By empty (7/11/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Daghestan\'s Interior Minister Adilgirey Magomedtagirov told journalists in Makhachkala on 11 July that the so-called Shariat Djamaat group of militants is responsible for the murders of Nationality Policy, Information, and External Ties Minister Zagir Arukhov in May and of political commentator Zagid Varisov on 5 July, and for the 1 July bomb attack in Makhachkala that killed 10 Russian servicemen. Shariat Djamaat was headed by Rasul Makarsharipov, who was killed in a shootout with police in Makhachkala last week. Also on 11 July, police in Daghestan apprehended another member of Shariat Djamaat.

By empty (7/11/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Roger Robinson, head of the World Bank\'s Yerevan office, expressed concern over the reported acquisition by Russia\'s state-run Unified Energy Systems (EES) of the Armenian Energy Network (AEN), RFE/RL\'s Armenian Service reported on 8 July. News of the alleged sale of AEN -- which the Canadian-owned Midlands Resources holding company acquired for $40 million in September 2002 -- to EES for $73 million surfaced late last month, but a spokeswoman for AEN rejected them, explaining that AEN has simply signed a management agreement with EES. But an announcement posted on the EES website on 7 July confirmed that an EES subsidiary has acquired AEN.

By empty (7/11/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The U.S. Embassy in Tajikistan has issued a statement in response to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization\'s recent call for a timeline for the withdrawal of U.