BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

09/04/2006

Belarus Leader Takes Oath, Attacking the West

By REUTERS

MINSK, Belarus, April 8 (Reuters) - President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko took the oath of office for a third time on Saturday and told the West, which accuses him of rigging his re-election, that Belarus would not fall to the "revolutionary virus" that has struck other former Soviet states.

Unprecedented opposition protests greeted his March 19 landslide election victory, and there were reports that the delay of the original inauguration date of March 31 was the reaction of a shocked Mr. Lukashenko.

But he looked in full command during the ceremony, attended by 3,000 dignitaries and broadcast live from the Palace of the Republic.

After 12 years in power, Mr. Lukashenko faces more pressure from the West, the prospect of new protests and price increases for gas from Russia, Belarus's ally.

He accused Belarus's European Union neighbors Poland, Lithuania and Latvia of trying to sow upheaval in his country of 10 million.

Voters, he said, wanted no part of the "colored" revolutions that propelled pro-Western leaders to power in Georgia and Ukraine.

"Unfortunately this crusade against our country is spearheaded by our neighbors, new E.U. recruits," Mr. Lukashenko said, referring to the European Union.

"Dear politicians, please look after affairs in your own houses," he said. "Belarus has a strong immune system. Your awkward attempts to induce a revolutionary virus had the opposite effect and became an antidote to this 'colored malaise.' "

Mr. Lukashenko put on a military uniform after the ceremony and strode into October Square to watch a military march.

The opposition held a low-key protest with a small number of activists walking through Minsk, the capital, with black ribbons on their sleeves.

Source:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/world/09belarus.html