash of integrist murders (including those of foreigners), Algeria breaks diplomatic relations with Iran, accusing the country of interfering in its interior affairs.source
  • March 28 – 1993 French legislative election: Rally for the Republic (Gaullist party) wins a majority and Édouard Balladur becomes Prime Minister.source
  • April 8 – The Republic of Macedonia is admitted to the United Nations under a provisional reference "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia".source
  • June 1 – In an effort to minimize political chaos in post-Communist Poland, Lech Walesa signs a reform bill requiring political parties to receive at least 5% of the vote to qualify for seats in the Sejm.source
  • June 5 – The National Assembly of Venezuela designates Ramón José Velásquez as successor of suspended President Carlos Andrés Pérez.source
  • June 25 – Kim Campbell becomes the 19th, and first female, Prime Minister of Canada.source
  • September 13 – Oslo I Accord: Following initially secret talks from earlier in the year, PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin shake hands in Washington, D.C. after signing a peace accord.source
  • September 19 – 1993 Polish parliamentary election: A coalition of the Democratic Left Alliance and the Polish People's Party led by Waldemar Pawlak comes into power.source
  • October 25 – 1993 Canadian federal election: Jean Chrétien and his Liberal Party defeat the governing Progressive Conservative Party, which falls to a historic low of two seats.source
  • November 1 – The Maastricht Treaty takes effect, formally establishing the European Union.source
  • November 4 – Jean Chrétien becomes the 20th Prime Minister of Canada.source
  • December 5 – Rafael Caldera Rodríguez is elected President of Venezuela for the second time, succeeding interim president Ramón José Velásquez.source
  • December 5 – Omar Bongo is re-elected as President of Gabon in the country's first multiparty elections.source
  • December 13 – Former Prime Minister of Canada Kim Campbell resigns as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party and is succeeded as leader by Jean Charest.source
  • December 13 – The Majilis of Kazakhstan approves the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and agrees to dismantle the more than 100 missiles left on its territory by the fall of the USSR.source
  • December 17 – Brazil's Supreme Court rules that former President Fernando Collor de Mello may not hold elected office again until 2000 due to political corruption.source
  • December 30 – Representatives of Israel and the Holy See sign the Fundamental Agreement Between the Holy See and the State of Israel, preparing for the establishment of diplomatic relations.source
  • December 30 – Argentina passes a measure allowing President Carlos Menem and all future presidents to run for a second consecutive term. It also shortens presidential terms to four years and removes the requirement for the president to be Roman Catholic.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 6 – January 6–20 – The Bombay riots take place in Mumbai.source
  • January 6 – Douglas Hurd is the first high-ranking British official to visit Argentina since the Falklands War.source
  • January 13 – Iraq disarmament crisis: US, British and French aircraft attack Iraqi Surface to Air Missile sites in Southern Iraq.source
  • January 19 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq refuses to allow UNSCOM inspectors to use its own aircraft to fly into Iraq and begins military operations in the demilitarized zone between Iraq and Kuwait, and the northern Iraqi no-fly zones. U.S. forces fire approximately 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Baghdad factories linked to Iraq's illegal nuclear weapons program (→ January 1993 airstrikes on Iraq). Iraq then informs UNSCOM that it will be able to resume its flights.source
  • February 15 – Abortion in Poland: Lech Walesa signs into law one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in Eastern Europe, banning abortion for any reason other than rape, incest, genetic deformity, or if the mother's life is in danger. Polish women seeking elective abortions must hereafter travel to the Czech Republic.source
  • March 17 – The Kurdistan Workers' Party announces a unilateral ceasefire in Iraq.source
  • April 16 – Bosnian War: the enclave of Srebrenica is declared a UN-protected "safe area". Also members of the Jokeri unit of the HVO entered the village of Ahmići and killed 120 Muslim residents.source
  • April 19 – Waco siege: A 51-day stand-off at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, ends with a fire that kills 76 people, including David Koresh.source
  • May 1 – Assassination of Ranasinghe Premadasa: During a May Day rally, President of Sri Lanka Ranasinghe Premadasa is assassinated by a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam suicide bomber. Prime Minister Dingiri Banda Wijetunga succeeds Premadasa as the 3rd executive president of Sri Lanka.source
  • May 4 – UNOSOM II assumes the Somalian duties of the dissolved UNITAF.source
  • May 26 – Albanian President Sali Berisha urges the United States and NATO to take action to prevent Serbian ethnic cleansing of Kosovo Albanians.source
  • June 1 – President of Guatemala Jorge Serrano Elías is forced to flee the country after an attempted self-coup.source
  • June 5 – Attack on Pakistani military in Somalia: twenty-four Pakistani troops in the United Nations forces are killed in Mogadishu, Somalia.source
  • June 8 – Kurdish–Turkish conflict: the PKK-declared ceasefire ends in Iraq.source
  • June 18 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq refuses to allow UNSCOM weapons inspectors to install remote-controlled monitoring cameras at two missile engine test stands.source
  • June 27 – U.S. President Bill Clinton orders a cruise missile attack on Iraqi intelligence headquarters in the Al-Mansur District of Baghdad, in response to an Iraqi plot to assassinate former U.S. President George H. W. Bush during his visit to Kuwait in mid-April.source
  • July 5 – Iraq disarmament crisis: UN inspection teams leave Iraq. Iraq then agrees to UNSCOM demands and the inspection teams return.source
  • July 25 – In a terrorist attack members of the Azanian People's Liberation Army open fire on a congregation inside St James Church in Kenilworth, Cape Town, killing eleven and injuring fifty.source
  • September 27 – War in Abkhazia: Fall of Sukhumi – Eduard Shevardnadze accuses Russia of passive complicity.source
  • October 3–4– Battle of Mogadishu: The U.S. Army conducts Operation Gothic Serpent in the city of Mogadishu, Somalia, deploying Task Force Ranger. Two U.S. Army UH-60 Blackhawks are shot down and the operation leaves over 1,000 Somalis dead and over 74 Americans wounded in action, 18 killed and 1 captured.source
  • October 4 – The Russian constitutional crisis culminates with Russian military and security forces, using tanks and clearing the White House of Russia Parliament building by force, quashing a mass uprising against President Boris Yeltsin.source
  • October 11–28 – The UNMIH is prevented from entering Haiti by its military-led regime. On October 18, United Nations economic sanctions (abolished in August) are reinstated. U.S. President Bill Clinton sends 6 American warships to enforce them.source
  • November 17 – In Nigeria, General Sani Abacha ousts the government of Ernest Shonekan in a military coup.source
  • November 28 – The Observer reveals that a channel of communications has existed between the Provisional Irish Republican Army and the British government, despite the government's persistent denials.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • Backstreet Boys were formed in Orlando, Florida.source
  • July 26 – Miguel Indurain wins the 1993 Tour de France.source
  • October 13 – The fifth summit of the Francophonie opens in Mauritius.source
  • November 17 – The first meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit opens in Seattle.source

Religion & Belief

  • Pope John Paul II makes an official visit to Albania, accompanied by Mother Teresa. He counsels Albanian Catholics against supporting nationalist violence in Kosovo.source

Economy & Finance

  • January 1 – The European Economic Community eliminates trade barriers and creates a European single market.source
  • March 12 – North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea announces that it plans to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and refuses to allow inspectors access to nuclear sites, beginning the 1993–94 North Korean Nuclear Crisis.source
  • March 24 – South Africa officially abandons its nuclear weapons programme. President de Klerk announces that the country's six warheads had already been dismantled in 1989.source
  • June 25 – The litas is introduced as the new currency of Lithuania.source
  • June 25 – Jacques Attali resigns as President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.source
  • August – The European Exchange Rate Mechanism margin was expanded to 15% to accommodate speculation against the French franc and other currencies.source
  • November 17–22 – The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) passes the legislative houses in the United States, Canada and Mexico.source
  • December 8 – U.S. President Bill Clinton signs into law the North American Free Trade Agreement.source
  • December 15 – The Uruguay Round of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) talks reach a successful conclusion after seven years.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • January 11 – WWE introduce their television program, Monday Night Raw.source
  • January 30 – The Red Line (later known as the B Line) officially begins service in Los Angeles, becoming the first underground rapid transit line to open in almost 70 years.source
  • June 29 – The first mobile phone call was made in Greece, marking the launch of mobile telephony services in the country by Telestet (now NOVA).source
  • September 25 – The Nipah Dam incident: Indonesian security forces shoot and kill four protesters opposing the construction of a dam.source
  • November 5 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Railways Act 1993, setting out the procedures for privatisation of British Rail.source
  • November 9 – Bosnian Croat forces destroy the Stari Most, or Old Bridge of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, by tank fire.source

Science & Discovery

  • March 8 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. The Moon appears to be 14% bigger and 30% brighter than the year's other full moons. The next time these two events coincided was in 2008.source
  • June 11 – Jurassic Park releases in cinemas in the United States.source
  • June 24 – UK mathematician Andrew Wiles wins worldwide fame after presenting his proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, a problem that had been unsolved for more than three centuries.source
  • August 5 – The discovery of the Tel Dan Stele, the first archaeological confirmation of the existence of the Davidic line, announced.source
  • August 21 – NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Observer orbiter 3 days before the spacecraft is scheduled to enter orbit around Mars.source
  • September 17 – The last Russian military personnel leave Poland.source
  • September 26 – The first mission in Biosphere 2 ends after two years.source
  • September 26 – PoSAT-1 (the first Portuguese satellite) is launched on board French rocket Ariane 4.source
  • October 5 – China performs a nuclear test, ending a worldwide de facto moratorium.source
  • November 12 – London Convention: Marine dumping of radioactive waste is outlawed.source
  • December 2 – STS-61: NASA launches the Space Shuttle Endeavour on a mission to repair an optical flaw in the Hubble Space Telescope.source
  • December 20 – The first corrected images from the Hubble Space Telescope are taken.source
  • December 21 – Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki's VeggieTales is first released.source

Health & Medicine

  • February 10 – Mani pulite scandal: Italian legislator Claudio Martelli resigns, followed by various politicians over the next two weeks.source
  • April 11 – Four hundred fifty prisoners rioted at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, and continued to do so for ten days, citing grievances related to prison conditions, as well as the forced vaccination of Nation of Islam prisoners (for tuberculosis) against their religious beliefs.source
  • April 14 – Hungary passes a law banning the public display of Fascist and Communist symbols.source
  • April 23 – The World Health Organization declares tuberculosis a global emergency.source
  • April–May – 1993 Four Corners hantavirus outbreak: Thirteen people are killed by Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, mainly in the Southwestern United States.source

Crime & Justice

  • January 5 – US$7.4 million is stolen from the Brink's Armored Car Depot in Rochester, New York, in the fifth largest robbery in U.S. history.source
  • January 22 – Hungarian politician Istvan Csurka, of the Hungarian Democratic Forum, calls on the nation to rally against an alleged anti-Hungarian conspiracy led by Jews, liberals, Communists, and Westerners.source
  • January 24 – In Turkey, thousands protest against the murder of journalist Uğur Mumcu.source
  • February 12 – Murder of James Bulger: Two-year-old James Bulger is abducted from New Strand Shopping Centre by two ten-year-old boys Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, who later torture and murder him.source
  • February 22 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 808 is voted on, deciding that "an international tribunal shall be established" to prosecute violations of international law in Yugoslavia. The tribunal is established on May 25 by Resolution 827.source
  • March 11 – Janet Reno is confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn in the next day, becoming the first female Attorney General of the United States.source
  • April 21 – The Supreme Court in La Paz, Bolivia, sentences former dictator Luis Garcia Meza to 30 years in jail without parole for murder, theft, fraud and violating the constitution.source
  • April 30 – Tennis player Monica Seles – at this time the top-ranked player in women's tennis – is stabbed during a match at the 1993 Citizen Cup in Hamburg, Germany.source
  • June 1 – Large protests erupt against Slobodan Milošević's regime in Belgrade; opposition leader Vuk Drašković and his wife Danica are arrested.source
  • July 29 – The Israeli Supreme Court acquits accused Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk of all charges and he is set free.source
  • November 30 – U.S. President Bill Clinton signs the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act.source
  • December 2 – Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is gunned down by police.source
  • December 7 – In Garden City, New York, six people are murdered and 19 injured in the Long Island Rail Road massacre, a racially motivated mass shooting perpetrated by Colin Ferguson, a black Jamaican immigrant.source
  • December 10 – id Software releases the first-person shooter game Doom.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 14 – The Polish ferry sinks off the coast of Rügen in the Baltic Sea, killing 54 people.source
  • February 26 – World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a van bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing six people and injuring over one thousand.source
  • March 5 – Macedonian Palair Flight 301, an F-100 on a flight to Zürich, crashes shortly after take-off from Skopje, killing 83 of the 97 on board.source
  • March 12 – 1993 Bombay bombings: Several bombs explode in Bombay, India, killing 257 and injuring hundreds more.source
  • April 27 – 1993 Zambia national football team plane crash: All members of the Zambia national football team die in a plane crash off Libreville, Gabon en route to Dakar, Senegal.source
  • May 19 – SAM Colombia Flight 501, a Boeing 727-46, crashed during its approach to José María Córdova International Airport, Colombia, killing all 132 occupants on board.source
  • July 26 – Asiana Airlines Flight 733 crashes into Mt. Ungeo in Haenam, South Korea; 68 are killed.source
  • August 13 – More than 130 die in the collapse of Royal Plaza Hotel at Nakhon Ratchasima in Thailand's worst hotel disaster.source
  • September 22 – Big Bayou Canot train disaster: A bridge collapses while the Amtrak Sunset Limited is in the process of crossing it, killing 47 people.source
  • October 9 – The South Korean ferry Seohae capsizes off Pusan, South Korea; 292 are killed.source
  • October 27–31 – The Southland Firestorm, formed of more than fourteen separate fires in Southern California burning simultaneously, burns more than 700 homes and 160,000 acres. Two of these fire are the Laguna Fire which burned more than 16,000 acres (6,500 hectares), destroyed hundreds of homes and caused $528 million in damage in Orange County, California, and the Kinneloa Fire in Los Angeles County, California which caused a fatality.source
  • November 20 – An Avioimpex Yakovlev Yak-42D crashes into Mount Trojani near Ohrid, North Macedonia. All 8 crew members and 115 of the 116 passengers are killed.source
  • December 11 – One of the three blocks of the Highland Towers near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia collapses, killing 48.source

Climate & Environment

  • January 8–17 – The Braer Storm of January 1993, the most intense extratropical cyclone on record for the northern Atlantic Ocean, occurs.source
  • March 13–15 – The 1993 Storm of the Century strikes the eastern U.S., bringing record snowfall and other severe weather all the way from Cuba to Quebec; it reportedly kills 184 people.source
  • April–October – Great Flood of 1993: The Mississippi and Missouri Rivers flood large portions of the American Midwest.source
  • June 26–28 – Typhoon Koryn causes massive damage to the Philippines, China and Macau.source
  • July 7–9 – The 19th G7 summit is held in Tokyo, Japan.source
  • July 7 – Hurricane Calvin lands in Mexico. It is the second Pacific hurricane on record to land in Mexico in July and kills 34.source
  • July 8 – Monsoonal floods in South Asia begin, going on to kill more than three thousand people over the next month.source
  • July 12 – The 7.7 Hokkaidō earthquake affects northern Japan with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) and triggers a devastating tsunami that kills 230 on the small island of Okushiri, Hokkaido.source
  • July 30 – A wildfire on the Greek island of Ikaria kills 13.source
  • September 15–21 – Hurricane Gert crosses from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean through Central America and Mexico.source
  • September 30 – Latur earthquake: A 6.2 earthquake occurs in the vicinity of Maharashtra, India having a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing 9,748 and injuring 30,000.source
  • October 13 – The 1993 Finisterre earthquakes in Papua New Guinea kill at least 60 due to landslides.source

Culture & Society

  • March 29 – The 65th Academy Awards, hosted by Billy Crystal, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, with Unforgiven winning Best Picture.source
  • April 20 – The Council for National Academic Awards, the national degree-awarding authority in the United Kingdom, is officially dissolved.source
  • May 15 – Niamh Kavanagh wins the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland with In Your Eyes.source
  • June 22 – Japan's New Party Sakigake breaks away from the Liberal Democratic Party.source
  • July 5 – Electrochemist Faiza Al-Kharafi is appointed rector (president) of Kuwait University, the first woman to head a major university in the Middle East.source
  • August 25 – Boris Yeltsin, on an official state visit to Poland, lays a wreath at the Katyn memorial.source
  • August 28 – The first Power Rangers series, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (an adaptation of Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger), premieres in the United States.source
  • September 23 – The International Olympic Committee selects Sydney, Australia, to host the 2000 Summer Olympics.source
  • October 23 – The Toronto Blue Jays repeat as World Series champions, becoming the first team to win back-to-back titles since the 1977–1978 New York Yankees.source

Deaths

  • August 9 – King Albert II of Belgium is sworn into office nine days after the death of his brother, King Baudouin I.source
  • October 21 – A coup in Burundi results in the death of president Melchior Ndadaye and sparks the Burundi Civil War.source
  • December 7 – President of Ivory Coast Félix Houphouët-Boigny dies at 88, the oldest African head of state. He is succeeded four days later by Henri Konan Bédié.source
  • December 21 – The Hungarian Parliament elects Péter Boross Prime Minister of Hungary following the death of József Antall on December 12.source