By empty (4/3/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Heidar Aliev traveled to Sumgait, an industrial center northeast of Baku, on 3 April to address a session of the municipal council. Aliev harshly criticized prominent local figures, including Sumgait Mayor Tavakkul Mamedov, who has held that post since at least 1985; Fikret Sadykhov, head of the state-owned concern Azkhimiya, which is responsible for many of the city\'s industrial enterprises; and Hidir Alovlu, who heads the Sumgait branch of the ruling Yeni Azerbaycan Party. Aliev said that corrupt decisions taken during the privatization process enabled Sadykhov and businessman Tofig Huseinov to appropriate many of the city\'s businesses.

By empty (4/3/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

More details have been emerging about convoys of military equipment which have been crossing from Turkey into Iraq in the past days, destined for US forces in the region. During talks in Ankara on Wednesday, the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, won Turkish agreement for the supply of food, fuel and medicine across Turkish soil to its troops in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq - but not for weapons. They may not look like a significant contribution to the war effort, but the lines of Turkish-registered trucks driving through dusty border towns contain badly-needed vehicles for the 173rd Airborne Division of the US Army.

By empty (4/3/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

U.S. lawyer and former oil executive James Giffen, who served as an adviser to Kazakhstan\'s President Nursultan Nazarbaev, was arrested in New York on 30 March and charged with two counts of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.