BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
Wednesday, January 4, 2006
U.S. Warns Belarus It Must Change Its Ways
By BARRY SCHWEID
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Lashing out at censorship and other restrictions in Belarus, the Bush administration on Wednesday told officials in the former Soviet republic that they must end authoritarian rule or risk isolation.
At a State Department news conference, U.S. Ambassador George Krol said the Belarus government "knows it will not be able to enjoy a robust relationship with the United States and Europe if it maintains this kind of system."
With presidential elections scheduled for March 19, Krol depicted the government of President Alexander Lukashenko, who is seeking a third term, as denying political opponents access to most of the media and maintaining a "sense of insecurity and fear."
Critics of the government are mindful that "if you say something it will be seen as a critical act," Krol said.
Five opposition leaders are imprisoned; four opponents have vanished.
Ahead of the election campaign, the Belarus parliament passed a law making it a crime to discredit the state.
Krol said there was a "very dismal scenario" leading up to the elections. "Alternative views are not given the opportunity to be presented," he said.
In Minsk, the capital, Krol said, "I say these things, but state media generally do not put it on the air there."
Asked if Belarus would go the revolutionary way of Georgia and Ukraine, two other former Soviet republics that have evolved from authoritarian rule, Krol did not hazard a guess.
"It is in the hands of the Belarusian people," he said.
Source:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/04/AR2006010401289.html
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