Opposition rejects offer of PM post

BBC Online :Ukrainian opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk says protests will continue after he rejected President Viktor Yanukovych’s offer to appoint him as prime minister of the country.Mr Yatsenyuk said the opposition was generally ready to accept leadership, but several key demands must be met, including new elections. Clashes continued overnight. Activists stormed a Kiev building housing police.The president’s proposal came amid new efforts to end the deadly unrest. Ukraine’s opposition leaders have apparently interpreted President Viktor Yanukovych’s latest offers of significant concessions, including top positions in the government, as a sign of weakness and are forging ahead with their campaign to unseat him.Their plan may indeed work. But if it doesn’t, it could spell disaster for them, their supporters and the country as a whole. Both sides are playing a game of attrition. Mr Yanukovych seems to be hoping that the longer the negotiations, parliament votes and other political manoeuvrings drag on – and this includes the political jockeying that would follow Arseniy Yatseniuk’s becoming prime minister – the more air will escape the protest movement.But the opposition, at least at the moment, does appear to have the upper hand. Their activists have taken their battle beyond Kiev to government offices in half of the country. And camps in central Kiev could only be dislodged after a brutal and bloody struggle.It is also possible that Mr Yanukovych’s recent proposals are not sincere. But if they are, it now looks as if he is prepared to forfeit everything – short of his actual presidency. The question is whether he could eventually give this up, or ultimately, with his back against the wall, he would fight back like a cornered animal.He offered the post of prime minister to Mr Yatsenyuk and the position of deputy PM to former boxer Vitali Klitschko following talks on Saturday.But the BBC’s David Stern, in Kiev, says the opposition – confident in its position – appears to have taken these offers as a sign of weakness on Mr Yanukovych’s part, and is forging ahead with the campaign to unseat him.Speaking to large crowds in central of Kiev late on Saturday, the opposition leaders repeated their demands.”Viktor Yanukovych announced that the government wasn’t ready to take the responsibility for the country and offered to the opposition to lead the government,” said Mr Yatsenyuk.”What is our response to this? We are not afraid of the responsibility for the destiny of Ukraine.”Later, in a tweet Mr Yatsenyuk said: “No deal @ua_yanukovych, we’re finishing what we started. The people decide our leaders, not you.”Mr Yatsenyuk says that Tuesday, when a special session of parliament has been called, will be “judgement day”. The opposition is demanding that a free trade agreement with the European Union be signed and political prisoners be freed, including former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.