By empty (2/23/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The NATO Disaster Response Coordination Center intends to conduct civil-emergency exercises in the Uzbek part of the Ferghana Valley in April under the name \"Fergana-2003.\" The head of the NATO Center told Uzbek Television that about 14 countries will take part in the exercises, which are to focus on developing cooperation in dealing with emergency situations specific to the region. The exercises are part of the Partnership for Peace program, to which all the Central Asian states now belong.

By empty (2/22/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkmenistan on Saturday invited India to join their US$3.2-billion natural gas pipeline project, indicating the plan would not be economically viable without New Delhi\'s participation, officials said on Saturday. The offer to India came after talks in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, between Turkmenistan\'s Deputy Prime Minister Yully Qurbanmuradov, Afghan Petroleum and Mines Minister Juma Mohammad Mohammadi and Pakistan\'s Petroleum Minister Nauraiz Shakoor.

By empty (2/21/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Tens of thousands of Azerbaijanis rallied in the capital Friday to mourn the anniversary of a notorious attack in the Nagorno-Karabakh war and to demand the attack be considered genocide. The rally, estimated at between 20,000 and 60,000 participants, underlined the deep tensions with neighboring Armenia even though fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, ended in 1994. Azerbaijani authorities say 613 Azerbaijanis were killed when Armenian troops rushed into the village of Khodzhaly on Feb.