Tariceanu: Inflexible towards the Hostages’ Crisis

On Sunday night, Calin Popescu Tariceanu stated in Luxembourg that Romania "must not cease under the pressures we are facing".

PEACE. 30 pigeons flew into the skies from the middle of the marching people.

The Romanian Prime Minister made a trenchant statement, in the most tensioned moment since the start of the crisis of the Romanian hostages in Iraq. This is a dangerous statement for the negotiations with the kidnappers and in a clear contradiction to the Romanians’ perception, the majority of which, according to a recent CURS survey, wants the retreat of the military troops from Iraq. Today, at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, the four-day long ultimatum that the terrorists gave for the retreat of the Romanian troops from Iraq, in exchange for the lives of the Romanian journalists, would expire.

We walk slower and slower as if we would want the time to pass in the same rhythm, but there is no slower walking than this. We are approximately 600 people, journalists, actors, political people, old men and children, students and pupils, Romanians and Iraqis. Quietness. On the sidewalks of Magheru, the usual cram transformed into the same slow stepping. No one tries to get ahead of anyone, no one pushes. No one runs. At the same pace, the words of the people in the column pass near our ears. The same issue is being whispered. An unperceivable murmur: "The negotiations…without money…don’t have any chance…they were caught… let’s hope… captured…".

FREE. LIBERTATE. "I have three children…two boys and one girl, just like them. I haven’t shaved since I heard they were caught", says sadly a man near us in the column. Tens of people came with their children. A lad carried by his father on his shoulders wears a T-shirt with the faces of the three colleagues of ours, made on his size.

Posters with the faces of Ovidiu, Marie-Jeanne and Sorin are everywhere: on the chests of the people, above our heads held by tens of hands, on the bikes in the back. A man dressed in a suit carries a huge suitcase and, because his left hand is unusable, holds the poster with the hostage in his teeth, and uses his right hand to hold it against the wind!

Thousands of posters with the three have covered Bucharest since Saturday. They are in the buses, at the entrances of the blocks of flats, on the pillars, on the cars. There are a few other hundreds with the three journalists in the column together with about 15 small pictures of Mohammad Munaf, posted in a hurry on the huge banner in front of the column.

"I got here too late and I didn’t receive any poster with the journalists. I received one with Munaf", says one of the few people having pictures with the Romanian-American. A little child holds in his arms a white balloon with "Freedom" written on it. A lady walks on the side of the column wearing a placard saying: "Discover the terrorists inside that might collaborate to the ones outside" (written with a marker). It is the only request that is different from the big request: "Free them!"

WE STOP IN FRONT OF GOVERNMENT BUILDING. The people that started walking from the University Plaza stop in front of the Embassy of Luxembourg after more than half an hour of marching. This is the country in which, now, President Traian Basescu, the leader of the crisis cell in Bucharest, is. Prime Minister Tariceanu is there with him too. There haven’t been any news from the authorities since Friday night…

GREY PIGEONS. The people gather in a circle. White balloons are being freed in the air, and 30 pigeons follow them. The birds should send the freedom message to the ones that kidnapped our colleagues. But the pigeons don’t go to Iraq. They go back to their breeder, Constantin Marinescu. Back in the 1st District.

"The Romanians Mustn’t Cease under the Pressures"

Referring to the crisis of the hostage journalists, the Prime Minister said in Luxembourg that, if Romanians are strong people, they will have to prove their solidarity in these difficult moments "and not to cease under the pressures" they have to face.

The Prime Minister stated that Romania is going through a difficult moment, in an answer to the HPR (the Humanist Party in Romania) request of withdrawing the military troops from Iraq. "We face a very difficult trial", Tariceanu also said, adding that people’s power is shown by the difficult moments. "If Romania is a powerful country and the Romanians powerful people, than they will have to prove their solidarity in these difficult times and to cease under the pressures we have to face", the PM stated.

SDP Asks for Consulting

SDP (the Social Democratic Party in Romania) asks President Traian Basescu for an urgent consulting with the parliamentary parties for taking a decision in the case of the Romanian journalists kidnapped in Iraq, as well as for the setting of a calendar for the retreat of the Romanian troops. "Romania is the victim of a violent blackmail. We ask the President of Romania to urgently initiate a procedure for consulting all the parliamentary parties and the urgent meeting of the SCCD (Supreme Council for the Country’s Defense) with the purpose of a rapid examination of the situation", the SDP president, Mircea Geoana (photo), stated yesterday. He was for the setting of a calendar of the Romanian troops’ presence in Iraq, even though he believes that, from the logistical and practical point of view, the retreat is "impossible" in such short time. Geoana avoided giving a deadline regarding Romania’s presence in Iraq, saying that one should analyze the situation of the journalists as well as Romania’s international obligations. "This calendar must be compiled, but has to take into consideration the coalition’s needs. We have to find a calendar without leaving the impression we ceased to the blackmail", Geoana explained. On the other hand, the former External Affairs Minister criticized Basescu for not having an exit strategy and for his statements a few weeks ago saying that "the Romanian troops will remain in Iraq" and the Romanian soldiers will leave when the last Americans will. "In my life, I declared my love to the Americans, but I didn’t go so far. This is too much", Mircea Geoana explained. (By Lavinia Dimancea)