Verkhovna Rada Prepares for New Convocation
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INSIDE:• Kyiv’s foreign policy: pro-Ukrainian or pro-Kuchma? — page 3. • Vote for the top Ukrainian stamps of 2001 — pages 11-13. • “A Ukrainian Summer” — a special 12-page insert. Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXX HE KRAINIANNo. 18 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MAY 5, 2002 EEKLY$1/$2 in Ukraine T U Verkhovna Rada preparesW for new convocation Chornobyl anniversary by Roman Woronowycz which the two organizations with the most seats Kyiv Press Bureau in the new Parliament have failed to find com- marked with conference mon understanding on even the most minor of KYIV – With little headway made in an effort matters. Dmytro Tabachnyk, a leading figure in to form a parliamentary majority, the Verkhovna the United Ukraine Parliamentary faction (for- at United Nations Rada undertook organizational preparations for by Andrew Nynka merly the For a United Ukraine Bloc), which has the opening session of its new convocation by claimed 165 seats in the new convocation, said UNITED NATIONS – Activists and envi- appointing a Communist as the leader of the he was not optimistic that his faction and the ronmentalists participating in an international steering committee that laid the groundwork for second largest faction, Our Ukraine, would be conference on health and the environment the first session of the Parliament. able to find common understanding to form a The vote to approve Adam Martyniuk, a for- gathered here on April 26 to mark the 16th large center-right majority. He said he thought mer second chairman in the last Parliament and anniversary of the explosion of the No. 4 that other options were more viable for his fac- the Communist faction’s No. 2 man, came unex- nuclear reactor at Chornobyl and stressed that tion. pectedly after the candidacies of Oleksander the catastrophe’s outcome continues to stain “It would be more effective to form a majori- Bandurko of the For a United Ukraine Bloc and much of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and other ty on the basis of the factions of United Ukraine Viktor Musiaka of the Our Ukraine Bloc parts of Europe with various illness and envi- and the Social Democratic Party (United) and try received insufficient votes. ronmental plague. to draw in a good portion of [non-aligned] Mr. Martyniuk headed the work of the tem- As part of the 11th International Conference national deputies, while using Communists porary meeting during a week of sessions that on Health and the Environment organized by when voting on certain vital issues,” explained were completed on April 30, which set the rules World Information Transfer (WIT), conference Mr. Tabachnyk, who acknowledged that the only for how elections to the leadership of the legisla- organizers focused on the theme of “childhood absolute majority that has any potential at pres- tive body and its committees will take place, the antecedents to adult illness” and, during the ent is a temporary and situational one. number of committees and how they will be April 26 session dedicated to Chornobyl, The distance separating the two leading fac- divided up, in addition to a slew of other organi- stressed that youth “will continue to suffer the tions became larger after Our Ukraine co-signed zational issues. consequences of the worst technological catas- a political declaration on May 25 which declared The Communists played up their symbolic trophe in human history.” that “those in authority” had lost the elections. victory in taking the post, with Mr. Martyniuk This year’s conference was particularly rele- The document was initiated by the opposition stating after his election that, while it was a tem- vant since recommendations from its speakers political groups, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and porary and minor position, the win was a good will be submitted to various governments for the Socialist Party, and also signed by the example of how his party would remain effec- consideration at the United Nations Children’s Communist Party. tive in a Ukrainian Parliament in which for the Summit in May, as well as the World Summit While United Ukraine Chairman first time it was not the largest group. on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg Volodymyr Lytvyn, who recently resigned as “We will use our strength at the needed in September. President Leonid Kuchma’s chief of staff, moments,” said Mr. Martyniuk. Ukraine’s ambassador to the United quickly shot back, that by agreeing to such a The Communists’ ability to take control of Nations Valeriy Kuchinsky, a conference col- statement Our Ukraine was admitting its own the steering committee did not give it undue laborator, urged the international community defeat, because many of its members remained influence over the process, however, because the to have “a greater determination to continue “in authority,” other members of United group was set up to give all six political organi- Ukraine said the joint declaration was evi- to help raise public awareness” of the zations that won seats in the new convocation Chornobyl catastrophe. dence that the four factions were preparing to relatively equal power. declare a parliamentary majority. Experts argue that although much of the That the Communists managed to eke out nuclear fallout from the reactor explosion has control over the committee showed the extent to (Continued on page 17) been contained and is not an immediate threat to the global community, there is still much work left in informing the world of Chornobyl’s consequences and the plight of those living in and around the contaminated CCRF continues relief work, with a focus on education zone. by Roman Woronowycz Chornobyl-linked health problems, such as Environmentalists and Chornobyl aid work- Kyiv Press Bureau cancer, leukemia and immune deficiencies. ers have long feared that since Chornobyl’s Since the environmental disaster occurred in KYIV – Another airlift organized by the April 1986, incidents of thyroid cancer, which final working reactor, No. 3, was shut down in Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund from the December 2000, the international community was almost non-existent in this region until United States touched down at Kyiv’s then, have increased substantially. could consider the problem fixed – focusing Boryspil Airport on April 19, a week before valuable aid and attention away from what CCRF has changed its direction somewhat the 16th anniversary of the world’s worst over the course of its 12-year existence, but it many see as a continually developing, complex nuclear accident. and persistent problem. has not changed its focus. Today, while still This latest delivery, which consisted of 11 including direct material aid to hospitals and Carolyn Mcaskie, who spoke in place of tons of U.S. medicines, hospital supplies and Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian medical centers throughout Ukraine, CCRF is medical equipment valued at $620,000 and increasingly beginning to embrace an educa- Affairs Kenzo Oshima, called life around the arranged by CCRF through its extensive con- contaminated zone “a downward spiral of living tional effort as well. tacts with U.S. hospitals, pharmaceutical Also, whereas earlier the organization’s conditions.” The United Nations emergency firms and the medical community, was the efforts were aimed at improving the state of relief coordinator added that the international 30th time the charitable organization has oncology and hematology in the country – community should be more aware of Ukraine’s, brought U.S. aid to Ukraine. and while CCRF still considers these vital Russia’s and Belarus’ efforts in “shouldering the In all CCRF has delivered more than 1,300 areas of medicine that need to be improved in major burden while building a major market tons of medical aid valued at more than $49 Ukraine – the accent today is on neonatal economy and trying to build new democracies.” million, which makes it the largest donor organ- health care. Friday’s keynote address, delivered by ization from the Ukrainian diaspora, by far. “Our focus remains to save lives, to help Ukraine’s Minister of Health Prof. Vitali The airlifts have become routine, but the better the medical system and to Westernize Moskalenko, focused primarily on the myriad work the organization continues to do is far it,” explained Nadia Matkiwsky, CCRF’s statistics concerning birth abnormalities and from banal. The fact remains that approxi- increased cancer rates since the initial blast – mately 2 million children suffer from (Continued on page 5) (Continued on page 17) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MAY 5, 2002 No. 18 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFSNEWSBRIEFS Election reveals Ukraine’s Ukraine arrests suspected Syrian terrorist on a proportional basis, UNIAN reported on April 25. The statement also publicized KYIV – The Security Service of their intention to introduce “mechanisms” geographic political divisions Ukraine has arrested a Syrian national that could enable a parliamentary majority by Taras Kuzio omy (Our Ukraine’s preference); a corpo- suspected of links to international terrorist to form the government. Oleksander RFE/RL Newsline ratist-authoritarian state with clientalistic organizations, New Channel Television Turchynov from the Yulia Tymoshenko relations between the state and economic reported on April 24. The Security Service Bloc commented that the joint declaration Independent Ukraine’s third parliamen- and political actors (FUU’s preference); or accuses the Syrian, a former student of is not tantamount to the creation of a par- tary elections on March 31 marked an perhaps a compromise between that pro- Kyiv University, of laundering $28 mil- liamentary coalition by the four signato- important milestone in the confirmation of posed by FUU and OU. lion hrv ($5.3 million), converting this ries, which currently control the majority Ukrainian statehood. The two main com- The FUU fared well only in eastern and sum into U.S. dollars, and sending it to the of votes necessary to pass legislation in petitors – For a United Ukraine (FUU) and southern Ukraine with an 11.81 percent Middle East.