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Belarus Jails Ethnic Poles as Dispute with Poland Escalates
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Posted by: Khashyar

"Belarus Jails Ethnic Poles as Dispute with Poland Escalates"

By Stefan Bos
VOA
Budapest
04 August 2005

A diplomatic dispute is escalating between Poland and neighboring Belarus, where members of the ethnic-Polish minority say they are being harassed by the government.

On Thursday, Andrzej Pisalnik, informal spokesman for an ethnic Polish group in Belarus, was found guilty of taking part in an unlicensed demonstration and sentenced to 10 days in jail. The action is the latest development in a dispute between the Polish minority in Belarus and the government of President Alexander Lukashenko. Earlier this week, another official of the group, Veslaw Kewlyak, received a 15 days jail term on charges of "illegally" meeting a visiting Polish parliamentarian.

About 400,000 ethnic Poles live in Belarus, mainly in areas that were part of Poland until World War II. Presidential elections are expected as early as 2006, and Polish political analyst Krzysztof Mularczyk says Mr. Lukashenko fears growing resentment toward him among Poles and other groups.

"He is [beginning] to feel encircled and he, like many authoritarians, wants to have an enemy that he can fight," he explained. "And I think he has identified the Polish minority as something that he can sell as an internal threat within Belarus and try to build up some kind of false national unity against [influence] from the West."

President Lukashenko has reportedly accused Poland of plotting to overthrow his government through the ethnic Polish minority. In recent weeks, Belarus expelled three Polish diplomats, while Poland ordered three Belarusian diplomats to leave. Poland has withdrawn its ambassador from Minsk, the capital, for what it calls consultations.

Poland, which joined the EU last year, has asked the European Union to intervene. The EU has already expressed concern about the situation in Belarus and its human rights record, and says it supports the Polish minority.

Belarus accuses Poland of working with other countries to try to topple President Alexander Lukashenko. Mr. Lukashenko says he will not allow pro-democracy revolutions like the recent Rose Revolution in nearby Ukraine, which he says was actively supported by Poland.

Posted by: Michel.S

Belarus denied yesterday a delegation from the European Parliament permission to enter the country.

Polish diplomat Bogdan Adam Klich, chairman of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with Belarus, told RFE/RL: “I don’t understand their decision. I think this action is illegal. The administration [of Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka] violates the basic principles of international law, and the international community should draw conclusions from that.”

The delegation was trying to enter Belarus to conduct a study on human rights and democratic standards. In particular, they wanted to investigate the recent conflict between the government and the Union of Poles in Belarus.

Minsk accuses high-ranking members of the Union of Poles in Belarus of holding unauthorized meetings and of embezzling funds from the organization.

Today’s development comes amid worsening diplomatic relations between Warsaw and Minsk.

Belarus accuses Poland of interfering in its internal affairs. The two sides have recently engaged in a series of tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions.

Not long ago the E.U has promised funding for opposition parties and the establishment of democracy in Belarus:

THE European Union is set to provide cash for opposition parties in the former Soviet republic of Belarus.

EU diplomats are considering direct funding to allow Belarus’s opposition parties to compete with the pro-government campaign. If approved, it would mark a major shift in EU policy towards promoting democracy.

It would also mark a significant ramping up of pressure on the authorities in Minsk, but would risk antagonising Moscow. Russia has a close relationship with Belarus and is still smarting over what it sees as Western interference in Ukraine, which is looking to join the EU and Nato.

A document prepared by the EU policy unit says that the “Lukashenko regime is becoming increasingly repressive”, pointing to the harassment of the opposition and of lobbyists for reform, and asks whether “direct/indirect opposition support” should be considered.

Brussels is also considering visa restrictions on Belarussian officials and the freezing of some of the country’s overseas assets. Olga Stuzhinskaya, who represents a coalition of Belarussian opposition parties and NGOs, told the Brussels-based news magazine European Voice: “The situation for opposition parties is very bad.

“In the last couple of years all the donors have moved out and the political parties have been left on their own. Many have closed. Everyone is talking about great support for the opposition, for civil society and isolating the regime but nothing happens. The repression increases.”

Many leading figures in the Belarussian opposition have been charged with criminal activities, debarring them from running in the elections - a move seen as a trick by the government to neutralise the opposition.

While the EU is unwilling to allow Belarus to continue as Europe’s most repressed country, the obstacles to democratic reform are considerable.

Lukashenko has warned that anyone who attempts to spark a revolution will be treated as a “hellraiser” and given “special treatment”.

In contrast to Ukraine, Belarus lacks a high-profile and well-organised opposition. Ukraine’s burgeoning middle class - a factor absent in Belarus - gave much of the impetus to last year’s ‘Orange Revolution’ in Kiev out of fear that an undemocratic government would jeopardise their standard of living.

Posted by: Pawel_PL.USA

Well, one day Poland will eventually get even with all its enemies and tormenters - "what goes around comes around".

Hopefully this year Lech Kaczynski will finally replace Kwasniewski as president and will start towing a much harder line.