By empty (9/10/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

More than 100 convicts were on the run in the former Soviet republic of Georgia Wednesday night after a mass breakout from a prison in which two guards were shot dead, the justice minister said. Roland Giligashvili said a total of 128 prisoners escaped from Rustavi prison some 15 miles south of the capital Tbilisi, though nine were quickly recaptured. Interfax news agency quoted separate justice ministry sources as saying the prisoners had been helped on the outside by armed accomplices.

By empty (9/9/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Members of the opposition Artarutiun (Justice) bloc ended their boycott of parliamentary proceedings and attended the opening session of the Armenian parliament on 8 September, RFE/RL\'s Yerevan bureau and Yerkir reported. Artarutyun, which is led by Stepan Demirchian, and Artashes Geghamian\'s National Unity Party refused to attend the opening sessions of the new legislature in June to protest the contested May 2003 parliamentary election. Artarutyun deputy Victor Dallakian on 8 September presented the opposition bloc\'s legislative agenda, which includes measures to protect low-income families against utility-rates increases and providing their schoolchildren with free textbooks.

By empty (9/8/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Four pro-government political parties in Kyrgyzstan -- Jany Zaman (New Times), Manas El, Jany Kyymyl (New Movement), and the Party of Cooperators – have merged under the name Alga, Kyrgyzstan (Forward, Kyrgyzstan). The chairman of the new party\'s political council is Bolot Begaliev, who formerly headed Jany Zaman. He told a news conference that the name of the party was determined at a recent congress at which the merger of the four parties was agreed upon.