12340: Face-to-Face Meeting Elicits Promises by Aristide (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Stanley  Lucas <slucas@iri.org>

Face-to-Face Meeting Elicits Promises by Aristide
www.haitipolicy.org
project staff, 2002-06-16

On June 14 President Aristide and opposition leaders met personally for the first time in two years, in a meeting mediated by OAS envoy Luigi Einaudi, and appeared to have made progress toward an agreement. After their homes and offices were burned down last December 17 by Aristide supporters, opposition leaders said they needed concrete signs that the government would prosecute those guilty of a series of criminal acts including the arson and the assassination of journalists. At the meeting, Aristide promised to take action on the following agenda. It was agreed that between now and July 7 concrete measures would be taken by Aristide toward:

C Restructuring the police

C Arrest of those responsible for violence of December 17

C Prosecuting the killers of Brignol Lindor and Jean Dominique and pursuit of other cases

Einaudi agreed that he would return within a month to reconvene the parties to review progress on this agenda and seek agreement on an initial accord on new elections.

Momentum toward the meeting grew during the week as Einaudi arrived on June 10 insisting that the parties come to the table. Aristide cut short a trip to a U.N. Food and Agriculture conference in Rome where he was to receive an award. He arrived at the Montana Hotel on the evening of July 11 with a large security retinue and met with Einaudi, claiming that the Convergence leaders refused to meet with him. Two days later the Convergence issued a narrowed-down list of specific actions Aristide should take to show intent to prosecute the killers and arsonists. After further shuttle diplomacy, Einaudi elicited a positive response from the Aristide camp on this agenda. Then the Convergence consented to the personal meeting. The meeting was personally difficult for Convergence leaders because they had to shake hands with the man who, in all likelihood, ordered the burning of their homes and offices last December 17 if not their assassination.

Attending for the Convergence were Luc Mesadieu of the Christian MOCHRENA party, OPL leader Gérard Pierre-Charles, and Hubert de Ronceray. The meeting took place at the Port-au-Prince residence of Haiti's papal nuncio, Luigi Bonazzi, the same location where they last met two years ago.

There was apparently no question of an agreement emerging from this meeting. Rather it was a tribunal where the opposition nailed Aristide and  his entourage for all the crimes, kidnappings, violence, and corruption ordered by those close to him and his armed enforcers. The conclusion was that Aristide has until July 7 to demonstrate with facts that he is making progress on the above agenda.