By empty (10/14/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The Georgian authorities have launched a criminal investigation into an electricity blackout which caused the cancellation of a European Championship qualifier between Russia and Georgia on Saturday. The lights of Tbilisi's new Lokomotiv stadium first went out in the 40th minute, then came back on, but went out again during half time, with the score standing at 0-0. Georgian Interior Minister Koba Narchemashvili said the investigation would consider the possibility of sabotage.

By empty (10/14/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Shevardnadze and Georgian Patriarch Ilia II signed a constitutional agreement between the state and the Georgian Orthodox Church at the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta on 14 October. The document confirms the church's ownership of all churches and monasteries on Georgian territory except for those now privately owned, and acknowledges and pledges to recompense at least part of the material damage inflicted on the church since the loss of autocephaly in 1811. Georgia has still not passed legislation on religion, although a draft bill on the subject was reported to have been completed last month.

By empty (10/15/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

At separate ceremonies in Vladikavkaz and Magas on 11 October, the presidents of North Ossetia and Ingushetia, Aleksandr Dzasokhov and Murat Zyazikov, signed two documents intended to "mark the beginning of a new stage" in bilateral relations and to draw a line under the interethnic clashes of October 1992, during which some 700 people were killed and between 35,000-65,000 Ingush fled or were forcibly expelled from North Ossetia. An "Agreement on the Development of Cooperation and Good-Neighborly Relations" obliges both sides to adopt necessary measures to eliminate the consequences of those clashes, including expediting the repatriation of the displaced Ingush, preventing the formation of illegal armed or separatist groups, and establishing mechanisms for consultation to prevent the emergence and escalation of new tensions. The agreement, which exists only in Russian, also stresses the commitment of both republics to peace throughout the North Caucasus and to preserving the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation.