August 8, 1988 – BBC World Service News – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
August 8, 1988 – A day where fingers were crossed at the UN – Secretary General Perez de Cuéllar expressed hopes that a date for a ceasefire in the almost-decade-long Iran-Iraq War would be announced by the end of the day, and that it could into affect within two weeks.
Negotiations were underway to put the final touches to an agreement fixing a ceasefire in the Gulf War. It followed the acceptance by both Iran and Iraq of direct talks between them as soon as a truce was arranged. The Security Council was working on a statement which would determine a date for the ceasefire, and details of where and when the talks would be held. In the meantime, Iran and Iraq were asked to exercise maximum restraint until the ceasefire was implemented. The hope was that all fighting would end of the day today.
The Soviet Union and Afghanistan reinforced their warnings to Pakistan over their continued support of Afghan rebels and said if they didn’t stop, they would be forced to take action. The statement came at the end of a four day visit to Kabul by Soviet Foreign Minister Shevardnadze. Mr. Shevardnadze told the Afghan News Agency that the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan was continuing on schedule with the first Soviet troops to leave the garrison at Kabul this day. Soviet withdrawal of troops from Southern Afghanistan had already been completed.
Emergency relief supplies were being flown into Sudan as continuing torrential rains have caused severed flooding. The Sudanese Capitol Khartoum had been declared a disaster area, and the government said thousands of homes had been destroyed there.
And a Yugoslav Government report said police in the southern province of Kosovo were not doing enough to protect Serbs and Montenegrins from attacks by Ethnic Albanians, who formed the majority of the population. The report said there had been 300 attacks on Serbs and Montenegrins in the past two and a half years, including attempted murder, assault and rape.
And that’s a small slice of what went on this August 8, 1988 in the world, as reported by The BBC World Service.
