Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-04-18

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Search on for police guard's attackers

[02] Scientists eye Med desertification at Crete meeting

[03] Balkans must strive for peace, Meimarakis stresses

[01] Search on for police guard's attackers

The two men stripped the guard of his arms - a service revolver and a sub-machine gun - and his bullet-proof vest before escaping on foot.

Public Order Minister Vyron Polydoras said that authorities were investigating all angles regarding the incident. It had also led to a revision of the terms and demands for guarding, protecting and patrolling important persons and facilities, especially static sentries, the minister said.

The head of the Judges and Prosecutors Union condemned the incident as a direct attack on justice that sabotaged the rule of law.

According to Justice Minister Anastasios Papaligouras, meanwhile, "justice could be neither intimidated nor disarmed".

Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of Supreme Court President Romylos Kedikoglou

[02] Scientists eye Med desertification at Crete meeting

This observation was made by scientists from Greece, Italy, Spain, France and Portugal, meeting in Hania, Crete within the framework of a programme on implementation of joint actions to combat drought and desertification in the Mediterranean Basin.

Caption: A file photo shows the Lompoul desert camp located in the sand dunes of the Lompoul desert, western Senegal, Sunday, 16 May 2004, shortly before the June 2004 10th anniversary of a United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, a plan aimed at stopping the phenomenon. According to the UN, oe-third of the Earth's surface is at risk, driving people into cities and destroying agriculture in vast plains of Africa. Thirty-one percent of Spain is threatened, while China has lost 36,000 square miles to desert since the 1950s. ANA-MPA / EPA/NIC BOTHMA

[03] Balkans must strive for peace, Meimarakis stresses

"We neither desire, nor can allow, retroversion or tolerate situations that could once again serve as a brake on the course to a better tomorrow," the minister stressed.

"The security of one is the security of the other. What threatens one also threatens the other, it threatens us all," Meimarakis said.

He said that although the Balkan region was no longer the powder-keg of Europe, it nevertheless required particular caution because the situation was fluid, and cited the example of Kosovo "where a mutually acceptable solution on its future status has not yet been found".

Meimarakis termed the first meeting of Balkan Chiefs of General Staff as "historic", saying it was a large contribution in the direction of consolidating peace, cooperation and security in SE Europe.

"Regular meetings contribute to the consolidation of a climate of confidence, through a frank dialogue. There may be different assessments on certain issues, but this must not create tension amongst us. We must, with respect for the opposing view and tolerance for the other viewpoint, carry on a dialogue, tear down walls, and build bridges of cooperation and understanding among us," Meimarakis urged.

He said that the eyes of the citizens were turned on the summit, which must send a clear-cut message that "the citizens of our countries must feel safe".

"Despite the isues that exist, we can give solutions to the benefit of all, through dialogue and diplomacy," he continued.

Greece, as an EU and NATO member, was forming bilateral relations on an equal footing, materialising its Economic Reconstruction Plan for the Balkans (ERPB), and backing the Euro-Atlantic prospects of the SE Europe countries, and the programmes for cooperation and peace, Meimarakis stressed.

Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of Defence Minister Evangelos Meimarakis addressing a meeting of ambassador in Athens last July.

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