BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

24/01/2008

Council Of Europe Calls For Renewed Dialogue With Belarus

Andrea Rigoni, the special rapporteur on Belarus at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), said on January 22 that PACE should restart political dialogue with Belarus, Belapan reported. "I am against severing all contact with the Belarus authorities. As we have seen, that has no effect on the situation in the country, and simply makes it harder to get through to the people," Rigoni said at a meeting of PACE's Political Affairs Committee in Strasbourg. Natallya Andreychyk, a representative of the Belarusian legislature, said at the meeting that "Belarus shares its past with the rest of Europe and is open to dialogue." Vintsuk Vyachorka of the opposition Belarusian Popular Front told the meeting that the situation with regard to human rights and civil liberties has significantly deteriorated even since the beginning of this year. Vyachorka said that the Belarusian authorities continue to jail people for political reasons and obstruct the activities of the opposition, nongovernmental organizations, civil society, and the independent media. AM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2008/01/3-cee/cee-240108.asp

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