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Ukraine is on the brink of civil war. According to the official figures, the Ukrainian Prime Minister, the pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych, was elected President of the country with a tiny advantage over his adversary, the pro-Western Victor Yushchenko. The Electoral Commission announced the final results of the election on the evening of 24 November, provoking a series of public demonstrations by supporters of the losing candidate Yushchenko. It is the first time since regaining her independence that the Ukraine is experiencing such high tension. The demonstrators are challenging the regularity of the elections and do not recognise the results as valid. They include members especially university students and seminarians of the Greek-Catholic Church of the Ukraine, who have come out in support of a personal appeal made by Cardinal Lubomyr Husar at the side of the people demonstrating in the streets. Demonstrations, meetings, debates and prayer vigils have been organized. One bishop appealed to the population to demonstrate, “while banishing from their hearts any feeling of hatred, vendetta and anger”. The Catholic University of Lviv officially declared it recognized Viktor Yushchenko as President of Ukraine, while the “Justice and Peace” Commission of the Greek-Catholic Church requested help from the international community. “We ask for solidarity from all people of good will. We ask you to be at the side of the Ukrainian people at this time. We ask you to express a strong position in defence of truth and the fundamental rights of the people”. The situation. Yushenko accused the central power of preparing “an act of force” against the opposition, and in a message addressed to “soldiers, policemen, commanders and chiefs of the armed and security forces” appealed to them not “to use force against the people”. The EU’s senior representative for foreign policy Javier Solana also intervened on the question: he rejected the accusations made by Moscow following the doubts expressed about the voting procedure for the election of the Ukrainian President. ”The European Union was accused of inciting violence – said Solana in a presentation before the Foreign Affairs Commission of the European Parliament but this of course is something that the Union had never done”. The voice of the Church. An appeal to the nation to listen to the voice of the people, who are demonstrating “in a peaceful manner” and “in defence of their constitutional rights, was made on 23 November by Cardinal Lubomyr Husar on behalf of the bishops of the Greek-Catholic bishops of Ukraine, meeting in Synod in Lviv since yesterday. In a message published in full by the Catholic press agency “Risu”, the bishops align themselves with the Ukrainian people who are demonstrating “to defend their constitutional rights in a peaceful manner”. “They are courageous people writes Cardinal Husar ; they are responsible and ready to sacrifice themselves. They ought to be honoured and their voice heard, because “the voice of the people is the voice of God”. Hence the appeal to the new government authorities: “We appeal to those who hold the power conferred on them by this same people, asking them not to succumb to any temptation, at this time of extreme difficulty, to use their role, the methods of force, and the security forces for their own personal interests, against the people. Their activity should be used within the limits of legality”. In his message to the nation Cardinal Husar recalls that ever since the electoral campaign, the Catholic Church had never given its backing to either of the two candidates for the Presidency of the country. It had only in a statement put out jointly with the other Christian churches present in Ukraine recalled a series of “possible violations” such as “the interference with the free expression of the citizens’ will, one-sided information, the improper use of State resources, the buying of votes, and the rigging of electoral results”. In his appeal, Cardinal Husar asks: “Have we not been witnesses of these violations? On several occasions the President of the Ukraine publicly declared that the elections would be democratic. Was he, as guarantor of the Constitution of the Ukraine, able to ensure this?” Cardinal Husar concluded his appeal by recalling to prayer, “in this difficult moment for our country”, “individuals, families and the entire nation”. The same appeal appears on the web page of the Risu agency. In presenting the message of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic bishops to the press, Bishop Stepan Meniosk, exarch of Donetsk and Kharkiv, declared: “If we hold our tongues, we risk remaining slaves forever”.
