Belarusian president says no to Western mediators (03/19/00)

Belarusian president says no to Western mediators

by Askold Krushelnycky
RFE/RL Newsline

PRAGUE - The latest attempt by European multilateral organizations to persuade President Alyaksandr Lukashenka of Belarus to adopt more democratic practices has again demonstrated how contemptuous the authoritarian leader has become of international efforts to influence him.

A tripartite delegation of representatives from the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) recently was in Belarus on a three-day visit. The delegation met with both Mr. Lukashenka and members of the Belarusian opposition whom he has been trying to squeeze out of the country's political life. It sought not only to encourage dialogue between the opposition and the government, but also to secure Mr. Lukashenka's agreement to hold democratic parliamentary elections in October and allow the opposition press to operate freely.

It failed to achieve any of these aims, however.

The representatives from the three European organizations had hoped to build on the OSCE's work eight months earlier. The 54-state organization had reached an agreement with President Lukashenka allowing it to mediate talks between his government and the opposition, and advise on organizing elections that would be recognized as free and fair by the international community.

Many Western countries do not recognize Belarus's current Parliament, which Mr. Lukashenka filled with obedient supporters in 1996 after amending the Constitution and dissolving an elected and troublesome Parliament. Belarusian opposition leaders - many of them members of the former Parliament - say Mr. Lukashenka, who was elected president in 1994, has stayed in power illegally beyond his term, which expired last July.

On the eve of the delegation's visit, the Belarus monitoring association Vyasna issued a report saying that the country's human rights situation had worsened last year, as many members of the opposition were either jailed or simply disappeared. Vyasna also said the regime had routinely harassed and arrested opposition protesters.

As if to illustrate that point, just hours before the delegation arrived, police arrested three protesters who demanded that the government explain what happened to opposition figures who had disappeared. Those figures include opposition leader Viktar Hanchar, former Internal Affairs Minister Gen. Yurii Zakharanka and Hanchar's friend, publisher Anatol Krasouski.

In the days before the European groups' arrival, Mr. Lukashenka himself sent overtly negative signals about their visit. He said that his country does not need outside mediation and that, in any case, he wants to hold what he called "broad" talks with a representative spectrum of Belarusian society.

Without consulting the opposition, Mr. Lukashenka also changed the rules for the upcoming elections in a manner that opposition spokesmen say is designed to diminish their chances of winning seats.

In his meeting with the European delegation, Mr. Lukashenka said the same things - and more. He made clear that he does not regard the opposition as part of any broad spectrum of national society. He did say that he would talk to the opposition, but not with the help of outside mediators.

Also, President Lukashenka indignantly told the delegation that Belarus has a good human rights record and that the elections will be conducted in keeping with the highest international standards. He added that he sees no need for the OSCE, which maintains a mission office in Miensk, to remain in the country.

After the meeting, the European delegation issued a statement that expressed "shock [at the] the derailment of the negotiation process that was begun last year [by the OSCE]." The group urged the government to re-open talks with the opposition and ensure equal electoral opportunities, including media access for the opposition.

The head of the OSCE mission in Miensk, Hans-Georg Wieck said later he had pointed out to President Lukashenka that the Belarusian president had agreed to an OSCE presence in Miensk "for advice and consent" and that this is the basis of the OSCE's presence in the Belarusian capital. The government, he added, no longer wants something that it had agreed to and implemented eight months ago, "namely the OSCE aegis for negotiations between government and opposition."

Mr. Wieck said that although the OSCE's mediation role between the government and the opposition is now no longer feasible, the mission will stay on to monitor the preparations for and the holding of parliamentary elections in October. He urged the opposition to explore whether the kind of talks Mr. Lukashenka has offered will be serious. And he warned that if the elections are not fair, they will not be internationally recognized.

If preparations for the elections continue as they have begun, it seems those elections will not be fair. President Lukashenka, for his part, has given no indication that he will halt the crackdown on political dissent.

Askold Krushelnycky is an RFE/RL correspondent based in Prague.

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