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

Boris Yeltsin and his wife Naina arrived in Yerevan on 12 October for a six-day unofficial visit at the invitation of Armenian President Robert Kocharian, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Yeltsin participated the same day in celebrations to mark the 2,784th anniversary of the founding of the city of Yerevan and visited the Armenian Genocide monument and museum. A member of former Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrossian's entourage told RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau on 14 October on condition of anonymity that Yeltsin is likely to meet with Ter-Petrossian on 15 October, although, he claimed, Kocharian is trying hard to prevent any such meeting.

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

Some 150 relatives and friends of six Kyrgyz officials facing trial in connection with the police violence against demonstrators in Aksy in March staged a further picket of the government building in Bishkek on 11 October, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reported. They are demanding that several senior officials including the former head of the presidential staff, Amanbek Karypkulov, and former Interior Minister Temirbek Akmataliev be brought to trial for their alleged instructions to local police to open fire on the Aksy protest march. On 14 October, police dispersed a similar protest picket in Bishkek.

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

Central Asian states and Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and Azerbaijan have agreed to set up a fund to help rebuild Afghanistan. The decision came at the end of a meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) in the Turkish city of Istanbul. The meeting was held to ensure the pledges of billions of dollars in aid to Afghanistan are kept - Kabul has received much less aid this year than it had hoped for.