#4348: CANA: CARICOM to Send Second Mission to Haiti (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Max Blanchet <MaxBlanchet@worldnet.att.net>

The Caribbean News Agency (CANA) is the premier
provider of news and information from the English
Caribbean

CARICOM sending second mission to Haiti

Bridgetown, Barbados, CANA - The Caribbean Community
is to send a second mission to Haiti amid growing
post-election tension and controversy over the
vote-counting process that has favoured the Lavalas party
of former President Jean Bertrand Aristide.

This move follows a report from the first CARICOM mission,
headed by former St. Lucia Prime Minister John Compton,
that observed the May 21 parliamentary and local
government elections, sources said yesterday.

Amid pressures from some members of the Organisation
of American States (OAS), led by the USA, for some form
of sanction against Haiti -- possibly suspension of
membership -- CARICOM is remaining firm against such
punitive action while opting to make its own assessment
of the controversial vote-counting procedures that have
been denounced by opposition parties and civic
organisations in Haiti.