WORLD : Havel Bows to Rights Groups, Cancels Talks With Waldheim
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NEW YORK — Czechoslovakian President Vaclav Havel has canceled controversial private meetings with Austrian President Kurt Waldheim scheduled for this week in Salzburg, the World Jewish Congress said today.
The group, which had strongly criticized Havel for planning to meet Waldheim, a man it has accused of being “part and parcel of the Nazi killing machine,” said it was informed of Havel’s decision by Czechoslovak Foreign Ministry officials.
Havel, a longtime dissident who assumed the presidency with the overthrow of his country’s Communist government, has also come under fire at home from human-rights activists for planning the meetings.
He and West German President Richard von Weizsaecker are scheduled to go to Salzburg on Thursday. It was not known whether the German leader would go ahead with his planned meeting with Waldheim.
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