BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

27/04/2009

Belarus leader takes advantage of end of 10-year EU travel ban, visits Italy, sees pope

NICOLE WINFIELD | Associated Press Writer

ROME (AP) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko met with the pope Monday on his first trip to Western Europe since the European Union lifted a travel ban imposed a decade ago over his dismal human rights record.

Lukashenko, whom some in the West have called "Europe's last dictator" because of his stifling of dissent, met with Pope Benedict XVI at the Apostolic Palace and later met the Vatican secretary of state.

He was to dine Monday night with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, news reports said.

The Vatican said talks were conducted in a "positive" climate. A statement said some "internal problems" were discussed, though it didn't specify human rights.

Lukashenko arrived in Italy on Sunday, his first trip to Western Europe since the EU slapped a travel ban on him in 1999 and froze his assets to punish him for a crackdown on Belarus' opposition.

The EU lifted the ban to allow Lukashenko to attend an East-West summit in Prague, Czech Republic, in May. The summit is to launch an EU program of trade and aid benefits for Belarus and five other former Soviet republics.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini defended the decision to welcome Lukashenko in an open letter Monday to Corriere della Sera, Italy's leading daily, which over the weekend had criticized the government for hosting someone who "imprisons dissidents and gags unaligned newspapers."

Frattini said the EU had suspended the travel ban precisely to encourage Lukashenko to take a "gradual path of democratic" reforms, and that Italy was merely helping push the process forward by hosting him.

"The message that the Italian government will send to President Lukashenko is one founded on the European principle defending the law-based state and the fundamental rights and liberties for the men and women of Belarus," Frattini wrote.

The EU is keen to accommodate Belarus to ensure stability on its eastern doorstep; the region is crucial to the flow of energy to the EU.

During the Vatican audience, which lasted 25 minutes, Lukashenko invited the pope to visit Belarus "God willing," witnesses said. The president's 5-year-old son, Nikola, gave the pontiff his ABCs book from school.

The Vatican said the two discussed the role of the Catholic Church in Belarus and relations with the Russian Orthodox Church.

Lukashenko is hoping to play the role of intermediary in relations between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church and help bring about the first meeting between the pope and Patriarch Kirill in Belarus.

Roman Catholics make up about 15 percent of the Belarusian population of 10 million. Many of them are ethnic Poles, who are among the strongest proponents in Belarus for democratic reform and closer ties with Europe.

Analysts and opposition leaders said Lukashenko's visit was important to his image at home and abroad.

"The catastrophic situation in the economy is compelling Lukashenko to repair ties with Europe and the United States, and a meeting with the pope opens the door to the West for him," said political analyst Alexander Klaskovsky.

Opposition leader Anatoly Lebedko said the papal audience was particularly important ahead of the Prague summit.

"Lukashenko's main goal is to improve his image and to receive absolution from the pope ahead of the EU summit in Prague, where many European politicians will not extend a hand to the Belarusian dictator," he said.

Associated Press reporter Yuras Karmanau contributed to this report from Minsk, Belarus.

Source:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-eu-italy-belarus,0,5141052.story

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