Partial reprieve for rogue state’s officials

By Andrew Beatty

Date: 08/12/05

EU sanctions are to be lifted against ten officials of the self-styled Republic of Transdniestria, a breakaway region of Moldova.

Minister of Education Elena Bomeshko and nine other officials were banned from travelling to the EU in February this year after the Transdniestria authorities - who declared independence from Moldova in 1991 - closed Moldovan Latin-script schools in the capital Tiraspol and the towns of Bendery, Dubasar and Rybnitsa.

The ban is expected to be lifted at the end of December after the Transdniestrian elections which will take place on Friday (9 December).

Diplomats said that a decision was unlikely before then, because of the EU's opposition to the vote.

The closure of the schools in July 2004 resulted in a barrage of criticism from the international community and human rights groups.

In response, the EU targeted Bomeshko, three deputy ministers for education and six local government officials.

The schools, which teach using a Moldovan syllabus, have now been re-opened under a deal done in September.

But Moldovan officials expressed disappointment at the EU's expected decision saying that the schools were still an issue. "They [the EU] did not consult us," said one Moldovan diplomat.

Moldovan officials accused the EU of caving into pressure from Russia, which tacitly supports the Transdniestrian authorities.

Teachers involved with the same schools continue to report harassment.

After recently returning from a visit to Washington Ion Iovcev, director of the Lucian Blaga High School in Tiraspol, complained of threatening phone calls directed at him and his family. Iovcev accused the secret police of making the calls.

Despite the lifting of the ban, Transdniestrian President Igor Smirnov and 12 other high- ranking officials are likely to continue to be subject to sanctions. The news comes as the EU this week launched a mission to monitor the Ukraine-Moldova border, which takes in areas controlled by Transdniestria, and as the EU takes part in talks aimed at resolving the dispute.

Article reports that EU sanctions were to be lifted against ten officials of the self-styled Republic of Transdniestria, a breakaway region of Moldova. The ban was expected to be lifted at the end of December 2005 after the Transdniestrian elections which were to take place on 9 December 2005.