ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, November 26, 1996             TAG: 9611260104
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 

IN THE WORLD

Belarusians give leader more power

MINSK, Belarus - Belarusians gave their authoritarian president more power Monday, with election results showing them overwhelmingly voting to expand his control over all branches of government.

President Alexander Lukashenko issued not-so-subtle warnings Monday to opposition leaders, who call the election unfair and are pressing ahead with impeachment proceedings begun last week.

Lukashenko's bid to change the constitution and expand his powers won 70.5 percent of the votes cast Sunday across this former Soviet republic, the Central Election Commission said.

Independent election monitors from the European Parliament cited more than 1,000 violations in the voting, while an observer group from the Belarusian parliament cited nearly 600 violations.

``Yesterday, we saw a farce which they called a referendum,'' parliament speaker Semyon Sharetsky said. ``The most ferocious dictatorship is creeping in.''

- Associated Press

U.S. to help evacuate Kurds from Iraq

The U.S. State Department has decided to help evacuate some 5,000 Kurds and others from northern Iraq because of fears that they may be in imminent danger from Iraqi security forces, a spokesman said Monday.

They will be taken to Turkey and then flown to Guam in the next few weeks in a joint operation with Turkey, said Glyn Davies. ``We believe they are at sufficient risk they should be brought out,'' he said.

In Guam, the Kurds will be processed for asylum in the United States.

The Kurds were left behind after an American-led rescue in September of 2,000 other Kurds, most of whom have been resettled in the United States.

- Associated Press

LENGTH: Short :   42 lines