More than 1500 people took part at regional conferences for the nomination of delegates to the National Congress of Democratic Forces. Nomination results were summed up at the session of the organizational committee in Minsk on July 11. Conferences were held in 42 regions and 72 delegates were elected to the Congress. According to the Chair of Organizational Committee Alexander Buhvostov, 8 conferences were recognized illegitimate for the reason of violation of organization procedure. Not a single regional conference was suppressed by the administration – despite the fact that authorities are actively trying to prevent the organization of conferences.

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Belarus, a country contaminated by the disastrous 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident, continues to be systematically poisoned by an oppressive government led by strongman Alexander Lukashenka. Visiting Vilnius, Lithuania in April to attend a NATO foreign ministers conference, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice noted Washington’s growing frustration with Lukashenka’s anti-democracy stance by saying, “Belarus is really the last dictatorship in the center of Europe, and its time for a change.”

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“Today when the country has to deal with the pressure from abroad the goal of the Communist Party is to pursue an ideological work. We intend to support the local authorities in these issues and openly declare that we will support the head of state at the next presidential elections”, leader of the Communist Party of Belarus, deputy of the Chamber of Representatives Tatiana Golubeva said in an interview with a correspondent of BelTA. These issues will be discussed at the special conference of the Communist Party of Belarus in October, she informed.

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Belarus considers Egypt to be one of its key partners in the Middle East and Northern Africa, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of this republic to the Arab Republic of Egypt Sergei Mikhnevich told a correspondent of BelTA.

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In 2005 Belarus intends to supply about 500 tractors to the Egyptian market, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of this republic to the Arab Republic of Egypt Sergei Mikhnevich told a correspondent of BelTA.

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