Directory

2002 CE

The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operations, and human rights concerns arose surrounding the treatment of suspected terrorists. Elsewhere, the Colombian conflict and the Nepalese Civil War represented some of the most severe militant conflicts, while the conflict between India and Pakistan was the only one between two sovereign nations. Religious tensions permeated the year, including violence between Hindus and Muslims in India during violent riots and other attacks and attacks on Jews in response to the Second Intifada. The Catholic Church grappled with scrutiny amid sexual abuse cases.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 16 – The United Nations and Sierra Leone create a joint Special Court for Sierra Leone to prosecute the Revolutionary United Front.source
  • January 29 – American president George W. Bush defines an "axis of evil," consisting of Iran, Iraq, and North Korea in his State of the Union Address.source
  • February 14 – The State of Bahrain is declared a constitutional monarchy and becomes the Kingdom of Bahrain.source
  • April 1 – The South West State of Somalia is established as an autonomous territory in Somalia by Hasan Muhammad Nur Shatigadud.source
  • April 4 – A peace agreement is made to end the Angolan Civil War.source
  • April 14 – President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela is restored to power following an attempted coup.source
  • May 20 – Timor-Leste independence: East Timor regains its independence as the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste after 2.5 years of United Nations administration and 26 years of Indonesian occupation since 1975.source
  • May 22 – Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba asks King Gyanendra to dissolve the parliament amid escalation of the Nepalese Civil War.source
  • May 24 – United States President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin sign the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty.source
  • May 28 – The NATO-Russia Council is established.source
  • June 13 – The United States withdraws from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia.source
  • June 13 – Afghanistan changes its official longform name to the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan.source
  • July 1 – The Rome Statute comes into force, thereby establishing the International Criminal Court.source
  • July 20 – The Machakos Protocol is signed during the Second Sudanese Civil War, establishing a framework for peace talks and possible independence of South Sudan.source
  • September 27 – East Timor is admitted to the United Nations as the 191st member state; it also changes its official longform name from "Democratic Republic of East Timor" to "Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste".source
  • October 27 – 2002 Brazilian general election: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is elected President of Brazil.source
  • November 7 – A sovereignty referendum is held in Gibraltar. The people reject Spanish sovereignty.source
  • November 15 – Hu Jintao becomes General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.source
  • November 22 – Prague summit: NATO announces seven new countries that intend to join: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.source
  • November 25 – U.S. President George W. Bush signs the Homeland Security Act into law, establishing the Department of Homeland Security, in the largest U.S. government reorganization since the creation of the Department of Defense in 1947. Following a several month-long transitional period, it commences operations the following year.source
  • November 25 – The Hague Code of Conduct is signed to regulate intercontinental ballistic missiles internationally.source
  • December 17 – A peace agreement is made in the Second Congo War, approving the creation of the Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.source
  • December 17 – The International Court of Justice rules in favor of Malaysia in the Ligitan and Sipadan dispute with Indonesia.source
  • December 27 – 2002 Kenyan general election: Kenya holds its first free elections, ousting the dominant Kenya African National Union Party following a victory of the National Rainbow Coalition.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 18 – The Sierra Leone Civil War comes to a conclusion with the defeat of the Revolutionary United Front by government forces.source
  • January – Operation Enduring Freedom – Philippines: The Philippines and the United States begin a joint operation to combat Jihadist groups in the Philippines.source
  • February 11 – Several Muslim-majority nations ban an issue of Newsweek International when it depicts Muhammad.source
  • February 12 – The Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict comes into effect, establishing an international agreement against the use of child soldiers.source
  • February 22 – UNITA guerrilla leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in clashes against government troops led by Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos in Moxico Province, Angola.source
  • February 27 – A mob attacks a train near Godhra, India, killing approximately 59 people. The state of Gujarat breaks out into riots, including the Gulbarg Society massacre on February 28 that kills approximately 69 people.source
  • March 2–10 – Afghan and coalition troops carry out Operation Anaconda in the Shah-i-Kot Valley, the largest combat operation against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban to that point.source
  • March 29 – In response to increasingly common attacks by Palestinian militants, Israeli initiates Operation Defensive Shield, a large-scale counter-terrorism operation in the West Bank.source
  • April 1 – Battle of Jenin: Israeli forces attack Palestinian militants in the Jenin refugee camp.source
  • April 2 – Siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem: Israeli forces besiege the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem when militants take shelter there. The siege will last for 38 days.source
  • April 26 – Erfurt school massacre: An expelled student kills 16 people and commits suicide at a school in Erfurt, Germany.source
  • May 2 – Bojayá massacre: A church is struck with a cylinder bomb during a conflict between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, killing an estimated 119 people.source
  • May 13 – Rebels bombard Arthington, Liberia, with artillery during the Second Liberian Civil War causing panic in the neighboring capital, Monrovia.source
  • May 14 – Kaluchak massacre: Militants attack a bus and an Indian army camp in Kaluchak, Jammu and Kashmir, killing 31 people and escalating the India–Pakistan standoff.source
  • June 8 – The Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson boxing fight takes place. Following a scuffle prior to the match, Lennox Lewis defeats Mike Tyson.source
  • June 29 – Second Battle of Yeonpyeong: During the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan, two North Korean patrol boats cross a contested border in between the two Koreas and attack two South Korean Chamsuri-class patrol boats.source
  • September 19 – General Robert Guéï leads an army mutiny in an attempt to overthrow Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo, resulting in civil war.source
  • October 11 – The United States Congress approves military action in Iraq should it fail to comply with United Nations requirements for weapons of mass destruction.source
  • October 12 – Jemaah Islamiyah militants detonate multiple bombs in two nightclubs in Kuta, Bali, killing 202 people and injuring over 300 people, making it the worst terrorist act in Indonesia's history.source
  • October 23–26 – Chechen rebels take control of the Nord-Ost theatre in Moscow and hold the audience hostage. At least 170 people are killed following a Russian attempt to subdue the militants.source
  • October – Operation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa: The United States deploys troops to the Horn of Africa to combat Islamist groups and pirates.source
  • November 8 – The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopts Resolution 1441, forcing Iraq to either disarm or face "serious consequences". Iraq agrees to the terms of the resolution on November 13.source
  • November 28 – 2002 Mombasa attacks: Suicide bombers blow up an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, but their colleagues fail in their attempt to bring down an Arkia Israel Airlines charter flight with surface-to-air-missiles.source
  • December 3 – The government of Burundi signs a ceasefire with the CNDD-FDD rebel group to end the Burundian Civil War. It holds until February 2003.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • February 5 – NASA launches the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager as part of the Explorers Program.source
  • June 3 – Archaeologists begin uncovering the Liye Qin Slips in Liye, China.source

Religion & Belief

  • January 6 – The Boston Globe publishes results of an investigation leading to the criminal prosecutions of five Roman Catholic priests and bringing widespread attention to the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.source
  • February 11 – The Catholic Church establishes four new dioceses in Russia, prompting backlash from the Russian Orthodox Church.source
  • July 9 – The Church of England allows divorcees to remarry.source
  • October 15 – The Somali Reconciliation Conference begins, initiating peace talks between two factions of the Somali Civil War: the Transitional National Government and the government of Puntland.source
  • December 31 – The United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina ends.source

Economy & Finance

  • January 1 – The Euro is introduced as the official physical currency in the Eurozone countries. The first physical transactions are carried out on Réunion. The former currencies of all the countries that use the Euro cease to be legal tender on February 28.source
  • June 25 – The WorldCom scandal breaks and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission begins its investigation into WorldCom.source
  • July 21 – At the height of the WorldCom scandal, WorldCom files the largest bankruptcy in American history.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • February 25 – Good Morning Afghanistan begins broadcasting over radio in Dari and Pashto, establishing a national news source for Afghanistan.source
  • March 11 – The Tribute in Light is installed at the World Trade Center site in New York City.source
  • June 4 – The Zeyzoun Dam in Zayzun, Syria, fails.source

Science & Discovery

  • February 19 – NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.source
  • March 1 – The Envisat environmental satellite is launched, with its purpose being the recording of information on environmental change.source
  • March 25 – Shenzhou 3 is launched from China.source
  • April 18 – Romanian mathematician Preda Mihăilescu creates a proof for the Catalan's conjecture, which had gone unsolved for 158 years.source
  • April 25 – South African Mark Shuttleworth blasts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on the Soyuz TM-34, becoming the first African space tourist.source
  • May 4 – NASA launches the Aqua satellite as part of the Earth Observing System.source
  • June 4 – The ringed dwarf planet Quaoar is discovered by astronomers Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown at the Palomar Observatory.source
  • June 10 – British scientist Kevin Warwick carries out first direct electronic communication experiment between the nervous systems of two humans.source
  • July 3 – NASA launches the CONTOUR satellite but loses contact.source
  • July 11 – The discovery of the early hominid Sahelanthropus is announced.source
  • August 26–September 4 – Earth Summit 2002 takes places in Johannesburg, South Africa, aimed at discussing sustainable development by the United Nations.source
  • August 28 – EUMETSAT launches the Meteosat 8 satellite as part of its Meteosat program.source
  • October 17 – The European Space Agency launches the INTEGRAL observatory.source
  • October 21 – The discovery of the James Ossuary is announced.source
  • December 29 – Shenzhou 4 is launched from China.source

Health & Medicine

  • July 11 – The first synthetic virus is announced after being successfully created and tested at Stony Brook University.source
  • October 4 – The genome sequences for malaria carriers anopheles gambiae and plasmodium falciparum are published.source
  • October 31 – Belarus restricts religious activity outside of the Belarusian Orthodox Church with a new law.source
  • November 16 – 2002–2004 SARS outbreak: The first case of the Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic, a zoonosis caused by a coronavirus, is recorded in Guangdong province of south China.source

Crime & Justice

  • February 12 – The trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former president of Yugoslavia, begins at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.source
  • February 14 – The International Court of Justice rules in favor of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the Arrest Warrant of 11 April 2000 case.source
  • February 23 – The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia kidnap the presidential candidate Íngrid Betancourt, holding her captive for the next six years.source
  • April 12 – Augustin Bizimungu is arrested for his involvement in the Rwandan genocide.source
  • May 10 – American FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life in prison for espionage.source
  • June 12 – The ImClone stock trading case begins when ImClone Systems CEO Samuel D. Waksal is arrested for insider trading.source
  • July 11 – Former Argentine junta leader Leopoldo Galtieri is arrested for the kidnap, torture, and murder of 20 leftist guerillas during the Dirty War.source
  • July 23 – Salvadoran generals José Guillermo García and Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova are found liable for torture in an American court.source
  • September 11 – Yemeni al-Qaeda operative Ramzi bin al-Shibh is arrested in Pakistan for involvement in the September 11, 2001 attacks. He will later be found unfit to stand trial.source
  • October 2 – Former Republika Srpska president Biljana Plavšić pleads guilty to crimes against humanity for her involvement in the Bosnian genocide.source
  • October 24 – The culprits of the D.C. sniper attacks are arrested after they kill ten people in the United States over the previous three weeks.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • March 27 – A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 30 people and injures 140 others at a hotel in Netanya, Israel.source
  • May 30 - The formal nine-month rescue and recovery operation at Ground Zero in New York City officially concluded with a solemn, largely silent ceremony, marking the completion of the removal of approximately 1.8 million tons of debris from the site following the September 11 attacks.source
  • June 14 – Russia withdraws from the START II nuclear reduction agreement with the United States.source
  • July 27 – The Sknyliv air show disaster takes place, killing 77, becoming the deadliest air show accident of all time.source
  • August 19 – 2002 Khankala Mi-26 crash: Chechen separatists shoot down a Russian Mil Mi-26, killing 127 soldiers. It was the worst aviation disaster in the history of the Russian military.source
  • September 26 - The Senegalese ferry MV Le Joola sinks off the West African coast with 1,863 people killed according to official reports, making it one of the worst peacetime maritime disasters in history. Only 64 passengers survive.source
  • November 13 – Prestige oil spill: Greek oil tanker begins spilling oil off the coast of Galicia. It will continue until November 19, spilling 60,000 tonnes of oil in the worst environmental disaster in the history of the Iberian Peninsula.source
  • December 27 – 2002 Grozny truck bombing: Chechen suicide bombers attack the government headquarters in Grozny, Russia, killing over 70 people.source

Climate & Environment

  • January 17 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.source
  • February 3 – 2002 Afyon earthquake: A 6.0 magnitude earthquake strikes Afyonkarahisar Province, Turkey, killing 41 people and damaging thousands of buildings.source
  • March 25 – 2002 Hindu Kush earthquakes: A 6.1 magnitude earthquake strikes Nahrin, Afghanistan, killing 800 people and leaving 10,000 homeless.source
  • June 22 – 2002 Bou'in-Zahra earthquake: A 6.5 magnitude earthquake strikes north-western Iran, killing over 200 people.source
  • August 22–September 4 – Typhoon Rusa, the most powerful typhoon to hit South Korea in 43 years, makes landfall, killing at least 236 people.source
  • September 14–27 – Hurricane Isidore crosses Cuba, the Yucatán Peninsula, and Louisiana.source
  • September 21–October 4 – Hurricane Lili crosses Cuba and several other Caribbean islands before making landfall in Louisiana.source
  • November 3 – 2002 Denali earthquake: A 7.9 magnitude earthquake, one of the strongest North American earthquakes recorded, occurs in Alaska.source

Culture & Society

  • January 19 – In American football, Tom Brady's victory in the Tuck Rule Game causes a national controversy.source
  • February 8–24 – The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City, Utah.source
  • March 16 – Sofia Gubaidulina's Johannes-Ostern is premiered, together with her earlier Johannes-Passion, at Hamburg's Michaeliskirche, performed by soloists, choir and orchestra from the Mariinsky Theatre combined with NDR choir and orchestra, conducted by Valery Gergiev.source
  • April 5 – The genome sequence for indica rice is published.source
  • May 31 – The 2002 FIFA World Cup begins, taking place in South Korea and Japan.source
  • June 30 – 2002 FIFA World Cup: Brazil beats Germany 2–0 in the 2002 FIFA World Cup Final with Ronaldo scoring the two goals; Brazil's captain Cafu, who becomes the first player to appear in three successive World Cup finals, accepts the trophy on behalf of the team.source
  • July 5 – The Imperial War Museum North opens in Trafford, England.source
  • July 25–August 4 – The 2002 Commonwealth Games are held in Manchester, England.source
  • August 7 – The AKS primality test is published by Manindra Agrawal, Neeraj Kayal, and Nitin Saxena from the Indian Institutes of Technology.source
  • October 16 – The Bibliotheca Alexandrina opens in Alexandria, Egypt, in a ceremony attended by several heads of state.source

Deaths

  • July 14 – The only captive baiji dolphin dies as the species approaches extinction.source