of Yugoslavia: The UN Security Council unanimously adopts a resolution opening the way to the establishment of peacekeeping operations in Yugoslavia. December December 1 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Ukrainians vote overwhelmingly for independence from the Soviet Union in a referendum. December 4 Lebanon Hostage Crisis: Journalist Terry A. Anderson is released after seven years of captivity as a hostage in Beirut – the last and longest-held American hostage in Lebanon. John Leonard Orr, one of the most prolific serial arsonists of the 20th century, is arrested in California. December 8 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: In the Białowieża Forest Nature Reserve in Belarus, the leaders of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine sign an agreement officially ending the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in its place. December 11 – Dissolution of Yugoslavia: Croatian forces kill 18 Serbs and one Hungarian in the village of Paulin Dvor, Croatia. December 12 The government of Nigeria moves the capital from Lagos to Abuja. Ukraine becomes the first post-Soviet republic to decriminalize homosexuality. December 15 – The Egyptian ferry sinks in the Red Sea, killing more than 450 people. December 16 – The UN General Assembly adopts UN General Assembly Resolution 46/86, repealing a previous resolution adopted in 1975 which had ruled that Zionism is a form of racism. December 19 Paul Keating defeats Bob Hawke in a Labor Party leadership ballot and consequently becomes the Prime Minister of Australia; he is sworn in the following day. Skarnsund Bridge opens in Norway, becoming the world's longest cable-stayed bridge for two years with a span of . December 21 – The North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NAC-C) meets for the first time. December 22 – Armed opposition groups launch a military coup against President of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia. December 24 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Russian SFSR President Boris Yeltsin sends a letter to UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, declaring that Russia will be the succeeding country to the collapsing Soviet Union in the United Nations. December 25 Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the Soviet Union, from which most republics have already seceded, anticipating the dissolving of the 69-year-old state. The Russian SFSR officially renames itself the Russian Federation. December 26 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The Supreme Soviet meets for the last time, formally dissolves the Soviet Union, and adjourns