(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-25 03:24

PRAGUE -- Mayors from regions surrounding the Brdy military grounds of the Czech Republic agreed on Friday to form an association of towns and villages against a planned U.S. radar base on Czech soil.

The association will negotiate with the government on radar base, which is to be built near Misov, west Bohemia, some 90 km southwest of Prague, on the Brdy military training grounds.

The constituent document of the association was signed by 31 of 34 municipal representatives present at a meeting in Rozmital pod Tremsinem, Central Bohemia.

The mayors initiating Friday's meeting disagree with the results of a Defense Ministry study that the radar base is harmless. They rejected a possible state compensation for the radar base.

However, Strasice deputy mayor Frantisek Nerad, who refused to join the association, insisted that talks with the government are important for the surrounding municipalities as the cabinet can help them gain financial compensation for having been limited by the nearby military grounds for more than 80 years.

Jan Neoral, the mayor of Trokavec said he had recently addressed 737 mayors from around the Czech Republic and that 64 had offered their cooperation.

"I have also prepared a letter to U.S. senators and to the Green parties in Europe," Neoral said, adding that the mayor of Hiroshima, Japan, has also called on municipalities to cooperate in the fight against the radar base.

The U.S. unveiled its plan in January to place 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic, as components of the missile defense shield.

According to a recent public opinion poll, more than two thirds of Czech citizens oppose the installation of the base. Parties in the coalition government are also divided on the issue.

In referendums held in several municipalities in the area, people have voted against the base.

Russia has also expressed strong objection to the U.S. missile defense program in Poland and the Czech Republic.