Reuters
BELARUS VOTES FOR INDEPENDENCE
By Hugh Semberley and Dan Mayer in Minsk, Andrée Dumont in Brest, Anna Paahli in Leningrad, Mikal Haroczara in Warsaw
Filed: Wednesday, 30 May 2001 21:01:10 +0200
Minsk, Republic of Belarus
Pyotr Kremenchuk, chair of the special observer delegation of the Confederation Special Electoral Commission, has just announced on Belarusian state television that as of 2000 local time (1800 GMT), 98% of the anticipated votes in Belarus' referendum have been received. Based on the votes received to date, 64.9% of the Belarusian electorate has voted in favour of independence from the Federated Russian Republics as a constituent member-state of the European Confederation [...]
In Leningrad, the Russian federal government has recognized Belarus' independence. With the departure of the last republic other than Leningrad left in the Russian federation, Oranienbaum is preparing to dissolve itself into the new pan-Russian confederation [...]
The mood in the Minsk headquarters of the Belarusian Popular Front is jubilant. The floor of the public hall built in the Soviet era and commandeered by the Popular Front upon its foundation in 1984 is filled with people who are cheering and toasting the separatists' victory. Aleksandr Lukashenko has just finished a remarkable speech congratulating his supporters and the Belarusian nation generally, calling for all Belarusians -- ethnic Belarusians and ethnic Russians, Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics, residents of Belarus itself and emigrants in Poland and South America, supporters of independence and supporters of union with Russia -- to unite in building a modern Belarus, a true European crossroads.
The fact remains, however, that such a program will be extraordinarily difficult to achieve. The recent economic boom in western and central Europe has allowed the Confederation's regional development funding programs to become moderately larger. However, simply put Belarus' economy is too underdeveloped to be able to absorb more than a small fraction of these funds. With a population of barely 600 thousand people, the complete decay of what was once the most modern industrial economy in the Russian SFSR, and an underdeveloped infrastructure, any economic improvements will be long in coming. [...]
Polish Foreign Minister Olivia Biraczewa has announced, in Warsaw, Poland's recognition of Belarus, and a formal statement by the European President is expected soon. Poland's attitude towards its much smaller eastern neighbour is of great importance, since Poland is the fourth-largest investor in Poland and the three million Poles of Belarusian ancestry form a crucial lobby group. Eastern Europe's leading state is expected to take a positive attitude towards new independent Belarus, which might well provide a vehicle for the expansion of Poland's already substantial economic and cultural interests in the post-Soviet space. [...]