13068: Chamberlain (news item): Haiti government hails OAS aid resolution (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Michael Deibert

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Haiti's government welcomed on
Thursday a resolution by the Organization of American States urging the
resumption of international aid to the impoverished nation after a two-year
suspension.
     International donors halted about $500 million in aid to Haiti and its
8 million people after disputed May 2000 legislative elections. Foreign
observers and Haitian opposition parties said the results were calculated
to favor President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Lavalas Family party.
     The OAS resolution on Wednesday, which called for "the normalization
of economic cooperation" between Haiti and international financial
institutions," also sought free and fair legislative and local elections
next year.
     "This is a good resolution for Haiti," said Secretary of State for
Communications Mario Dupuy, speaking on private Radio Metropole. "We expect
a positive reaction from all parties concerned."
     But opposition leaders and some government officials remained
skeptical that the resolution would provide immediate relief for the
poorest country in the Americas.
     "It doesn't mean anything in terms of actual disbursement of funds,"
said a government official who asked not to be named. "There are still many
conditions to be met, and huge financial and technical obstacles in the
way."
     Aristide, a former radical Roman Catholic priest who was first elected
in 1990 and served a tumultuous first term interrupted by a military coup
and exile, began his second term in January 2001 but has been bogged down
in the vote dispute.
     U.S. Ambassador Roger Noriega, chairman of the Permanent Council of
the OAS, said the resolution, which called for disarmament of government
militants and reparations to victims of political violence, acknowledged
the "grave social and economic problems that continue to confront the
Haitian people."
     "The resolution calls on the Government of Haiti to fully comply with
past OAS resolutions and take further steps to ensure free and fair
elections, end impunity and strengthen democracy," he said in a written
statement.
     Evans Paul, a former Port-au-Prince mayor and member of the opposition
Convergence coalition, said the resolution meant Aristide could no longer
blame the opposition and the international community for Haiti's woes.
     "The resolution demands that he respect human rights and democracy,"
he said.
     In recent weeks, major roadways around the country have been blocked
almost daily by protesters with a host of grievances.