EU/UKRAINE : EU CALLS FOR HALT TO 'CYCLE OF VIOLENCE' IN UKRAINE.

The European Union has urged Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych to keep the promises made to the opposition and restore the rule of law. At the same time, it called on the opposition to preserve the peaceful nature of its demonstrations.

"I conveyed the European Union's deep concerns about the latest developments," declared Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule after his visit to Kyiv, on 24 January. He stressed the need to "end the cycle of violence, to fight against impunity of perpetrators of human rights violations and to continue an inclusive national dialogue to find a way out of the crisis".

ENDING DISAPPEARANCES

In a statement, released on 27 January in Kyiv, the EU Delegation in Ukraine denounced "arrests of wounded people in front of clinics, several cases of disappearances and reported torture [ ], which can be accepted under no circumstances". European observers reported that several demonstrators placed in pre-trial detention "had signs of having suffered severe beating and gave detailed accounts of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment". For the delegation, stopping these practices "is an indispensable prerequisite for confidence building between government and society".

The delegation called upon the "government to deliver on its promises" made in the context of negotiations with the opposition. President Yanukovych offered the posts of prime minister and vice-prime minister to opposition leaders Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Vitali Klitschko, but they are demanding early elections. The EU also pressed the opposition "to maintain the peaceful character of demonstrations and to dissociate itself from all those who make use of violence in pursuing their aims".

The Union is prepared to help its "Ukrainian partners"...