BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

21/05/2007

Ahmadinejad vows friendship, skirts Holocaust on Belarus visit

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko hailed a kindred spirit as he welcomed Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Monday, in a visit criticised by democracy supporters and the Jewish community.

At the start of a two-day visit by the Iranian leader to Belarus the two men, both viewed as pariahs by the United States, exchanged vows of friendship and Lukashenko voiced his commitment to a "multi-polar" world.

But the visit was criticised by democracy activists, who said it was a desperate bid by Lukashenko to fend off increasing international isolation.

And one of Belarus' Jewish leaders likened Ahmadinejad to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

The Iranian leader drew worldwide condemnation for hosting a conference last December, which cast doubt on the existence of the Holocaust and has himself referred to it as a myth. He has also repeatedly called for the Jewish state to be wiped off the map.

Hundreds of thousands of Jews, including an estimated 53,000 transported here from western Europe, perished on the present-day territory of Belarus as part of Hitler's campaign to annihilate the continent's Jewish population.

"There is no worthwhile alternative to forming a multi-polar system of international relations," Lukashenko told Ahmadinejad as officials from the two sides faced each other across a long table.

"I'm sure that Iran, with its rich history and culture and its strong economic potential, can become one of the most influential centres of the international community," Lukashenko said.

Lukashenko announced that Iran had agreed to let Belarus develop a modest-sized oil field in the Islamic republic, the Jofeir field, near Iran's border with Iraq. Iran has estimated it could produce 30,000 barrels of oil a day.

Ahmadinejad said: "Relations between the two countries are developing on principles of friendship and are helping the development of stability, both regionally and on a world level."

The Iranian leader went on to lay a wreath at a memorial to the Soviet Union's massive losses in World War II.

But he avoided any reference to the Holocaust, evidence of which can be found at a pit in central Minsk where several thousand Jews were shot en masse.

Yakov Basin, deputy head of the Union of Jewish Associations of Belarus, said he was opposed to the visit.

"How is it possible to invite a person, the leader of a state, who thinks that in order to resolve the Middle East problem it is necessary to destroy a whole state and people?" he asked, referring to Ahmadinejad's verbal attacks on Israel.

"It's shameful to talk with a man who today plays the role of a modern Hitler," he said.

Lukashenko has repeatedly said he wants to find alternative energy resources for this country of 10 million people, which lies sandwiched between Russia and European Union and NATO members Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

While Belarus has a major oil refining industry, it has no oil reserves of its own and its relations with traditional partner Russia, which has supported the Belarussian economy with subsidized energy, have recently been tense.

Belarus has been dubbed "Europe's last dictatorship" by the United States, which is also locked in a diplomatic struggle with Iran over its nuclear programme.

But Lukashenko has supported Iran's controversial nuclear programme and has also sold Russian-made conventional military equipment and spare parts to Iran despite Western criticism.

Iran insists that its nuclear plans are purely aimed at producing civilian energy, while Western governments suspect Tehran may be hiding a nuclear weapons programme.

Former deputy foreign minister Andrei Sannikov, now a vocal critic of Lukashenko, predicted that little of substance would emerge from the visit.

"This is a meeting of like-minded people, who are close to each other due to their anti-Americanism and who in large part don't recognise international law and the decisions of international organisations," he said.

The Iranian side "needs Lukashenko to show that they have an ally in Europe who supports them," Sannikov said.

MINSK (AFP)

Source:

http://www.anatoliantimes.com/hbr2.asp?id=&s=int&a=070521170150.k5lf1uf3

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