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Poland Warns Lukashenko; EU Donors Offer Funds for Belarus People

03 February 2011 00:54 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Poland has warned authoritarian Belarus leader Viktor Lukashenko that he is likely to face the same fate as Arab leaders who are being driven from power by their own people, APA reports quoting â€œThe Voice of Americaâ€.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Wednesday Europe is siding with the people of Belarus and told Mr. Lukashenko that â€œsooner or laterâ€ he would be forced to flee his own country.

Sikorski spoke at an international donors’ conference for non-governmental agencies and pro-democracy groups in Belarus â€” groups that have been violently repressed by Mr. Lukashenko’s government.

The European Union pledgedat the meeting to quadruple its previous aid to Belarus human rights and pro-democracy causes to more than $21 million a year, with millions more pledged by other donors.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said the money is meant to prevent the isolation of the people of Belarus.

The donors’ conference, organized by Poland, attracted about 200 attendees from the U.S., Canada, the European Union and other European nations.

New EU and U.S. sanctions targeting the Belarus government were announced this week in response to the government’s relentless crackdown on opposition leaders, independent media outlets and civil rights activists since the post-election protests in December.

The sanctions include a travel ban on top Belarusian officials, including President Lukashenko, and an EU asset freeze on those found involved with the crackdown.

After Mr. Lukashenko was overwhelmingly re-elected to a fourth term, opposition supporters took to the streets, claiming the election had been fixed.