LUKASHENKO DECREES BEAR HIS STAMP.

Belarusan president Aleksandr Lukashenko on March 5 issued a decree banning the use in rallies and demonstrations of flags, emblems, and symbols which are "not officially registered." The measure evidently reacts to the use of Belarusan national flags and historic symbols in anti-presidential and pro-independence demonstrations. In another decree on the same day, Lukashenko instituted a new annual state holiday — April 2 — as the Day of Unification of the Peoples of Belarus and Russia. On April 2, Russian president Boris Yeltsin and Lukashenko signed the treaty establishing the Russia-Belarus Community. (Itar-Tass, March 5-6)

Tiraspol Shaken by OSCE Report.