14006: (Arthur) OAS press release 3 December (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Tttnhm@aol.com

Organization of American States
www.oas.org
Press Release                                       (E-240-02)
December 3,  2002



OAS ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL CALLS ON HAITIANS TO AVOID VIOLENCE AND ON
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO PROVIDE HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

OAS Assistant Secretary General, Ambassador Luigi Einaudi today called on the
people of Haiti to desist from efforts to solve their political problems by
violence and on the international community to provide humanitarian
assistance. The recent disturbances in Haiti, he said, underscore the need
for initiatives to create an independent electoral council and accelerate
efforts to affirm peaceful development and the rule of law.

Ambassador Einaudi addressed a panel discussion on the Summit of the Americas
Process, Regional Mandates and Implementation at the Pan American Health
Organization on the occasion of  PAHO's Centennial Anniversary.

Noting that Prime Minister Chrétien had singled out the need to make progress
in Haiti in his closing statement at the Quebec City Summit in April 2001,
the Assistant Secretary General said, "We are, as we speak, at a most
critical point where I believe it is essential that people in Haiti realize
that they must forego efforts to resolve problems by violence.  That
certainly goes as much for the opposition as for the state authorities.  At
the same time, we in the international community must move effectively to
provide economic assistance."

The Assistant Secretary General also said that the International Financial
Institutions, especially the Inter-American Development Bank, have a
critically important role in facilitating the normalization of international
economic cooperation with Haiti. OAS Permanent Council resolution 822 of
September 4, 2002 called on member states "to support normalization of
economic cooperation between the Government of Haiti and the international
financial institutions and urge those parties to resolve the technical and
financial obstacles that preclude such normalization."

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See the Haiti Support Group web site:
www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org

The Haiti Support Group - solidarity with the Haitian people's struggle for
justice, participatory democracy and equitable development, since 1992.
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