An international historical conference on Thaddeus Kosciusko opened in Brest on Friday, May 21.
Organized by the Cultural Department of the Brest Regional Executive Committee and the Polish General Consulate in Brest, the conference brought together 280 historians and members of foundations
representing Australia, Austria, Belarus, Britain, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and the United States, Leonid Nesterchuk of the Brest region's Kosciusko Association told BelaPAN.
The organizers want the conference to advertise the activities of the Belarusian-born Polish and American national hero and help raise funds for the reconstruction of the Brest region's historic sites connected with Kosciusko.
The regional authorities have taken a serious effort to commemorate the famous historical figure, according to Mr. Nesterchuk. A bust of Kosciusko has recently been put up in the village of Sekhnovichi,
Zhabinka district, which also has a Kosciusko museum. Last year, the authorities got down to rebuilding Kosciusko's estate at Merechovshchina near Ivatsevichi. Most money for the $112,000 project was provided out of the regional budget. In addition, more than $28,000 was donated by the US embassy in Belarus.
The regional government has requested the embassies of Poland, France, Lithuania, Switzerland and the Polish consulate in Brest to render assistance in collecting Kosciusko memorabilia. Thaddeus Kosciusko (Pol. Tadeusz Kosciuszko, Bel. Tadevush Kastsyushka), born on February 4, 1746, fought against the British in the American Revolutionary army, then returned to his homeland to lead a 1794 uprising for Polish independence. A defeat from the united forces of Austria, Prussia and Russia was followed by years in Russian captivity. Pardoned by Emperor Paul I of Russia, Kosciusko spent his last years in exile and died in Switzerland in 1817. Kosciusko rests at the castle of Polish kings in Krakow. His heart is kept at the royal palace in
Warsaw.
Frost on the night between May 14 and 15, an extremely rare phenomenon at this time of year, killed or damaged as much as 1,852 hectares of crops in the Gantsevichi district, Brest region.
The district agriculture department says that the frost devastated 564 hectares of corn, 394 hectares of spring grain, 320 hectares of winter rape, 257 hectares of sugar beet, 25 hectares of vegetables and
some areas under other crops. The damage and the exact amount of the dead and damaged crops are yet to be determined. The plants destroyed by frost will be replaced with annual forage crops and corn, as it is too late to sow spring crops.
The Brest region needs over 180 new iron removal plants to meet tap water safety standards. Twenty percent of the region's urban and rural population currently consume tap water containing excessively high levels of iron, regional officials said at a May 17 meeting that focused on the progress under the national government's water
treatment program.
The regional government spent 21.3 billion rubels on measures to improve tap water supply and the quality of drinking water in 2002 and 2003. Last year, two artesian wells were built in the town of Mikashevichi, a deferrization plant in the village of Zhidche near Pinsk and water treatment facilities in Beloozyorsk.
Work is currently underway to complete an intake facility in Brest, iron removal plants in Ivatsevichi and water treatment facilities in Brest, Pinsk, Luninets and Lyakhovichi.
Particular concerns have been caused by the quality of water drawn from shaft wells in rural areas. One in three such wells was found to contain increased bacterial levels in 2003.
The regional government has outlined efforts to solve the existing problems regarding the supply of tap water to households. It plans to suggest financing the construction of key water treatment facilities under the national government's program.
Russia's Kaliningrad exclave signed an agreement on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation with the Brest region on May 14.
The signing ceremony at the office of the Brest regional government crowned a two-day visit by a Kaliningrad delegation, which was led by Vice Governor Oleg Shlyk and included representatives of
commerce and industry associations and business executives.
The delegation visited local companies and met with Konstantin Sumar, chairman of the Brest Regional Executive Committee.
Mr. Shlyk said the accord provides for the establishment of a joint company to cut and deliver granite from Belarus to the exclave.
The Kaliningrad province vowed to increase imports of other building materials and agricultural produce, while the Brest government pledged to make arrangements for the admission of applicants from Kaliningrad to the city's universities.
Trade between the provinces rose by almost 50 percent to $6.4 million last year. In the first quarter of 2004, trade jumped by 72 percent year on year to $1.9 million. Vladimir Zalomai, former governor of the Brest region who heads the Belarusian embassy's department in Kaliningrad, accompanied the delegation.
He said that more than 85,000 Belarusians living in the exclave make up more than eight percent of its population.
Officers of the Kobrin inter-district office of the State Control Committee's Financial Investigations Department apprehended a group of 16 illegal migrants from China without identification documents on the night between May 11 and 12 near the village of Gaikovka in the
Kobrin district, Brest region, the interior ministry's Information and Public Relations Office told BelaPAN.
The migrants were reportedly seized while they were being transported on a Ford minivan driven by a 30-year-old man resident in Minsk. They were put in a detention center pending a decision on their deportation from Belarus.
More than 10 kilograms of dried and ground cannabis was discovered by police officers and border guards at a barn belonging to a 78-year-old retiree a few miles outside Brest on May 11. The raid was conducted as part of a special anti-drug campaign launched in the region recently, Viktor Vasilevsky, spokesman for the regional police office, told BelaPAN.
A criminal case was opened in connection with the find.
Meanwhile, a university student was arrested in Brest on May 8 while trying to sell 3.9 grams of marijuana. The police established that he had managed to sell 4.6 grams a few days before, and 25 grams more were found at his apartment. The police do not rule out a connection between the two cases.
24 May 2004