Greenland University
Posted on 01/11/2003 7:59:51 AM PST by TheConservator
Greenland's coalition government was on the verge of collapse on Saturday in a row over cronyism after just three weeks in power, officials said on Saturday. Political leaders on the vast Arctic island, which is home to a US military base slated by Washington to be part of its missile defence shield, were in talks on forming a new coalition backed by a majority in the home-rule parliament.
Greenland is part of NATO-member Denmark but the home-rule administration runs local affairs with Copenhagen responsible for foreign, security and defence policy.
The coalition between the left-wing, nationalist Inuit Ataqatigiit (Inuit Brotherhood, IA) party and the social democratic Siumut - formed after elections in early December - ran into trouble when Greenland's top civil servant, Jens Lyberth, hired an Inuit healer to chase away evil spirits from government offices.
Lyberth's decision to do that, apparently without consulting IA officials, upset Siumut's coalition partners and brought tension over other matters to the boiling point.
The IA is also accusing Siumut, led by home-rule prime minister Hans Enoksen, of having bestowed favours on its own people in the form of top jobs in the administration.
Enoksen appointed Lyberth, a personal friend and Siumut's election campaign manager, without announcing the job officially or consulting his coalition partners.
"They (Siumut) have appointed people without using normal procedure. They hired the people and fixed the paper work afterwards," a spokesman at the home-rule government's information office in Nuuk told Reuters.
Josef Motzfeldt, the IA leader who is also foreign and finance minister said: "Hans Enoksen was of the opinion that we could continue our government cooperation but I told him that IA will respond to contacts we have had with three other parties about negotiations on another coalition."
Although the coalition has not been formally disbanded, its days are numbered, analysts said.
"In reality the cooperation is over," Daniel Thorleifsen, a political scientist at Greenland University, told Greenland's KNR public service radio news.
Officials said both the IA and Siumut are trying to form a new coalition with the country's third largest party, the liberal Atassut, but neither has yet managed to reach an agreement.
Formally, the Siumut-IA coalition remains in office and officials said nothing was expected to happen until at least Monday when party leaders were to return to Greenland from negotiations in Copenhagen.
The political crisis in Greenland comes as the United States is awaiting replies from Copenhagen and Nuuk to its request to upgrade a ballistic missile early warning radar at Thule air base in northwestern Greenland.
Denmark and Greenland have tentatively agreed to work out their replies by summer.
More independence from Denmark and an equal say in international affairs directly involving Greenland topped the Siumut-IA government's foreign policy agenda when it took office.
An IA-Atassut coalition, forcing Siumut into opposition, would be historic since Siumut has sat in every Nuuk government since Greenland won home rule in 1979.
The IA, which opposes the U.S. plan to upgrade Thule, wants a referendum in 2005 on full independence. Atassut advocates continued strong ties with Denmark.
"I'm Melting!! I'm Melting!!
Greenland University
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