April 5, 2015 UPDATE
A look at some of the top stories in Romania today
Newsroom, 05.04.2015, 12:05
The foreign ministry in Bucharest has created a crisis cell following the kidnapping of a Romanian citizen by armed men on Saturday in Burkina Faso. The Romanian citizen, who carried a French passport, was working as a security officer at a manganese mining project, close to the border with Mali. He was kidnapped while on patrol together with two other colleagues. Their car came under attack by five armed unidentified men. Security forces have been sent to search for the Romanian citizen and his abductors. Romania does not have an embassy in Burkina Faso, but the Romanian foreign ministry has sent its instructions to other diplomatic missions in the region.
Military festivities were held on Sunday in all army units across the country to celebrate NATO Day, which marks the anniversary of Romania’s 11 year-membership. In Bucharest, the Defence Ministry organised a military parade and a Doors Open Day, events which were also attended by the defence minister Mircea Dusa. NATO Day has been celebrated in Romania since 2005 on the first Sunday in April. Also on Sunday, minister Dusa began a 2-day official visit to Georgia following an invitation by his counterpart Mindia Janelidze. He will be laying a wreath at the Heroes Memorial in the Heroes Square in Tbilisi and will have talks with senior Georgian officials, when he will reiterate Romania’s support for Georgia’s euro-Atlantic future.
Roman-Catholic and Protestant Christians around the world celebrate Easter, including Romania’s 1 million Catholic community. At the Vatican, Pope Francis gave his Urbi et Orbi blessing in a number of languages, including Romanian. The pontiff called for an end to the tragedies and persecutions committed in the name of religion in Africa and the Middle East and welcomed the recent nuclear agreement with Iran. Romania, which is a majority Orthodox country, celebrated Palm Sunday, which marks Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, now almost 2,000 years.
The first Congress of the Unionist Diaspora came to an end on Sunday in Bucharest. The event brought together more than 100 representatives of ethnic Romanian communities abroad that militate for Romania’s union with the ex-Soviet Republic of Moldova with a majority Romanian speaking population. The proposals to achieve this goal were be laid down in a resolution. According to opinion polls carried out by associations of Romanians in the diaspora, three quarters of the Romanians living abroad are in favour of Romania’s union with the Republic of Moldova.
The funerals of Paul Grigoriu, one of the most popular radio journalists in Romania, were held on Sunday in the village of Buciumeni, in southern Romania, where he had been living in his final years and where he died on Friday at the age of 70. After 1989, Paul Girgoriu was Deputy Director General of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation and interim Director General and presented popular shows on Radio Romania’s Current Affairs channel. Before 1989, he was the head of Radio Romania International’s French Service, among others. For his service to public radio, he received the Cultural Merit Order and the Faithful Service Order. He is also the author of several books of prose and literary reportage.
