Germany, France Urge Ukraine's Rival Camps to Respect Peace Deal
Germany and France on Saturday urged the Ukrainian government and the opposition to respect a peace deal agreed a day earlier to end the ex-Soviet country's worst crisis since independence.
"It is now up to the two sides in the conflict -- the government as well as the opposition -- to stick to what was agreed and to begin building a relationship of trust," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a statement, as the regime of President Viktor Yanukovych appeared close to collapse after months of protests.
"The situation remains extremely fragile," Steinmeier said, adding that the priority now was for both parties to hold talks on forming a stable government acceptable to all sides.
"It is perhaps the last chance to come to a peaceful development for the future of Ukraine," he warned.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius meanwhile called on both sides "to refrain from violence and adhere to the agreement they reached", according to a ministry spokesman.
The peace deal agreed on Friday and brokered with the help of Germany, France and Poland called for early elections and a new unity government, while granting amnesty for anti-government protesters detained during three days of unrest that claimed nearly 100 lives.
But Yanukovych appeared to be losing his grip on power on Saturday, with the emboldened opposition taking control of parliament and key parts of Kiev and pushing for the president's resignation.
Yanukovych for his part condemned a "coup" by the opposition and refused to step down.
Fabius, Steinmeier and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski also spoke by phone with their Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Saturday to discuss the rapidly evolving situation in Kiev, according to Moscow's foreign ministry.
The ministry said Lavrov had expressed his concern and urged the trio to use their "influence over the opposition to achieve a swift implementation" of the deal.
Poland's Sikorski took to Twitter to deny that the events in Kiev amounted to a coup.
"No coup in Kiev. (Government) buildings got abandoned," he wrote.
Source: Agence France Presse
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