BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

17/01/2007

Senior Western diplomat travels to Belarus as local elections condemned by EU

The Associated Press

STRASBOURG, France: A senior member of the Council of Europe planned to travel to Belarus on Thursday, a rare visit by a Western diplomat, as loyalists of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko appeared to have swept local elections condemned by the EU and the U.S. as undemocratic.

Dutch senator Rene van der Linden, who chairs the council's Parliamentary Assembly, planned to meet Foreign Minister Sergey Martynov, the speakers of the two houses of Belarus' parliament and dissidents and NGOS during his three-day trip that took a year to organize.

Belarus - the only European country that is not a member of the 46-nation Council of Europe - does not readily grant visas to Western politicians. Van der Linden said Russia was instrumental in helping him secure an invitation to Minsk.

"It was my condition to meet the foreign minister and the speakers of the two chambers of the parliament. (The Belarusians) have fulfilled the condition. I will now relay to them our concerns," Van der Linden said.

Lukashenko, appears to have extended his grip over the ex-Soviet nation after Sunday's local elections.

About 300 opposition members took part in the election, but about 100 of them withdrew before the voting, predicting widespread falsification in the vote held under close state control. Under Lukashenko's authoritarian rule, television is under state control and few independent media are allowed.

European Union External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said there was "a blatant lack of democratic pluralism" in the elections.

The EU slapped a visa ban on the president and other top Belarusian officials after he won a third term in office last March, but the council is trying to engage Belarusian leaders in a debate about democracy, arguing that isolating the country would lead to a further strengthening of the rule of Lukashenko, considered Europe's last dictator.

"A dialogue is needed. You won't win citizens over by isolating them," Van der Linden said. He added, however, that would not soften his criticism when he was face-to-face with top Belarusian officials.

"I will not pay this price for getting the visa. I will remain independent," he said.

Belarus remains outside the Council of Europe, the continent's leading human rights watchdog, because it does not fulfill basic membership requirements, such as the rule of law.

Source:

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/17/europe/EU-GEN-Council-of-Europe-Belarus.php

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