BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

06/04/2006

EU calls for sanctions against Lukashenko, refuses to call him president

STRASBOURG, France (AP) - The European Parliament urged EU governments Thursday not to recognize Alexander Lukashenko as Belarusian president and called for travel bans on representatives of local, regional and national authorities involved in human rights violations in the ex-Soviet republic.

Stepping up pressure on the EU member states before they are to decide on measures against Lukashenko's regime next week, the Parliament called for sanctions and the freezing of assets belonging to Lukashenko and his advisers abroad.

In a strongly worded resolution, EU legislators also slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian parliament for responding positively to Lukashenko's re-election in the March 19 presidential vote.

"The effectiveness of EU policies towards Belarus is undermined by the irresponsible attitude of the Moscow authorities, who are lending decisive support to the last dictatorship in Europe," said the non-binding resolution, which is used as a form of political pressure on EU governments. It comes before an April 10-11 foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg, where Belarus will be discussed.

Lukashenko won 83 per cent of the vote and a third consecutive term in last month's elections, declared by the EU and the United States to be undemocratic and fraudulent. Opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich won 6.1 of the vote.

Milinkevich, attending this week's plenary session of the European Parliament as a guest, was forced to check into the assembly's medical room Thursday after suffering from fatigue following months of non-stop campaigning and travelling.

"Nothing happened. I was tired. They asked me to rest, something I haven't done in months," Milinkevich said after emerging from the medical room. He said he was not forced to alter his program for the rest of the week, which includes a visit to Berlin.

Source:

http://www3.cjad.com/content/cp_article.asp?id=/global_feeds/CanadianPress/WorldNews/w040623A.htm