BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

03/04/2006

Belarus's Lukashenko to be sworn in April 8

By Andrei Makhovsky

MINSK (Reuters) - Belarussian officials on Monday set a date for swearing in President Alexander Lukashenko for a new term after an earlier postponement and dismissed any notion that he was unsettled by protests over his disputed re-election.

But with the ceremony now set for April 8, there was no easing of Western pressure on Lukashenko.

His defeated opponent took allegations of vote-rigging to European Union president Austria and promised a new rally to mark Saturday's event. EU diplomats said the 25-nation bloc was set to bar entry to Lukashenko and some 30 other officials.

Diplomats in Minsk said protests had placed great stress on the 51-year-old leader, seen only once looking strained on television since acknowledging victory the day after the March 19 vote.

He failed to appear at a ceremony on Monday marking the 10th anniversary of a treaty calling for the long-term merger of Belarus and giant eastern neighbour Russia. But the president's chief of staff dismissed any speculation about his health.

"He played (ice) hockey only on Saturday," said Gennady Nevysglas. "He beat everybody by a huge score. So the state of his health is excellent."

The inauguration was announced in a one-line statement posted on his Web site www.president.gov.by.

Lukashenko won the election by a huge margin but Western observers judged the vote as unfair. A week-long opposition protest gathered numbers not before seen in the tightly-controlled ex-Soviet state, before police broke it up.

NEW PROTEST

Alexander Milinkevich, a distant second in the poll, said a new protest would be held on Saturday to denounce the inauguration at the grandiose Palace of the Republic.

"We have not yet decided on the form of the protest. I do not think that it will be a big meeting. The big meeting will take place on April 26," Milinkevich told Reuters in a brief interview after he met Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel.

"In Belarus, rumours are going round that the president's health is not good as a result of the elections. I believe that this is one of the reasons why the inauguration was postponed."

The ceremony had initially been scheduled for March 31.

Protests by the liberal and nationalist opposition have been reduced in recent years by tough legislation and police action.

But they traditionally peak on April 26, the anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster over the border in Ukraine 20 years ago, which contaminated large parts of Belarus.

Milinkevich was due to fly on to Strasbourg on Thursday for meetings at the European Parliament.

But EU diplomats decided against inviting him to an EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxemboug next week, when the ban on visas for Belarussian officials is to be decided.

The high-level invitations have nonetheless been a stinging rebuke for Lukashenko, who has dismissed Milinkevich as a troublemaker with no support inside the country of 10 million.

A former state farm boss who is fanatical about sport, Lukashenko has been in power since 1994. He is popular with millions of Belarussians who credit him with ensuring stability while other ex-Soviet republics have descended into chaos.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin also backs Lukashenko.

Hundreds of opposition supporters were arrested when police dispersed a march outside the city centre after a mass rally on March 25. Some are still in jail. Freed protesters said they had been beaten, an allegation officials deny.

Source:

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-04-03T195026Z_01_L28170446_RTRUKOC_0_UK-BELARUS.xml&archived=False