By empty (5/13/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Elections for a successor to pro-Moscow Chechen leader Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov, who was killed by a bomb explosion in Grozny on 9 May, will be held on 5 September, Russian agencies quoted Vladimir Yakovlev, presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District, as saying on 12 May in Rostov-na-Donu. Yakovlev added that the ballot will be financed from the central budget. In an interview published on 13 May in \"Nezavisimaya gazeta,\" Yakovlev said the choice of a new leader lies with Chechen voters; he denied that the promotion of Kadyrov\'s son Ramzan to the post of first deputy prime minister means that the Kremlin has already decided that Ramzan should succeed his father.

By empty (5/12/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Representatives of the UN Development Program presented a report on 12 May detailing advances in the fight against poverty in Kazakhstan. The report is called \"Poverty in Kazakhstan: Causes and Ways to Overcome It.\" It notes that the country\'s growing economy, which created 300,000 new jobs in 2003, is helping to reduce poverty.

By empty (5/12/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

A recent study of HIV cases in Tajik prisons discovered 52 HIV-positive prisoners in three penal colonies. Twelve of the 52 prisoners are women. The project, which focused on the prevention of AIDS in prisons, was carried out by the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation (OSIAF) and Tajikistan\'s Justice Ministry with USAID financial assistance.