Lech Walesa turns 60, throws last big birthday party

WARSAW, Sept 29 (AFP) - The Nobel peace prize-winning former leader of Poland's Solidarity trade union, Lech Walesa, celebrates his 60th birthday on Tuesday, throwing a big birthday party for the last time.

"We have been celebrating his birthdays since the strike," Danuta Walesa, the wife of the former Polish president said in a recent interview with the daily Rzeczpospolita, referring to the 1980 shipyard strikes in the northern city of Gdansk which paved the way for the fall of communism.

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"It will be the last birthday with such a large number of guests," she said. "At a certain age, one no longer needs to celebrate one's birthday with such ceremony."

The party for 450 people, which comes the day after his birthday -- he turned 60 on Monday -- will be held in the big garden at Walesa's house, the coordinator of the event, Ryszard Kokoszka, told AFP.

Among the birthday greetings Walesa received on Monday was from German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who pointed to his contribution to "ending the division of the European continent".

Although Walesa has remained on the sidelines of the political scene since being ousted as president in 1995 by Aleksander Kwasniewski, he has not ruled out standing in the next presidential elections in 2005.

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