VZCZCXRO1969
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHVL #0259 1091453
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 181453Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY VILNIUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2191
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 0210
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK

UNCLAS VILNIUS 000259 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AMEMBASSY MINSK SENDS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR BO
SUBJECT: NO ROOM IN MINSK FOR UCP CONGRESS? 
 
Now Hear This: Donkey Convention at the Elephant House 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) After receiving refusals from 22 sites as well as from the 
Minsk Municipal Executive Committee, the United Civic Party (UCP) 
held an emergency session of its Political Council April 17 and 
voted to hold its 11th Party Congress at the Minsk headquarters of 
the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF).  At a press conference attended 
by A/DCM April 18, UCP Chair Anatoliy Lebedko told a small group of 
assembled journalists that the party's Political Council had voted 
to hold the conference at BPF HQ in Minsk -- in spite of the fact 
that the venue has less than one-fifth of the necessary seating. 
The move would allow UCP to remain in compliance with its bylaws 
that require a congress be held every two years.  Lebedko added that 
UCP had considered holding its party congress at its Grodno office, 
which has sufficient space for the more than 200 delegates expected. 
 This idea was rejected, however, when Grodno municipal fire 
officials recently sent UCP Grodno a warning letter that meetings 
larger than fifteen persons there were deemed unsafe. 
 
Congress to Include Elections, Demonstration 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) According to Lebedko, the UCP congress will include two 
parts.  The official part of the program will include the election 
of the Chair, the Deputy Chair and party bodies, the approval of a 
plan for party development and the adoption of several messages, 
including a UCP "State of the Union" to contrast with Lukashenko's 
annual address scheduled for April 29.  In addition to this formal 
program, about which the Ministry of Justice had been informed, the 
congress would include an unofficial segment, a demonstration the 
afternoon of April 20 at central Minsk's October Square.  Lebedko 
noted that some delegates would gather on October Square to show 
their displeasure with the decision of authorities not to provide a 
suitable public space for the UCP's congress. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Lebedko was quite critical of the Minsk Executive 
Committee's refusal to assist in the arrangement of the rental of 
public premises, noting that its unwillingness to mediate was 
contrary to its own past practice.  In 2006, according to Lebedko, 
the Minsk City Executive Committee had intervened in a scheduling 
conflict, allowing the United Democratic Forces to meet at Minsk's 
Automobile Factory House of Culture. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) While efforts to frustrate the organization of this 
congress might seem to differ little from the harassment opposition 
politicians and civil society members face daily in Belarus, they 
are actually much more sinister.  The Ministry of Justice could use 
the UCP's failure to hold a party congress as dictated by its bylaws 
as grounds to seek the invalidation of the party's registration.  As 
is our custom with congresses of Belarusian opposition parties, post 
will send an observer to Sunday's UCP event. 
 
Moore 
Leader