BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

25/04/2006

Belarus opposition leader alleges authorities block foreign help to recover from Chernobyl

GOMEL, Belarus (AP) - Opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich accused Belarusian authorities on Tuesday of obstructing foreign countries' offers to help Belarus overcome the consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Milinkevich made the comments at a clandestine, opposition-organized conference on Chernobyl in Gomel, the nearest Belarusian city to the nuclear reactor that exploded 20 years ago Wednesday. Authorities in Gomel refused the opposition's application to hold the conference in any public hall in the city.

The conference was held in a small house that also serves as a makeshift office for the opposition. In the house's backyard, netting is strung between trees to block what the opposition says is a KGB surveillance camera in a black box on a neighboring rooftop.

Milinkevich, who has made several visits to Western countries since being defeated in last month's presidential elections, said officials he meets with overseas frequently ask him about Chernobyl's consequences.

"Democratic countries have a sufficient ability to help, they are interested in helping us," Milinkevich said.

"But it is difficult to work with us," he said of the Belarusian bureaucracy. "Going through all the departments is torture. It is hell."

All foreign aid must be channeled through the government's Department of Humanitarian Aid.

Tuesday's conference, attended by about 40 people, was aimed at challenging authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko's policy of trying to resettle people and restore agriculture in the areas that were heavily affected by the fallout from Chernobyl. About one-fifth of Belarus' territory was evacuated due to fallout after the reactor exploded in neighboring Ukraine, and the evacuations were a serious blow to the agriculture that is a key part of Belarus' economy.

The small turnout and poor facilities at the Tuesday conference indicate the challenges that Milinkevich and the opposition face in trying to push forward their campaign a month after a wave of unprecedented protests sparked by widely denounced elections in which Lukashenko won a third term.

The opposition has called a rally for Wednesday in the capital, Minsk. The opposition clearly aims to try to maximize turnout by tapping dismay with both Lukashenko and the Chernobyl aftermath.

Source:

http://www.kyivpost.com/bn/24334/