Every morning the Belarusian leader commences with the analysis of combat actions in the Persian Gulf. And then he runs some kind of a political conference.
The United Civil Party of Belarus passed a statement of protest concerning the arrest of the participants of the action, marking another jubilee of the Belarusian People’s Republic. The United Civil Party draws the attention to the fact that the less popularity is enjoyed in the country by the ruling regime, the harsher repressions follow. Violent dispersal of the participants of peaceful actions of March 12, 23 and 25 in Minsk, along with numerous prison terms testify to the fact that the regime is seeking to disguise its weakness by violence and threats, reads the UCP statement.
Within the framework of the Belarusian-Cuban relations, the Foreign Minister of Cuba Felipe Perez Roke will pay an official visit to the Republic of Belarus on March 28-31, 2003, said at the briefing the FM press-secretary Andrei Savinykh.
On February 21, the Interfax news agency quoted a top Belarusian official as saying, “Americans addressed the Belarusian authorities via the Embassy of the Netherlands with a request to grant them an air corridor to transport their arms and personnel.” The Embassy of the United States wishes to clarify that the United States Government did not, at any time, request overflight rights through Belarus, either directly or through any third-party intermediary.
Deputies of the “house of representatives” intend to condemn US and their alliance’s military actions on April 2, which will usher in the opening of the spring session of the parliament.
Trials over the participants and organizers of the March 25 action, marking BPR’s jubilee, were hosted today in the Sovietsky district court of Minsk. As a result, BPF party leader Vintsuk Vyachorka was sentenced to 10 days of arrest, while ZUBR activist Evgeny Afnagel and BPF activist Vladimir Kishkurno – to 15 days. ZUBR activist and human rights defender Dmitry Borodko, ZUBR activists Leonid Novitsky, Tatiana Elovaya and Igor Vinnikov, as well as opposition activist Oleg Korban got 5 days of jail each.
The Belarus Democracy Act was introduced on March 25, in the Senate, by Helsinki Commission Co-Chairman Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell along with Senator Joseph Biden . Sen. John McCain is also a cosponsor. The Act was drafted by vice-president of the Committee for foreign affairs of the US Congress and president of the Commission for security and cooperation in Europe, US congressman Christopher Smith. On February 13, 2003 Smith once again propelled the juridical mechanism of the Act’s passage, having read it out to the congressmen. Measures in support of the civil society in Belarus, envisaged by the document, are really impressive: in the years 2004-2005 USA will earmark 40mln dollars to the independent public forces and allocate another 5mln to amplify Belarusian broadcasting of radios “Voice of America” and “Svoboda”. In case the Belarusian authorities refuse to give up harassment of free media, investigate into the cases of politically-motivated disappearances and release all prisoners of conscience, USA will introduce their sanctions against Belarus. A range of Belarusian statesmen will be banned access to US territory, while the US will also forbid strategic export to Belarus and state donations, as well as step up measures to curtail the financial assistance of Belarus on part of the international financial institutes. The Act also sets forth to reveal to the public the real export of Belarus to the countries, which are supportive of terrorism as well as to publish data on Lukashenko and his encirclement’s property.
The majority of Minskers are turning pessimists, as shown by the outcomes of the latest opinion poll, conducted by the Minsk Institute of social-economic and political problems. Last year the researchers asked the city dwellers to evaluate their financial condition. Roughly 42% of respondents claimed that it deteriorated, while 47,5% assume that it didn’t undergo any changes over the year with 11% claiming improvement. An even greater pessimism was displayed by the surveyed, when asked to assess the perspectives for the current year. Almost every second Minsker – 46% - is waiting for aggravation of his financial condition with slightly over 18% being convinced that their welfare will increase in 2003.
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