ROMANIA: DEATH OF A DICTATOR : Washington Recognizes New Regime : Foreign policy: The White House pledges its support but criticizes the quick execution of Ceausescu and his wife.

The White House on Monday announced the establishment of diplomatic relations with the new government of Romania, but it criticized the government’s execution of ousted dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, after a quick trial.

“The U.S. government, with the full support of the American people, extends to the National Salvation Front congratulations on the establishment of a government founded on the democratic will of the Romanian people,” White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said.

He added that the United States pledged its support to the new government “as it struggles to achieve its announced democratic values.”

The reform group, whose supporters are still fighting members of Ceausescu’s security forces, has pledged to hold elections soon.

Sean Walsh, a White House aide, said the Bush Administration regrets that the trial given the Ceausescus “did not take place in an open and public fashion. We urge an end to all violence and bloodshed in Romania.”

In an announcement Monday, the new Romanian government said the dictator and his wife, who had served as the regime’s No. 2 official, were tried on a series of charges alleging genocide and abuse of authority and then were executed upon conviction. The Ceausescus were reported captured Saturday as they attempted to flee the country through a secret tunnel.

A senior U.S. government official, who declined to be identified by name, said that although the new Romanian authorities “certainly got up the bill of particulars charging them with crimes in a hurry” and rushed Ceausescu to judgment, he was “sympathetic with them and what they did after 24 years of such brutal, oppressive rule.”

“I think what they did represented at least some discipline on the part of the army, which has joined the new reformers in fighting Ceausescu’s security forces,” the official said. “If the civil group had captured him, he would have been hanging upside down like Mussolini. At least they went through the motions of a trial.”

The status of the Romanian Embassy in the United States is unclear. The ambassador, Ion Stoichici, was appointed by the Ceausescu government, but he and his staff Saturday signed a statement renouncing the dictator and declaring allegiance to the incoming reformers.

A senior Bush Administration official said the Administration is now concentrating on organizing shipments of humanitarian aid to Bucharest.