Turkmen government goes on health walk

The president of Turkmenistan, Saparmyat Niyazov, has ordered government ministers and other senior officials to turn out for a thirty-six kilometre health walk to be held next week.

In a broadcast on Turkmen television, the president said the walk would take place at the end of festivities marking the ninth anniversary of Turkmenistan's independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The route will take walkers from the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, to a nearby mountain. As part of the independence celebrations, Mr Niyazov has also announced an amnesty for almost half the country's twenty-two thousand prisoners.

It will come into effect in late December.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service