Walesa cautiously optimistic after talks to defuse crisis in Ukraine

Channel News Asia ^ | Nov. 25, 2004 | AFP

[FairOpinion]

KIEV : Poland's Nobel Peace Prize winner Lech Walesa expressed cautious optimism Thursday after meeting Ukraine's opposition leader and the prime minister in a bid to defuse a crisis over disputed presidential elections.

"It is all going in the right direction," Walesa said, quoted by the Interfax news agency, after his talks with opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, who the central election commission said had won the poll.

Walesa, a trade union leader in communist Poland and the country's president after the fall of communism, said a decision by Ukraine's supreme court to delay publication of the results of the disputed poll while it examined an appeal by the opposition meant that there was now "a chance for a compromise."

The former Solidarity trade union leader said that Yanukovich had promised "that there will be no use of force."

"My goal was to obtain two things: first, to confirm if there is a willingness to hold talks and secondly to assure myself that neither side will resort to force. I achieved it," he said.

"From now on, it's not for me to intervene in the negotiations," added Walesa.

Walesa flew into Kiev earlier Thursday on his peace mission.

He held a joint press conference with opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko and said he would later in the day meet with Yanukovich as well as outgoing President Leonid Kuchma.

"The whole of my life I fought for ideals," he later told tens of thousands of opposition protestors gathered in Kiev's central Independence Square.

"The situation in Poland was probably more difficult than yours. When I look at your enthusiasm, your engagement, I am sure it will end in your victory."

Walesa said he would leave for Portugal later on Thursday but leave behind an assistant, Zbigniew Bujak, as his representative. - AFP

[FairOpinion]

"My goal was to obtain two things: first, to confirm if there is a willingness to hold talks and secondly to assure myself that neither side will resort to force. I achieved it," he said.

"From now on, it's not for me to intervene in the negotiations," added Walesa. "

Sensible guy, Walesa.

[JennysCool]

Very sensible. Here's hoping that's true of most everyone involved here.

[Lukasz]

He came there as a negotiator. I think that everyone here is hoping that this situation will end peacefully. Of course with some pro-democratic progress. First Yanukovych cannot be aa new president because of big frauds.

[Lukasz]

btw Walesa is ALWAYS optimistic

[PhillyGal]

So was Reagan ;)

[Tailgunner Joe]

Havel urges Ukraine opposition to fight on - Havel, a former anti-communist dissident and the first president after the 1989 fall of communism, told Ukrainians that long years or decades of their future were at stake.

Brave man, Havel.

[Tailgunner Joe]

Lech Walesa, the former Polish president and Solidarity leader, said he was prepared to travel to Ukraine to support the opposition's claim to power, referring to "the president of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko." - LINK

[Tailgunner Joe]

With the country in a deadlock and the moves between the two camps accelerating, Mr. Yushchenko appeared several times during the day with Lech Walesa, the Nobel Laureate and founder of the Solidarity movement in Poland, who had come to Kiev to urge both sides to refrain from violence and to negotiate their differences. Mr. Walesa's sentiments seemed clearly with the opposition.

"All of my life I have been fighting for these ideals," he said in a brief appearance before reporters. "There is no free Poland without a free Ukraine.

Later, on the stage in Independence Square, Mr. Walesa told the thousands of assembled demonstrators that he admired their spirit and would support their efforts. He urged them not to relent.

"You can rely on the support of Poland and Walesa," he said. "But we cannot do it for you. You have to do it yourselves." - LINK

[nw_arizona_granny]

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