A desert country ruled by a virtual dictatorship, Turkmenistan has drawn international interest for one reason: its enormous oil and natural gas deposits.

Turkmenistan sits in central Asia, bordering the oil-rich Caspian sea to the west, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to the north, and Iran and Afghanistan to the south and west. With only 3 percent of its land - a territory slightly larger than California - suitable for farming, the predominantly Muslim nation's economy is centered around oil and natural gas. Since achieving independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the country has remained stable under the autocratic rule of President Saparmurat Niyazov, but has seen its economy contract sharply. Much of the nation's history involves exploitation by despots; so much so that the 66 years it spent as part of the Soviet Union were a period of relative prosperity. Even if the nation meets economic growth targets in 2001, however, GDP will still be only 59 percent of pre-independence levels. Turkmenistan has been reluctant to line up with regional alliances. Its leaders have been feuding for years with neighboring countries over control of oil deposits below the Caspian Sea. Recently, international aid groups have warned of a growing AIDS problem among Turkmenistan's 4.5 million inhabitants, as well as in the surrounding countries of Central Asia.