By empty (5/24/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Speaking at the opening of Turkmenistan\'s first paper mill on 21 May, President Niyazov insisted that no one in the country is persecuted or has been imprisoned because of his political convictions. He also told members of the diplomatic corps attending the opening ceremony in the village of Yashlyk, about 45 kilometers east of Ashgabat, that petty crime is almost nonexistent in Turkmenistan, and that all levels of the population, public organizations, trade unions, workers, and civil servants are united around one goal -- the protection of the homeland and its development. He cited the absence of serious crime such as murder and theft as proof that the lives of the people have improved.

By empty (5/24/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

President Akaev asked during a 24 May meeting in Bishkek with U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Lynn Pascoe that the U.

By empty (5/23/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Parliamentary elections were held on 23 May in Georgia\'s breakaway, unrecognized Republic of South Ossetia. Preliminary returns show that the Unity Party of President Eduard Kokoity won a majority of 30 seats, half of which are distributed under the party list system and half in single-mandate constituencies. Four of the latter seats were reserved for the republic\'s Georgian population, but voting took place in only five predominantly Georgian-populated villages.