Thursday, August 24, 2006

WARSAW, Poland (Reuters): Polish ex-President Aleksander Kwasniewski, who helped negotiate a peaceful end to Ukraine's "Orange Revolution", has offered to mediate talks between the Cuban government and Cuban opposition leaders.

Polish media reported on Wednesday Kwasniewski was organising what he called a "round table" of international figures to travel to Cuba next year to hold a dialogue on that country's future.

"Talks on this subject are in progress ... and some monitoring of whether it will be possible," Kwasniewski was quoted as saying by local news agency PAP. "It is still far from finalised."

There was no immediate indication whether the Cuban government would be interested in outside mediation.

Communist Cuba's future was thrown into question last month when its leader, Fidel Castro, 80, handed over power to his younger brother Raul,75, after undergoing emergency surgery to stop intestinal bleeding.

Cuba's opposition is divided and seen as too weak to exploit Castro's failing health. Only few see a repeat of the systematic change that occurred in Eastern Europe in 1989, when Soviet-backed governments collapsed one after another.

In 1989, Kwasniewski took part in famous "round table" talks between Poland's government and the Solidarity trade union that led to a bloodless end to communism.

An aide to Kwasniewski said former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Czech President Vaclav Havel and former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer would be invited to join the international group, which could travel to Cuba as soon as May. No further details were given.

"This is an issue which requires talks behind the scenes not in the media," Kwasniewski said.

  Most popular articles: viewed, printed and e-mailed

  Printable version