The round table "How Not To Be Afraid of the Militia" took place in Krasnodar on December 2, 2003. It was organized by the Fund "School of Peace", the Novorossiysk Committee on Human Rights, and the Krasnodar Club of Civil Education of the Krasnodar Regional Public Organization "Creative Union "Southern Wave".

Russian authorities have closed down Ingushetia's Aki Yurt camp, evicting some 1,500 displaced Chechens despite appeals by the UN refugee agency, which is now trying to follow up on their location and condition.

If last year there were about 150 Chechens in Czechia, now there are about 3,000 of them there. Only one positive aspect can be discerned in this cheerless picture: the large Chechen Diaspora in Europe is aimed to become a serious political force so that to influence on the situation in the homeland and to convince Western politicians and public opinion of the necessity to demand that Russia should end the bloody war.

At the 11th Ministerial Council meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Foreign Minister of Armenia Vardan Oskanian touched upon the OSCE's economic policy and organization's strategy to solve threats to security and stability in the 21st century, as well as upon documents on trafficking, the Armenian Foreign Ministry's press service informs.

The invitation by the Human Rights Center "Memorial" in Nazran to take part in the "Peace to Our Home!" action.

The Russian, French and U.S. co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group, the mission of which is to promote the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, are arriving in Baku on Thursday, December 4, informed the Azerbaijan Interior Ministry's department of information.

According to the data by UNHCR, the 29 industrialized countries covered by the UNHCR report received 321,724 asylum applications during the first nine months of the current year.

On December 3, in the morning, a window was broken in the office of the Center-point firm in the center of Tbilisi. This firm is owned by the wife of Vakhtang Rcheulishvili, Vice Speaker of the Parliament and leader of the opposition Socialist Party.

On the last day of the annual OSCE Ministerial Council in Maastricht, December 2, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian asked for the floor for the second time after the speech of his Azerbaijan colleague Vilayat Guliyev and accused the Azerbaijan Foreign Minister of telling lies.

"While meeting with official persons, I was not given the impression that they were ready to take concrete steps to solve the problems connected with the press," announced Mr. Menard.

The Alina temporary settlement center in the village of Ordzhonikidzevskaya in Ingushetia's Sunzha district was closed on December 1.

The order that the units and sub-units should go on higher state of alert was issued by high ataman of the Friendly Association of Abkhazian Cossacks Major-General Oleg Petrov in connection with the change of power in Georgia and possible large-scale armed actions against the Republic of Abkhazia.

This was a subject matter of the two-day seminar arranged by the Ministry of Justice with the assistance of the Council of Europe Office in Baku at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on December 1-2.

While meeting with deputies of the Abkhazian parliament the other day, representatives of "Amtsakhara" put a question of Vladislav Ardzinba's capability and demanded that ways should be found till mid-December to dismiss him by constitutional means and to call on a new election of the head of the self-proclaimed republic.

A conference of women was held at the assembly hall of the Cherkessk City Administration, with 333 women being participants in it.

Lyana Amanatashvili, a 39-year-old economist, and Yuri Mikirtumian, a 42-year-old engineer, submitted their applications to the Central Election Commission on Tuesday.

We call you attention to the statement made by the Centre for Protection of Conscience and Religious Freedom (DEVAMM) and the Azerbaijan Chapter of the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA) on the detention of DEVAMM leading coordinator and Secretary General of the IRLA's Azerbaijan Chapter Ilgar Ibragimoglu.

More than a month has passed since the falsified presidential election of October 15 in Azerbaijan were held, but the republic still lives in the atmosphere of repressions, arrests goes on.

Some dozens of Azerbaijan opposition activists who are serving terms for participation in the mass riots after the October 15 presidential election demand that they should be discharged.

The folklore skiffle group "Arzu" and the dance group "Djamilya" appeared at the holiday meeting.