September as part of a deal to prevent a violent confrontation.
The agreement, closely watched by Christian and other groups fighting against corruption and for more transparency, followed what Yushchenko described as hours of long "and difficult" negotiations. The visibly tired president told reporters the deal was aimed at ending a bitter dispute between him and the prime minister.
"I want to say on this great day, we have great news. We can now say that the political crisis in Ukraine is over. We have reached an agreement that the basis for resolving the crisis is to hold early parliamentary elections on September 30th," he said.
Sunday’s apparent breakthrough came amid reports that President Yushchenko sent a few thousand Interior Ministry troops to Kiev to boost security in the capital.
INTERIOR TROOPS
The president earlier issued orders to take control of tens of thousands of interior ministry troops away from the government led by Yanukovych. That move was denounced by Prime Minister Yanukovych’s allies as a "coup attempt."
President Yushchenko also tried to fire the prosecutor general, who is allied to Yanukovich. However riot police loyal to the prime minister prevented this, with some climbing over a fence and accompanying the prosecutor general back to his office
On Sunday, May 27, however, bowing to international pressure, both sites reached a compromise to end the stand-off. Standing next to the president, Prime Minister Yanokovich said that besides an accord on fresh elections they also agreed to no longer intervene in the work of police and courts.
POLITICAL DECLARATION
"We also signed in our political declaration that we will not interfere with the work of the judiciary nor law-enforcement agencies, and we will ensure they are stable," Yanokovich stressed.
Yet there remain doubts whether Prime Minister Yanukovich and President Yushchenko will be able to work together. Yanukovich, who was ousted as president by Yushchenko during the Orange Revolution, is seen as pro-Russian, while Yushchenko favors closer ties with Western Europe and the United States.
As politicians fight for power and the country’s direction, increasingly frustrated Ukrainians wait to see when, and if, the reforms promised during the Orange Revolution will ever be realized, BosNewsLife established this year.
CHRISTIANS CONCERNED
Hundreds of outspoken allegedly persecuted residents, including devoted Christians, in the Ukrainian border town of Uzhgorod have been among those anxiously awaiting what they describe as high-level corruption.
Located in a strategic region sandwiched between EU nations, a group of residents known as ’The Concerned Citizens of Uzhgorod’, still await results from their appeal to stop corruption to the pro-Western President Victor Yushchenko.
Analysts say however that the power struggle between President Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yanukovich has made it difficult to tackle crime on a local level.
In last year’s open letter the ’Concerned Citizens’, some of whom were beaten for questioning corruption practices, asked the president to expand the Orange Revolution to this key border area, which they claim has been ruled by corrupt officials supported by police, judges and prosecutors. They reminded him to pledges he made during the 2004 Orange Revolution for democracy, including stamping out corruption in border regions. (Part of this BosNewsLife News Story also airs on Deutsche Welle Radio. Click http://www.dw-world.de/popups/popup_mediaplayer/0,,4047_type_liveaudio_struct_266,00.html)
