During this week's meeting in Kishinev of the Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation Between Russia and Moldova, Moldovan President Mircea Snegur asked for additional fuel and power assistance from Moscow in order to avoid an expected energy crisis in Moldova this winter.

Lt. General Pavel Tarasenko, commander of Russian border troops in Tajikistan, reached an agreement this week with Afghan military officials establishing a twelve and a half mile deep buffer zone in Afghanistan, along the Tajik border. Afghan General Said Najmutdin agreed to make every effort to keep Tajik rebels out of the buffer zone.

A recent article in the official Chinese Army newspaper, Jiefangjun Bao, has called for the development of China's at-sea replenishment capabilities, to free the Navy from its coastal patrol role.

Syrian troops have recently withdrawn from long-held positions in and around Beirut and have redeployed to sites in eastern Lebanon. Syrian officials have claimed that the redeployment was carried out to allow construction projects to proceed in Beirut, but three other possibilities exist to explain the activity.

In a disturbing sideline to the escalating Syria-Israel tension, Hong Kong customs officials last weekend confiscated a record shipment of heavy arms, primarily artillery, bound from North Korea to Syria. Officials are now seeking evidence of other shipments, either in Hong Kong or already en route.

In separate recent statements, the Slovak Prime Minister, Vladimir Meciar, and the Romanian Prime Minister, Nicolae Vacaroiu, outlined the desired economic and political orientations of their respective countries for the near future. Slovakia is negotiating a free trade agreement with the Russian Federation.

Spain and France, the only members of NATO (besides Iceland, which does not have an army) that are not part of the organization's military command structure, have both recently indicated their desire to join that structure following its upcoming reorganization in December.

With a thinly veiled reference to the two countries' shared history of conflict with Germany, French President Jacques Chirac, visiting Poland last week, affirmed France's deep friendship with Poland and declared France's support of Poland's rapid admission to the European Union and NATO.

A coup attempt in Port Sudan was recently uncovered and put down in Sudan. The attempt was led by 60 officers and former officers in the Sudanese army, all members of the Beja tribe, and was coordinated with attacks by Eritrea based Beja rebels.

Saudi Arabia has resumed financial and logistic support of Eritrea in its battle with Yemen over the Hanish Islands in the Red Sea. Eritrea and Yemen had settled the dispute in May, but Eritrea reopened the conflict when it invaded one of the islands in August.