BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

09/08/2007

Belarus vows 'adequate response' to US travel ban

AFP

MINSK  Belarus promised an "adequate response" yesterday after Washington expanded a list of Belarussian officials banned from entering the United States.

"Given the United States' unilateral, groundless actions, Belarus will naturally be forced to take adequate measures in response," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, without being more specific.

On Tuesday, the United States' Embassy announced the widening of a May 2006 list of persons banned from entering the United States, in response to what it said was continued repression, notably against democracy activists.

For nearly a decade the United States has been at loggerheads with President Alexander Lukashenko's leadership.

Washington has described this ex-Soviet republic on Russia's western edge as Europe's last dictatorship.

In its statement on the widening of the ban, Belarus' foreign ministry said that "we have more than once spoken of the pointless and counterproductive nature of such decisions. Such a policy has completely exhausted itself, is a thing of the last century.

"In an era of globalisation the continued limiting of contacts by the American side is not something that can foster mutual understanding or the development of bilateral ties," the statement said.

The initial list comprised nearly 40 names including Lukashenko and others suspected of repressing human rights and committing fraud during presidential elections.

The expanded restrictions cover deputy ministers, the chief prosecutor and his deputies, interior ministry officials with a rank of lieutenant-colonel or above, the head of presidential administration and his deputies, electoral commission officials nationwide, the chair of the constitutional court, the directors of state enterprises and their deputies, the Embassy said.

The measures would also affect the spouses of the designated people, it added.

Source:

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Rest+of+the+World&month=August2007&file=World_News2007080983013.xml

Google