RIAN: PACE commission wishes
to send observers to Chechen referendum
2003-03-06
PARIS, 6 March. /RIA Novosti correspondent Leonid Kokovich/.
On Thursday press service of the PACE headquarters in Strasbourg reported
that the political commission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe (PACE) proposed to dispatch its observers to attend the Chechen
referendum.
The decision on that matter will be agreed in details at the forthcoming
meeting of the PACE political commission which is scheduled to take place
in Paris on 10 March.
At the last meeting on 31 January the political commission was against sending
observers to the referendum on the new constitution in Chechnya. In the opinion
of analysts, the recent joint visit to Chechnya of PACE and OSCE representatives
demonstrated that presence of PACE observers on the day of the referendum on 23
March was necessary. It was conclusion of members of the delegation that influenced
the position of the PACE political commission, experts opined.