BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

12/10/2008

EU to ease isolation of Belarus at Monday talks

The Associated Press

BRUSSELS, Belgium: European Union nations look set to ease the isolation of Belarus on Monday, seeking to spur democratic reforms in the former Soviet republic.

The EU's 27 foreign ministers will hold talks with their Belarus counterpart, Sergei Martynov, in Luxembourg, the first high-level contact with Belarus since the EU put a ban on such meetings in 2004.

Finland and Poland are leading a push within the EU to ease sanctions against Minsk after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko eased restrictions on opposition leaders and groups.

The EU ministers are also considering a plan to suspend visa bans slapped on a number of Belarus officials provided Lukashenko moves to implement democratic reforms, including the scrapping of a restrictive media law.

An assets freeze on the officials, including Lukashenko, is expected to stay in place, however. The EU imposed sanctions on Lukashenko and top Belarus officials following several crackdowns against the opposition since 1999.

Lukashenko, who has ruled the nation of 10 million people with an iron fist since 1994, has recently signaled his intention to improve ties with the West at a time when he is arguing with Russia over energy prices.

Belarusian authorities released detained opposition figures after Western governments demanded they be freed. Belarus' government also allowed opposition candidates to take part in Sept. 28 parliamentary elections, even though none of the 70 opposition candidates won places in the 110-seat parliament and European observers concluded the elections fell short of international standards.

Monday's talks will also review sanctions against Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe moved Saturday to lay claim to key ministries despite reaching a power-sharing deal with opposition groups.

The EU is unlikely to drop any sanctions against Zimbabwe, which include travel bans and an assets freeze against Mugabe and his backers, until Mugabe the president to fully implement a September power-sharing deal. It has been deadlocked by disagreements over how to divide Cabinet posts.

The foreign ministers will also review efforts to spur peace talks between Georgia and Russia ahead of planned discussions in Geneva meant to find a lasting solution to their standoff over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who will chair Monday's talks, said Russia has only partially met its obligations under an EU-brokered cease-fire between Tbilisi and Moscow.

Kouchner, who was in Georgia on Friday, said that while Russian troops had left strips of land in Georgia outside the separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, they have yet to withdraw to positions held before the five-day war broke out Aug. 7.

EU leaders at summit talks on Wednesday and Thursday will review their ties with Russia and consider whether to restart negotiations on a new partnership agreement. Those were frozen after Russia's invasion of Georgia.

Source:

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/12/europe/EU-EU-Foreign-Ministers.php

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