By empty (3/18/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

An unknown assailant on 18 March fired bullets at a car carrying National Cultural Autonomous Federation of Azerbaijanis in Russia leader Soyun Sadykov. Sadykov was not injured, but his driver received gunshot wounds to the shoulder and head. Sadykov is also the chairman of the Karabakh charitable fund, which assists Azerbaijani refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh.

By empty (3/17/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Following a 16-17 March meeting in Moscow of the Joint Control Commission that monitors the situation in the South Ossetian conflict zone, Georgian Minister for Conflict Resolution Giorgi Khaindrava said the two sides have signed a protocol setting specific dates for the resumption of the demilitarization process. Under an agreement signed in November 2004 by the late Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and Eduard Kokoity, president of the unrecognized Republic of South Ossetia, that process should have been completed by 20 December, but according to Khaindrava it was delayed by bad weather. It was also agreed to schedule a meeting between Kokoity and Zhvania\'s successor, Zurab Noghaideli.

By empty (3/16/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The property belonging to former leader of the Georgian province of Ajaria, Aslan Abashidze, and his close relatives has been transferred to the state\'s ownership by court bailiffs acting under an Ajarian court ruling. The property includes 105 items, among them houses, apartments, land plots, enterprises, filling stations, and other things, the Georgian Justice Ministry told Interfax. Abashidze\'s property was frozen six months ago at an Ajarian court hearing.