12537: AP071102:OAS negotiator gives up (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: PSlavin@unicefusa.org

Posted on Thu, Jul. 11, 2002

OAS negotiator gives up on brokering political peace deal in Haiti
BY MICHAEL NORTON
Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE -- Abandoning what may be the last Organization of American
States attempt to mediate an end to Haiti's 2-year-old political impasse,
Assistant Secretary General Luigi Einaudi left Wednesday, empty-handed.

''The way we have approached the problem has not produced the expected
results,'' Einaudi told reporters as he prepared to fly back to the OAS
headquarters in Washington, D.C. ''We need a new formula,'' he said,
without spelling out an alternative.

Einaudi's impatience with opposition politicians filtered into his
comments, leading some to conclude that the OAS may bypass them in future.

''The curtain has fallen on the sorry farce of OAS-mediated talks,'' said
former President Leslie Manigat, who withdrew from the opposition
negotiating team earlier this year.

Now, the OAS probably will use the pretext of an upcoming electoral
deadline to go with an elections timetable set by President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide's Lavalas Family party, Manigat suggested.

Einaudi's visit, which began Friday, was his third this year and his 24th
since the crisis arose over flawed 2000 legislative elections swept by
Aristide's party.

The international community blocked hundreds of millions of dollars in aid
it says will not be released until both sides agree on new elections.

Einaudi said he would ask the OAS Permanent Council for new instructions
later this month.

The opposition coalition and Aristide's party broke off talks after a Dec.
17 armed attack on the National Palace. At least 10 people were killed in
the attack and subsequent violence instigated by Aristide backers who
torched opposition offices.

Opposition leaders maintain the coup was staged to give the government a
pretext to clamp down on opponents.
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