TAJIK DISSIDENT REGIONS RESTIVE AGAIN.

Tajikistan’s authorities announced yesterday that unauthorized rallies were held during the preceding days in the southern town of Kurgan-Tyube and the western town Tursun-Zade. The official communique claimed that the rallies only involved "several dozen people, mostly women," and that the demands were economic rather than political, calling for higher wages and better food supplies. The Kurgan-Tyube rally also called for the release of warlord Hudja Karimov, who has not been heard from since being arrested by Dushanbe authorities last September. Representatives of the National Security, Internal Affairs, and other ministries rushed to both scenes to "explain to the people the objective reasons for the temporary difficulties." (Interfax, Itar-Tass, April 9)

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