13918: Arthur - Frustration with shoddy reporting of Haiti boils over. (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Tttnhm@aol.com

Charles Arthur writes:

Frustration with shoddy reporting of Haiti boils over.

An article entitled "The Americas: Frustration boils over Haiti" published by
The Economist, dated 11/30/02, adds to a growing pile of sub-standard
reporting on Haiti.

Is it really too much to expect for journalists to check their facts, or for
editors to check that their journalists are able to process bare information
and regurgitate it without serious error or without making dubious
interpretations?

I have three points of complaint arising from this one short article :

One is the sentence, "On November 20th, four people were shot dead in
Petit-Goave.";

and then there are two extremely contentious points contained in the
paragraph, "A gleam of light came last September, when the United States
agreed to support the unfreezing of aid for Haiti if proper elections were
held next year, a new electoral council was set up and public security was
improved. But the government has dragged its feet. The deadline for creating
the electoral council passed on November 4th, and the government was also
miserly in compensating opposition leaders whose homes were burned by
pro-government mobs last December."


Re: the four 'dead' people in Petit-Goave.

According to all media reports about this incident, there were no fatalities.
Some people were shot, but none died. Alive - dead, quite different.

Did The Economist's writer read the following international news wire reports?

a) Student demonstrators in Haiti storm police station
by MICHAEL NORTON (Associated Press) PORT-AU-PRINCE, Nov 20 - Anti-government
protesters forced their way into a police station courtyard in provincial
Petit-Goave on Wednesday, prompting a clash with authorities that left 10
people injured, four with gunshot wounds, news reports said. (...)

The four people shot were in stable condition, a hospital administrator told
independent Radio Metropole. It was unclear how the other six were injured or
what condition they were in. (extract ends)

b) Haitian Police Fire on Demonstrators
By Michael Deibert, Port-au-Prince, Nov 20 (Reuters) Police opened fire open
on thousands of students demonstrating for the resignation of Haiti's
embattled president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in the provincial city of Petit
Goave on Wednesday, private Radio Metropole reported, wounding six and adding
fuel to the fire of massive demonstrations that have shaken the country in
recent days....There were no reports of fatalities.   (extract ends)


Re: the new electoral council, the government dragging its feet, and the
passing of the November 4th deadline.

The November 4th deadline was indeed missed because seven of the nine groups
who were supposed to nominate their representatives for the electoral council
did not do so. Five of them asked for another 15 days to consider their
position. Accordingly on November 19th, these five put forward the names of
their representatives. So did one of the two opposition party coalitions.
Adding these six to the two nominated by the Lavalas Famly party and the
judiciary, meant that only the Democratic Convergence had not complied with
this part of OAS Resolution 822.

Did The Economist's writer read the following international news wire report?

Haiti groups designate electoral representatives
By MICHAEL NORTON, PORT-AU-PRINCE, Nov 19 (AP) - Five civil society groups
said they would appoint representatives to a new electoral council Tuesday,
bringing Haiti one step closer to holding long-awaited parliamentary
elections next year.

The organizations, from churches to human rights and business associations,
refused earlier this month to designate representatives until the government
could show it had done more to ensure security, disarm partisans and
prosecute those responsible for political attacks.

On Tuesday, the groups said President Jean-Bertrand Aristide had made
declarations and acts to mitigate their concerns, and they forwarded to him
the names of five appointees. (extact ends)

Did the Economist's writer read the following Organization of American States
press release?

Organization of American States Press Release (E-228-02), November 20, 2002
HAITI AT CRITICAL JUNCTURE

Assistant Secretary General Luigi Einaudi reported to the OAS Permanent
Council that the Government of Haiti and the OAS Special Mission had agreed
on 15 November, 2002 on formal terms of reference covering technical
assistance from the OAS in the areas of elections, elections security,
disarmament and the professionalization of the Haitian National Police.

These agreements were cited by five key nongovernmental institutions on 19
November in presenting names to President Aristide for the formation of the
Provisional Electoral Council (CEP).  The prompt formation of the Council is
now critical. (extract ends)


Re: the "miserly" compensation offered by the government to opposition
leaders whose homes were burned down last December.

If the Economist's writer had checked local media coverage, or even phoned
the Organisation of American States, then surely the Haitian government's
offer could not be described as miserly. Around US$1 million is a large
amount of money for a cash-strapped government. It is also a significant sum
in the context of the tiny amounts of compensation paid to a handful of
victims and relatives of victims of the 1991-94 coup regime.

That the compensation issue has not yet been resolved would appear to be
mainly a consequence of Convergence members' refusal to accept the money on
offer.

Did the Economist's writer contact the OAS in order to be appraised of its
understanding of this issue, as presented in the OAS Secretary-General's
recent report?

FIRST REPORT OF THE SECRETARY GENERAL TO THE PERMANENT COUNCIL
ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RESOLUTION CP/RES. 822
September 4 – November 4, 2002

Reparations: On the basis of the July 9 agreement between the Minister of
Justice and the Claimants and their Representatives, reparations have been
paid to Mr. Reynold Georges, leader of ALAH, a former coalition partner of
MPSN (a constituent of Convergence Démocratique) and were offered to Evans
Paul, leader of KID, a coalition partner of Espace de Concertation (another
constituent of CD).  Partial payment has also been made to Mr. Luc Mésadieu
and Pastor Sylvio Dieudonné, leaders of MOCHRENA (a third constituent of CD).
 The Mission has been advised by the Government, informally, that discussions
are ongoing with that party on a number of additional claims.  The same
government source informed the Mission that negotiations have been completed
with Victor Benoit, leader of KONAKOM (a fourth constituent of CD) to settle
claims in relation to losses suffered by himself and his party.

The government reports that as of November 4, 34 million gourdes
(approximately US$963,719.00) have been allocated to satisfy the claims of
four of the five political parties and their leaders, all signatory of the
July 9 agreement with the Minister of Justice and that US$ 150,000 is
available for the French Institute of Haiti.

Disappointingly, however, the matter is not wholly resolved.  Negotiations
are still ongoing with the OPL which has submitted a claim for all the
victims affiliated to it throughout the country. It also appears as of
November 4 that matters were not yet fully completed with KONAKOM. Moreover,
there appear to be some thirty other individuals who are listed in the Report
of the Advisory Council on Reparations and whose cases have not yet received
much attention.

The Government has proposed in unspecified terms as of November 4, the
creation of a Fund for the victims.  To ensure greater transparency and to
avoid any charges of manipulation of the process for political advantage, the
Special Mission has suggested to the government that a mechanism could be
devised to handle the matter neutrally and at arms length, for example by
assigning it to a reputable international accounting firm to settle claims on
the basis of the recommendations of the Advisory Council on Reparations,
within a specified, short, time frame.