BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

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Published: July 29 2005 18:13 | Last updated: July 29 2005 18:13

Poland urges EU action over 'crisis' with Belarus

By Jan Cienski in Warsaw

Warsaw on Friday appealed to European Union leaders over an increasingly bitter diplomatic row with Belarus after the former Soviet state's authoritarian government sought to wrest control of an organisation representing the country's large ethnic Polish population.

The Polish government on Wednesday wrote to Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the external relations commissioner and Jack Straw, Britain's foreign secretary urging action against Belarus.

Adam Rotfeld, Poland's foreign minister, on Thursday declared relations with its authoritarian neighbour to be in "serious crisis" after Belarusan police on Wednesday stormed the headquarters of the Union of Poles in the western town of Grodno.

The Belarus authorities replaced the current president of the Union, Andzelika Borys, with her more pliable predecessor, at the same time briefly detaining several members of the organisation.

About half a million Poles live in Belarus, roughly 5 per cent of the population. Most live in the west of the country, which belonged to Poland before the second world war though the country's Poles have not been strongly engaged in politics.

However, there is no significant opposition to Mr Lukashenko's rule, and the Union of Poles is the largest organisation in the country free of government control.

"It's the only organisation in Belarus with any degree of autonomy," said Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz, an analyst of Poland's relationships with the former Soviet Union. "The state created by Lukashenko has no room for that. The structure of the Polish organisation is so different from everything else in Belarus that it has to be eliminated. Lukashenko also needs an external enemy."

Poland, which joined the EU last year, has been viewed with increasing suspicion by Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus's president, following Warsaw's active intervention during last December's Orange Revolution in Ukraine.

Mr Lukashenko's increasingly heavy-handed rule has earned him condemnation from the EU and Washington, which branded Belarus an "outpost of tyranny". But Polish officials have been particularly unsparing in their criticism and in their calls for the rest of the world to do something about ending Europe's last dictatorship.

Mr Lukashenko, in power since 1994, may be feeling vulnerable because he plans to run for office for a third time next year, and the recent example of post-election turmoil that swept authoritarian rules from power in Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan cannot be heartening.

Treating local Poles as a potential fifth column has provoked a strong reaction in Poland.

Parliamentary deputies from all parties have protested at Minsk's actions, and television and newspapers are filled with events from the former Soviet republic.

Clamping down on local Poles is not doing anything to quieten Warsaw's criticism of Mr Lukashenko's government.

Mr Rotfeld said that Poland would consider setting up an independent radio for Belarus. Poland and Lithuania have also sent the EU expanded lists of senior Belarus officials who should not be allowed to enter the Union.

Source:

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/e19301be-0053-11da-b57e-00000e2511c8,dwp_uuid=d4f2ab60-c98e-11d7-81c6-0820abe49a01.html