BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

07/06/2006

EU vows to keep pressuring Belarus

The European Union have vowed to keep up pressure on Belarus, and EU leaders and legislators gave a warm welcome to the former Soviet republic's main opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich.

The EU, which has branded Belarus's March 19 presidential polls as rigged and condemned the arrests of hundreds of opposition protesters, is set on Monday to ban President Alexander Lukashenko and about 30 aides from entering the bloc.

A draft resolution to go before the European parliament on Thursday will call for sanctions against firms linked to the Minsk government, but diplomats said EU foreign ministers due to meet on April 10 would opt to deliver a warning to Lukashenko.

Milinkevich called for hundreds more officials to be put on the list of banned people and urged countries not to recognise the Minsk government, but argued against economic sanctions.

"Our view ... is that economic sanctions tend to hit the people in the street rather than the regime, and they're not very effective," Milinkevich told a news conference.

Lukashenko's re-election has put Russia and the West - the United States has branded the Belarus leader as the last dictator in Europe - sharply at odds.

Accusations

The draft criticises Russia for an "irresponsible attitude" in supporting Lukashenko, but on Wednesday Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov renewed Moscow's accusations that the EU was trying to isolate Belarus.

"These questions (about Belarus) should be addressed in a dialogue, and not through attempts to isolate a country," Lavrov told a news conference in the Slovak capital Bratislava.

Milinkevich attended a European parliament debate at which some legislators wore red-and-white scarves with the logo "Solidarity with Belarus". In a further show of support, some spectators wore Santa Claus outfits.

Red and white was the colour of the Belarus flag banned by Lukashenko during a drive to reinstate Soviet-era symbols.

Belarus has said the elections were free and fair and that the arrests were necessary. It says about 600 people were sentenced to up to 15 days in jail for breaking the law and taking part in banned opposition rallies.

"We ... need to keep the pressure on the Belarus government," Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, told reporters.

Lukashenko is due to be inaugurated on Saturday after the original ceremony was postponed, prompting speculation unprecedented opposition street protests in the tightly run country had rattled him.

Milinkevich, nearest rival to Lukashenko in the elections, was applauded by EU legislators.

"We are impressed by his courage," said the parliament's president, Josep Borrell.

Source:

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411366/696084