By empty (4/12/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

In an April 11 interview with Trend news agency, Azerbaijani presidential-administration official Ali Gasanov argued that unless the OSCE Minsk Group is prepared to exert pressure on Armenia to agree to a settlement of the Karabakh conflict on terms acceptable to Baku, there is no point in it continuing its efforts to mediate a settlement. Also on April 11, Minsk Group French co-Chairman Bernard Fassier advised Azerbaijan to stop looking backward to the past and focus instead on reenergizing the flagging peace process. Fassier expressed concern at the upsurge in cease-fire violations since the inconclusive meeting outside Paris in February between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents, and at the use by both sides of belligerent rhetoric.

By empty (4/12/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

US forces in Afghanistan are checking reports that stolen computer hardware containing military secrets is being sold at a market beside a big US base. Shopkeepers at a market next to Bagram base, outside Kabul, have been selling memory drives stolen from the facility, the Los Angeles Times newspaper says. The disks reportedly contain personal details about US soldiers, military defences and lists of enemy targets.

By empty (4/11/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres briefed journalists in Moscow on April 11 on his visit to Chechnya and Ingushetia. Noting with approval the pace of reconstruction in Chechnya and ongoing efforts to restore law and order, he said he hopes the security situation will improve to the point that the UN agency will be able to open an office in Chechnya. Guterres said that of the $88 million his agency provides annually for relief in the North Caucasus, 80 percent goes to Chechnya, but he added that those funds are no substitute for a large-scale Russian government development program for the region.