Nambaryn Enkhbayar

Mongolian President Nambaryn Enkhbayar is the leader of a small nation bordered by two powerful neighbors, Russia to the north and China to the south. Enkhbayar, whose name means "Peaceful Joy," is also a Buddhist and a man of letters who has translated sacred texts into his native language. He said Buddhism has much to teach the world about how to live together in peace in the 21st century. "The goal of a Buddhist is to perfect yourself," said Enkhbayar, whose country is mostly Buddhist.

ULAN BATOR, Mongolia - The man who was once the most powerful person in Mongolia lies in a hospital bed recovering from a hunger strike, the late afternoon sun falling across his sunken face. Mongolia's parliamentary elections are scheduled Thursday, but former President Nambaryn Enkhbayar will not be on the ballot. He is being tried on five counts of corruption, a case he charges was engineered by the current president. "The present authorities are scared of me," he said in fluent English, his voice grave.

ULAN BATOR, Mongolia - The man who was once the most powerful person in Mongolia lies in a hospital bed recovering from a hunger strike, the late afternoon sun falling across his sunken face. Mongolia's parliamentary elections are scheduled Thursday, but former President Nambaryn Enkhbayar will not be on the ballot. He is being tried on five counts of corruption, a case he charges was engineered by the current president. "The present authorities are scared of me," he said in fluent English, his voice grave.

Mongolian President Nambaryn Enkhbayar is the leader of a small nation bordered by two powerful neighbors, Russia to the north and China to the south. Enkhbayar, whose name means "Peaceful Joy," is also a Buddhist and a man of letters who has translated sacred texts into his native language. He said Buddhism has much to teach the world about how to live together in peace in the 21st century. "The goal of a Buddhist is to perfect yourself," said Enkhbayar, whose country is mostly Buddhist.

Mongolian President Nambaryn Enkhbayar declared a four-day state of emergency in the capital, Ulan Bator, early today after protesters clashed with police and stormed the headquarters of the ruling party, alleging fraud in weekend parliamentary elections. Enkhbayar's decree allows police to use force in dealing with thousands of rock-throwing protesters who mobbed the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party headquarters Tuesday and set it on fire. The crowd had not dispersed by nightfall, despite repeated volleys of tear gas, rubber bullets and jets of water.

Frustrated with painful reform and disgusted with government corruption, Mongolians have turned to the political force that represents the stability they long for: the former communists. But the overwhelming victory of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party over the reformist government in Sunday's parliamentary elections won't mean a return to Soviet-style economics, party leaders said.

A candidate from Mongolia's former Communist Party won the presidency in an election Sunday that drew nomadic herders on horseback to polling stations across the country's vast steppe. The Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, the former Communist party now known as MPRP, was voted out in 1996 but reelected in 2000, and appears to be maintaining its popularity.

The capital of Mongolia remained under a state of emergency Wednesday after five people were killed in postelection violence amid allegations of voter fraud. The crisis erupted late Tuesday when several thousand protesters associated with the opposition Democratic Party clashed with police in Ulan Bator and set fire to the headquarters of the ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, according to news reports and witnesses. Preliminary results from the weekend elections suggested the ruling party won 46 of the parliament's 76 seats and the opposition garnered 27, with three still undecided.

Calling the U.S. and this emerging democracy "brothers in the cause of freedom," President Bush on Monday capped a weeklong Asian tour with a highly symbolic visit to a strategically placed ally. Bush's journey to Mongolia, with its potholed streets and rundown Soviet-era architecture, lasted just five hours. But it was long enough to make a statement of U.S.