Don't hide the wife, Genghis will be late

ULAAN BAATAR - They were supposed to be the celebrations that would attract 400,000 visitors and put independent Mongolia on the world map, but instead a public relations disaster is in the offing.

Plans to commemorate Mongolia's greatest hero, Genghis Khan, are running into major delays and political rows. This summer marks the 800th anniversary of the warlord's unification of the marauding Mongol tribes, at whose head he swept across Asia and created the world's largest land empire, but nearly every construction project in his name is way behind schedule.

Even round-the-clock shift work is unlikely to see a new national museum in Ulaan Baatar's main square finished in time for the all-important Naadam festival in July. Nor will a gigantic $900,000 statue of Khan be ready for the grand unveiling.

Critics say the Mongolian Government should have stumped up the money for a new film about its 13th-century warrior. Instead, the project has gone to the Japanese, although the local actors have demanded an extra $1650 because, they argue, the foreign film-makers are exploiting a Mongolian legend for their own ends.

In addition, the capital's authorities are being accused of failing to prepare the city for the hoped-for tourist invasion.

Visitors face an almost complete lack of public toilets, potholed roads and cracked pavements, and will be confronted by rubbish everywhere.

And the younger generation is not even sure that Genghis Khan is the sort of hero they want to celebrate anyway. "He means little to my friends," said Otgoo, a 23-year-old English teacher. "He was dreadful to women, too. Mongolia should be addressing the issue of corruption, not having a big celebration for a cruel man who should not be concerning us any more."

One of the few events going to plan is a much-trumpeted cavalry display by 500 members of Mongolia's armed forces. Dressed as 13th-century warrior-horsemen, they will re-enact the exploits of the merciless hordes who smashed their way to world domination from Beijing to Hungary.

Older Mongolians hold Genghis Khan in particularly high esteem. For these people, who saw their traditional culture stamped out and virtually every Buddhist temple destroyed by the Communist purge of 1937-38, the anniversary has special significance. The romance of Khan's achievements indirectly inspired the freedom movements of the late 1980s. There are even calls to move the capital back to Kharkhorin, the capital he created.

With Mongolia's move to free-market economics, however, has come a steep rise in the level of corruption. Daily demonstrations outside Parliament House call for an end to undue foreign influence, particularly in gold and copper mining. The divide between rich and poor is widening and many male manual workers are now out of a job while women are benefiting from the growing service sector and are securing most university places.

- INDEPENDENT