By empty (12/15/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

A commission of Tajik railway officials, law enforcement officers, and journalists has gone to Astrakhan to help Tajik labor migrants stranded in the southern Russian city to return home. The stranded migrants appealed for help in a message that was published in the Dushanbe newspaper \"Charkh-i Gardun\" on 28 November. That message said that state air and rail booking offices were refusing to sell tickets to the migrants, and commercial sources were charging more than they could afford.

By empty (12/15/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Thousands of Azeris thronged the streets of Baku on Sunday to honour former President Haydar Aliyev, whose body was flown home to lie in state before a funeral to be attended by heads of most neighbouring states. Aliyev dominated Azerbaijan for three decades but became increasingly ill in the last year and died in a U.S.

By empty (12/12/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Uzbek President Islam Karimov said on Thursday he had appointed a new prime minister who would pay closer attention to agriculture following the country\'s lowest ever cotton harvest, its main export. Karimov told parliament in the Central Asian state that he had appointed Shavkat Mirziyavev, 46, prime minister to replace Uktir Sultanov, who would be demoted to deputy prime minister in charge of industry after eight years in the job. \"We must recognise that (Sultanov\'s) style of leadership shows a tendency towards industry,\" Karimov told parliament.