Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leaders on Friday signed a deal mediated by the EU and Russia, which calls for new elections to end a deadly crisis.
Shortly after the signing, parliament voted in favour of restoring a 2004 constitution that limits the powers of the president and approved an amnesty.
The deal, which was published on the Website of the German Foreign Ministry, calls for the formation of a national unity government within 10 days and for early presidential elections not later than December.
Yanukovych’s term ends in March 2015.
The Foreign Ministers of Germany and Poland, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Radek Sikorski, who co-signed the deal as mediators on behalf of the EU, said that the protest movement had approved it.
Steinmeier said that the deal was “perhaps the last chance to stop the spiralling violence’’, which killed 77 people this week alone.
The deal was not signed by Vladimir Lukin, the Russian mediator.
Lukin explained after returning to Moscow that there were open questions and that consultations should continue.
The EU ministers held marathon talks with Yanukovych and opposition leaders Vitali Klitschko, Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Oleh Tyanihbok.
Tyahnibok, the leader of the nationalist Svoboda party, said that his signature was conditioned on the resignation of Interior Minister Valeriy Zakharchenko and General Prosecutor Viktor Pshonka.
EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton called for ‘free and fair’’ elections.
“Elections need to happen in good time, properly and be free and fair,’’ she told reporters in London.
“Implementation is going to be key and very challenging. It is a Ukrainian agreement and it should be implemented by them.’’
Potential EU sanctions, approved by the bloc’s foreign ministers at a special meeting on Thursday, would depend on information from EU foreign ministers on the ground in Ukraine, she added.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen urged Ukraine’s government and opposition to implement the deal.
Observers also voiced doubts that protesters will comply with the settlement’s stipulation that they must withdraw from public buildings and unblock streets.
Tens of thousands of protesters filled the centre of Kiev after the deal was signed. Most of them oppose a compromise with Yanukovych.
They had reinforced barricades on Independence Square and surrounding areas after some 49 people died in street clashes between police and anti-government protesters on Thursday. Hundreds were injured.
Shots were heard on Friday morning as parliament held a tumultuous debate on the formation of an interim government.
Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Rybak aborted the session after opposition lawmakers tried to storm the tribune.
The crisis erupted in November after Yanukovych turned away from an association deal with the EU and sought closer ties with Russia, which offered the government urgently needed loans of up to 15 billion dollars.
The decision sparked the deadliest crisis in the former Soviet Republic. (dpa/NAN)
© anu for Royal Times of Nigeria Newspaper, 2014. |
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