21.   In recent weeks, newspapers have reported increasingly larger stoppages involving thousands of workers, a phenomenon which is clearly worrying the government.

22.   And that has the government worried.

23.   President Nelson Mandela has in recent months sought rapprochement with China, worrying the government here.

24.   The deteriorating situation has also worried the governments Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine, which border Belarus.

25.   The German government is worried by turmoil on the currency markets, a spokeswoman for the finance ministry said here on Wednesday.