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Belarus Still Reeling Under Chernobyl Fallout
Belarus Prime Minister used the rostrum of the UN Special Session here yesterday to press for international aid to clean the nuclear mess that still poses major health and environment risks years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. But the country’s uneasy relations with the outside world and its sharp criticism of US foreign policy could delay the assistance, according to sources familiar with the region..
Belarus prime minister Vladimir Ermoshin, who heads Belarus delegation in Geneva, told the Special Session that Chernobyl, the world's worst civil nuclear disaster back in 1986 in neighbouring Ukraine, still seriously affected the country’s development.
Some 70 percent of Chernobyl-contaminated areas are Belarussian lands, the disaster wiping out an equivalent of 32 annual GDPs of Belarus, argued Ermoshin, adding his country hopes for more international aid to tackle nuclear mess
The economy of the former Soviet republic of Belarus is people oriented, while the state plays prominent regulatory role, he told the Assembly. Only 2 percent of Belarus working age population is unemployed, while real wages was 50 percent up within the past 4 years, according to Ermoshin.
Belarus also prioritizes education, spending 6.6 percent of its GDP to fund education, he said. He said these programmes and gains could be threatened by the cost of the nuclear clean-up. Nonetheless, it is understood that Belarus has little chances to receive considerable international assistance, because it’s not particularly popular among the world’s wealthiest nations.
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, known for his outspoken criticism of the United States, NATO and the West in general, extended his term in office to 2001 from 1999, dissolved an opposition parliament and boosted his personal powers after a controversial 1996 referendum.
The opposition rejected the results of a 1996 referendum, which led to the dissolution of parliament and the extension of Lukashenko's powers and term in office.
Belarus is accused by the West of failing to embrace democratic and market reforms. A U.S. diplomat recently described Belarus as ``the Cuba of Europe'', citing a lack of democratic freedoms in the ex-Soviet state of 10 million.
Belarus's Foreign Ministry said in a statement this comparison attempted to interfere in Belarus's internal affairs. Given this background, Belarus calls for international aid are likely to fall on deaf ears.
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