BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

08/04/2006

Belarus's Lukashenko sworn in for third term

By Olena Horodetska

MINSK (Reuters) - President Alexander Lukashenko took the oath of office on Saturday and told the West, which accuses him of rigging his re-election, that ex-Soviet Belarus will not fall to the "revolutionary virus".

Lukashenko belied suggestions that he had been badly rattled by unprecedented opposition protests against his landslide election victory and looked in full command during a grandiose ceremony marking the start of his third term in office.

After 12 years in power, Lukashenko faces more pressure from Western countries, the prospect of new protests and rises in the price of gas from Russia, Belarus's ally and trading partner.

He accused Belarus's European Union neighbours Poland, Lithuania and Latvia of trying to sow upheaval in his country of 10 million.

Voters, he said, wanted no part of "coloured" revolutions that propelled pro-Western leaders to power in Georgia and Ukraine.

"Unfortunately this crusade against our country is spearheaded by our neighbours, new EU recruits," Lukashenko told 3,000 dignitaries during the ceremony, broadcast live from the imposing Palace of the Republic.

"Dear politicians, please look after affairs in your own houses. Belarus has a strong immune system. Your awkward attempts to induce a revolutionary virus had the opposite effect and became an antidote to this 'coloured malaise'."

With his right hand on the constitution, he undertook to uphold the rights of Belarussians during his third term. There would be no turning back from the policies that had sustained fierce Western criticism but offered his people stability.

"As newly-elected president I want to assure you that we will not back away from the country's development strategy which has been elaborated over the past 10 years," he said.

UNEXPLAINED POSTPONEMENT

The inauguration had been due to take place on March 31 but was postponed without explanation, prompting speculation that Lukashenko had been overwhelmed by rallies up to 10,000-strong against his re-election -- large in tightly-controlled Belarus.

Dubbed "batka" or father, Lukashenko won the March 19 election with a tally of 83 percent to 6 percent to his main rival -- liberal Alexander Milinkevich. International observers say the poll was neither free nor fair.

Opposition activists camped out for four days in a tent city in October Square, focal point of Saturday's ceremonies, before police moved in and dispersed them in the dead of night.

The opposition held a low-key protest on Saturday with a small number of activists walking through the streets of Minsk sporting black ribbons on their sleeves. A bigger rally is planned later this month.

The EU, which has long accused Lukashenko of hounding opponents and closing independent media, is to approve next week a visa ban for Lukashenko and 30 top officials.

EU officials also warmly welcomed Milinkevich this week in a rebuke to Lukashenko, shunned in Western capitals.

The veteran leader deemed his rival's European tour -- and his denunciations of Lukashenko's administration -- a failure.

"You will never win the respect of the people by touring the world and criticising your own country," he said, without mentioning Milinkevich by name.

Lukashenko arrived at the ceremony in Soviet-style pomp in a cortege of police cars flanked by a seven-strong motorcycle escort hurtling down Minsk's broad but empty streets. Police tightened security and cordoned off entire districts.

Lukashenko donned a military uniform after the ceremony and strode into October Square to watch a military march past.

He promised soldiers and mainly elderly spectators waving the Soviet-style red and green national flag he restored in the 1990s that he would uphold Belarus's military prowess.

Source:

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-04-08T162728Z_01_L28170446_RTRUKOC_0_UK-BELARUS.xml