Westerwelle: One should not turn more attention to events in Africa than to Belarus

“The fate of every Belarusian opposition member must not be of less importance for Europeans than the events in Africa,” the German Foreign Minister said.

The German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Guido Westerwelle, said at the WDR Europaforum in Berlin on May 26 that he had visited Belarus in December 2010, ahead of the country’s presidential elections, and met with Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who talked about his plans of democratizations, and with the presidential candidates, who share European values.

Today, these candidates are jailed or arrested and their families suffer from pressure, the German Foreign Minister said.

In his opinion, Europe turns much more attention to the events in North Africa, widely covered in news reports, than to Belarus.

The statement by the German minister was met with applause, BelaPAN reports.