Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on Saturday Jan 25,2014 offered the opposition the post of prime minister and to change the constitution, in a proposed compromise deal aiming to end the country's worst post-independence crisis.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych offered top opposition leaders Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Vitali Klitschko the posts of prime minister and deputy prime minister in a brand new government, the presidency said.
Opposition leaders, who have called for Yanukovych's resignation, could not immediately be reached for a reaction and it was not clear if they would accept the deal.
The Ukrainian presidency said in a statement after talks between Yanukovych and the opposition that the two sides had agreed the protests and the police presence in Kiev would be scaled down, raising hopes of a resolution of the crisis.
Fatherland party leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk is a former foreign minister and speaker of parliament.
UDAR (Punch) party leader and world boxing champion Vitali Klitschko would be his deputy in charge of humanitarian affairs.
"If he (Yatsenyuk) agrees to take the post of prime minister then a decision will be taken for the government to resign," Justice Minister Olena Lukash said.
The president also promised to consider changes to draconian anti-protest laws passed by parliament January 16 which sparked the latest crisis.
"We are ready to make changes to these laws and work together with our political opponents on finding a political consensus for a compromise on these laws," the presidency statement said.
The president also agreed to a key demand of the opposition to agree to put a bill to parliament that would amnesty those arrested during the protests and political crisis.
But the condition is that the protest's epicentre - Independence Square - and the offices seized by protesters were given back to the authorities
Opposition RejectsPresident Yanukovych's Offer
Ukrainian opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk says protests will continue after he rejected President Viktor Yanukovych's offer to appoint him as prime minister of the country
Note
The protests first erupted in response to Yanukovych's refusal to sign a key deal with the European Union in November 2013 and snowballed into anti-government protests against Yanukovych's four-year rule, which the opposition claims has been riddled with corruption and nepotism.
Protesters continued occupying government buildings in a number of cities in western Ukraine, having forced two governors to resign and chasing another out of his office. Government buildings in many other cities were besieged by angry crowds
The crisis is Ukraine's worst since its independence in 1991 and has seen crowds of hundreds of thousands of protesters in Kiev
The court ban on protests published on January 15 and last Thursday's legislation aimed at prohibiting all form of public protests inflamed tensions again.
Up to 100,000 Ukrainians massed in the capital Kiev on Sunday Jan 19,2014 in defiance of sweeping new laws aimed at stamping out anti-government protests.
Vitali Klitschko, an opposition leader who is a former world heavyweight boxing champion, declared the only way to end the street protests - known as the Maidan after the central Kiev square occupied by demonstrators - is for Yanukovych to resign
No comments:
Post a Comment