By empty (7/24/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The sex-education textbook that has been in use in Kyrgyz schools for several years has been withdrawn and its author is being sued in a Bishkek court by a group called the Public Committee for Defense of the Honor and Dignity of the Kyrgyz People. The suit was filed on 22 July against author Boris Shapiro, head of the national AIDS center and president of the Jewish Culture Society; two of his co-authors, Gulnara Kurmanova and Larisa Bashmakova; and the publishing house that produced the book. According to the plaintiff, who is demanding \"compensation\" of $1 million, the book violates the mentality, traditions, and customs of the Kyrgyz people.

By empty (7/24/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Military exercises involving Kazakh, British, and U.S. troops ended in Almaty Oblast on 24 July, khabar.

By empty (7/25/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

During a visit to Tajikistan on 22-24 July, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Rolf Ekeus met with senior government officials including President Imomali Rakhmonov, Tajik parliament upper house Chairman Makhmadsaid Ubaidulloev, and Education Minister Safarali Radzhabov, as well as with representatives of the country\'s national minorities and nongovernmental organizations, to assess the state of interethnic relations in the country. In accord with his office\'s mandate, Ekeus focused particularly on the availability of education for minorities, the use of minority languages, and the opportunities for non-Tajiks to participate in the country\'s political life. Rakhmonov sought to convince Ekeus that Tajikistan has made great progress in integrating ethnic minorities.