"Now, Do You See the Beacon, Ambassador?"

Fifteen anglers in Chilia Veche have tried on Tuesday afternoon to move one of the Ukrainian beacons anchored in the Romanian bank. Under the surveillance of a Ukrainian military ship, they wanted to show the Ukrainian ambassador, Teofil Bauer, that the beacons exist and they are in the Romanian bank.

They gathered in the afternoon, when the sun was setting. They were about fifteen. All from Chilia Veche. Since the Ukrainians put the beacon, no more than 4 meters away from the Romanian bank, everything went bad on the Danube. They did not catch anything. They waited an answer form the authorities. The first ones that they contacted have been the Frontier Police. They had no answer. "We have been ordered not to interfere in this issue! There is nothing we can do! We cannot help you!". The villagers also heard the words of the Ukrainian ambassador in Bucharest, Teofil Bauer: "I don’t know anything about Ukraine anchoring beacons on the Romanian bank of the Danube. I don’t know anything about that!". The anglers then decided to try solving their problems on their own and show the official the real state of fact: "Since they didn’t put any beacons, we can move them!". It happened on Tuesday in the Delta, near the Maican Island.

"WE MAKE OUR OWN JUSTICE". All of the fifteen gathered near the Maican Island, the place where the Ukrainians anchored two of their beacons. Until last week, one of the drags was also anchored a few meters away from the Romanian bank. The problem solved itself, the Ukrainians changing the place of the works and implicitly taking their drag with them. But the beacons are still there. "We cannot do anything since they are here. All the fish ran away. One has to wait for weeks in order to catch anything. We cannot live like that. If we do not catch any fish, we cannot get any money and we cannot eat. We have to make our own justice", says Vasile Branza. He is 30 years old and has a one-year-old child. They finally go on. They go at sea. They go first to the "36.5" beacon, anchored further from the Romanian sea, but right in the middle of one of the good fishing areas. It seems too far, too hard to get to it. The Ukrainians’ ships are also close, few meters away. It is dangerous. The Ukrainians have often proved to them that they are sharp. They decide to go to the other beacon, the one four meters away from the Romanian bank. The ones that have motor boats tow away the ones with oars. They hardly get there. They tie up one to each other. They start pulling. At first, it is hard, the metal does not move. It inclines under the pressure of the ropes, but does not cease. The anglers are unorganized. They try again. Again, no result. Third time it’s better and the beacon starts to move. They pulled with strength and managed to move it. They managed to move it for about 50 meters, but after that, it hit the bottom of the Danube and could not be moved anymore. They left it there saying a last question: "Do you see the beacon now, ambassador?".

ABERRATIONS. In Bucharest, president Ion Iliescu stated on Tuesday night, at TV Romania 1, that Ukraine’s accusations according to which Romania built three channels with an impact upon the Danube Delta ecosystem are "aberrations", "inventions", sayings without any valid grounds.

LOOKOUT

As soon as the anglers tried to move the beacon in the Romanian bank, a Ukrainian military ship got in the area and watched closely the action. The only officer on board has permanently communicated through his walkie-talkie and tried more than once to get closer in order to see more details. Our Eastern neighbors’ military ship remained near the Maican Island long time after the Romanians gave up. Fortunately, the Ukrainians did not intervene after the Romanians left.

COURAGE

The lessee of the Northern part of the Danube Delta, Robert Raduta, supported the anglers in Chilia in their attempt of moving the Ukrainian beacon. Raduta seemed unsatisfied by the Romanian authorities’ reaction after the anchoring of the Ukrainian beacons. "Without any exaggeration, history was written here. The Romanian anglers tied up one to each other and tried moving the beacon. I did not think they would do much, but these 50 meters mean a lot. Practically it was proved that, if the authorities didn’t do a thing, there was someone to take the problem in his own hands against the Ukrainians", said Robert Raduta.

COMPLAINTS

"We sued the Ukrainians, but we cannot pay for that. The Ukrainian anglers received compensations, we didn’t", complains one of the participants, Ioan S. Gheba. He is 46 years old and has three children. He is not pleased with the Ukrainians and with the weak reaction of the Romanians. "Why do they let him do anything they want? I paid a lot on my tools. Since the Ukrainians came, no one catches anything in the Danube. You cannot leave Chilia and move somewhere else, since one cannot have any warranty the Ukrainians wouldn’t come there to anchor beacons, too", he says.