DUSHANBE, February 8, 2011  -- Fourteen Tajik students studying at Egyptian universities have left Egypt over the past weekends on their own initiative after informing the Tajik Embassy in Cairo about that, according to the Tajik MFA information department.

Davlat Nazriyev, a spokesman for Tajik MFA, says they have been put o the list of persons wanting to leave Egypt.  “Following the ongoing unrest, Egyptian higher educational institutions have announced holidays and some of these students flew to Istanbul, Moscow and Dubai and part of them have returned home,” the spokesman said.

We will recall that 17 Tajik public servants that were taking training course in Cairo returned home on a transit flight via Istanbul on February 3.

In the meantime, BBC reported on February 7 that while banks have reopened, schools and the stock exchange remain closed, and an important government building has been prevented from opening by protesters.  On Monday, resumption of business at the stock exchange was postponed for 24 hours, as the government attempted to sell US$2.5bn in short-term debt, after the cancellation of auctions last week.  It is seeking to revive an economy said to be losing at least US$310 million a day.

As the crisis has entered its third week, ordinary people are worried that prices for ordinary goods like bread have risen sharply, and show no signs of coming back down.

Talks on Sunday between the Egyptian government and opposition groups on tackling the country''s political crisis failed to end the protests.  The stand-off has paralyzed the country and left some 300 people dead.