By empty (5/6/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Jean-Pierre Job held talks in Bishkek on 3-4 May with Defense Minister Esen Topoev and other senior Kyrgyz officials, RFE/RL\'s Bishkek bureau reported. Job also visited the Manas air base near the capital where France has deployed six Mirage fighters engaged in the antiterrorism campaign in Afghanistan. Topoev told journalists on 4 May that agreement has been reached that France will train Kyrgyz pilots and will provide unspecified technical support for the Kyrgyz armed forces.

By empty (5/6/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Karamyrza Kalmyrzaev, who is a member of the state commission created to investigate the clashes between police and demonstrators in Djalalabad Oblast\'s Aksy Raion on 17-18 March in which six people died, told RFE/RL\'s Bishkek bureau on 4 May that during its session on 2-3 May the commission was unable to reach agreement over who was responsible for the bloodshed. The pro-government commission members argue that responsibility rests with local officials, while opposition members and representatives of the local population say that senior state officials who gave orders for the police to open fire should also be punished. The commission will convene again on 13 May.

By empty (5/6/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Environment Minister Hussein Bagirov denied on 6 May that the development of Azerbaijan\'s offshore Caspian oil fields is a major source of pollution of that sea. He said that 85-90 percent of pollution is caused by waste products from large rivers that flow into the Caspian, in particular the Volga and the Kura, which flows from Armenia via Georgia into Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani officials last month blamed Armenia for high levels of pollution in the Kura, but later rejected an Armenian proposal for joint monitoring of the pollution level.