DRESDEN Germany was Tuesday celebrating a decade of unification with festivities taking place throughout the country.
Guest speaker at the main official ceremony in Dresden was French President Jacques Chirac. But a notable absentee was the unification chancellor, Helmut Kohl, who was not invited because of a scandal over fund-raising for his Christian Democrat Party (CDU).
Kohl, however, was taking part in a ceremony elsewhere.
Guests from 10 countries were being welcomed in Dresden by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and President Johannes Rau.
Unification festivities got under way on Sunday and Monday with programs of music, cabaret plus radio and television documentaries and interviews.
Around 30,000 people attended Monday night a song festival in Dresden featuring choirs from all over Germany. This was followed by a fireworks display against the backdrop of the old city.
Some of the main players in the unification process were brought together to appear Sunday on a high-profile chat show on the ARD Television network compared by Sabine Christiansen.
Her guests included Hans-Dietrich Genscher, the West German foreign minister at the center of events in 1989 and 1990, his Moscow counterpart of the time, Eduard Shevardnadze, Britain's then foreign secretary Douglas Hurd, France's ex foreign minister Roland Dumas, former United States secretary of state James A.
Baker as well as East Germany's last prime minister, Lothar de Maiziere.
(DPA)