BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

13/10/2008

EU eases sanctions against top Belarus officials

LUXEMBOURG (AP) - The European Union has temporarily lifted a travel ban on the president of Belarus, a country regarded as Europe's last dictatorship, as relations with the country start to thaw, according to diplomats.

The move comes as relations between the European Union and Russia are strained over Russia's war with Georgia in August.

The Kremlin has objected to steps other former Soviet republics in the region have taken to move closer to the West, but it is unlikely EU-Belarus relations will soon warm to the extent that it becomes a problem for Moscow.

EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said earlier that geopolitical issues were at stake in the relations with Belarus. The EU's primary goal, however, was for Belarus to improve human rights and institute democratic reforms, she said.

"We have to show that progress is being rewarded,> Ferrero-Waldner said. "For them to do something, we also have to do something.

The EU had imposed sanctions on Belarus' authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, and other high Belarusian officials in 1999 after several crackdowns on the political opposition. The travel ban covered 41 people in all.

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.

Monday's EU decision leaves travel bans in place against six people, including Central Election Commission chief Lidiya Yermoshina and Interior Minister Vladimir Naumov, who were involved in a 1999-2000 crackdown against opposition groups and disappearances of four notable opposition leaders.

The decision was made by the 27 EU foreign ministers after Ferrero-Waldner held talks with Belarusian Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov _ the first high-level talks between the EU and Belarus in four years. Ferrero-Waldner said she wanted to limit the ban to those directly implicated in human rights violations and disappearances.

The Russian Government would prefer to keep Belarus as a close partner, without much EU influence. But lifting the travel ban was not expected by itself to raise too many hackles in the Kremlin.

EU member Finland holds the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. In that capacity, Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb has been calling for better cooperation.

"Things are improving, but they are far, far, far from perfect,> Stubb said Monday.

He said it was too early to unfreeze the assets of a number of top Belarus officials, including Lukashenko.

Belarusian authorities recently freed detained opposition figures after Western governments demanded they be released from prison.

Belarus' government also allowed opposition candidates to take part in Sept. 28 parliamentary elections.None of the 70 opposition candidates won places in the 110-seat Parliament, though, and European observers said the elections fell short of international standards.

"They need to fulfill standards of democracy; they need to remove the death penalty; they need to focus on human rights, and let's get going from an empty page from that,> Stubb said.

The EU also dropped a travel ban on Uzbek officials imposed after a bloody crackdown on an uprising in 2005, saying the central Asian country had made some progress in improving human rights.

The ministers based their decision on the recent release of human rights activists, including Mutabar Tojibaeva, a vocal critic of the government's bloody crackdown during the 2005 uprising in an eastern Uzbek city.

Source:

http://www.pr-inside.com/eu-eases-sanctions-against-top-belarus-r857693.htm

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