BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
15/12/2008
Belarusian president refuses to budge
The president of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, is refusing to change his mind about a decision not to allow young Chernobyl victims to travel abroad. As a result 300 Belarusian children will not be able to visit the Netherlands or other countries for Christmas.
The children live near the Chernobyl nuclear reactor - inside Ukraine - where a huge nuclear disaster took place in 1986. After the disaster, serious illnesses emerged in this part of Belarus. These and previous Chernobyl children have been visiting the Netherlands and other countries for 20 years.
President Lukashenko imposed the travel ban in August this year, fearing that the children might request asylum abroad. One of the Chernobyl children recently did so in the United States. Hopes that the Netherlands and Minsk might reach agreement about the children being allowed to travel after all came to nothing recently, leaving the foundation which arranges accommodation for the children with Dutch families extremely disappointed.
Source:
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/news/zijlijn/6095658/Belarusian-president-refuses-to-budge
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