15900: This Week in Haiti 21:13 6/11/2003 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

"This Week in Haiti" is the English section of HAITI PROGRES
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                           HAITI PROGRES
              "Le journal qui offre une alternative"

                      * THIS WEEK IN HAITI *

                      June 11 - 17, 2003
                         Vol. 21, No. 13


POWELL PROPOSES HAITI "REEVALUATION" IN SEPTEMBER

Once again, the Haitian government has bowed to foreign pressure.

Two weeks ago, David Lee, head of the Organization of American States (OAS)
Special Mission to Haiti, complained that he had not been "consulted" about
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's appointment of Jean-Claude Jean-Baptiste
as police chief (see Haïti Progrès, Vol. 21, No. 12, 6/4/2003).

Last week, Jean-Baptiste resigned and was replaced by Jean-Robert Faveur,
former police chief of Haiti's Southeastern Department.

This concession did not appease the Bush administration, which maintained
its hostile stance towards Aristide. On Jun. 9, U.S. Secretary of State
Colin Powell declared at the 33rd General Assembly of the OAS held in
Santiago, Chile that "Haiti's democracy and economic growth are undermined
by the government's failure to create the conditions for an electoral
solution to the political impasse."

The U.S. had planned to present a tougher position on Haiti during the
meeting, but settled for a less aggressive resolution, perhaps due to
lingering hemispheric anger over its invasion of Iraq and resistance to its
campaign to bring sanctions against Cuba. A watered-down OAS resolution was
adopted Jun. 10, which just reiterates calls for the application of OAS
Res.
822 (see Haïti Progrès, Vol. 20, No. 26, 9/11/2002).

But Powell promised he would be back. "If by this September the government
of Haiti has not created the climate of security essential to the formation
of a credible, neutral and independent provisional electoral council, we
should reevaluate the role of the OAS in Haiti," he said. One can be sure
that agencies of the U.S. government will continue to do their utmost to
politically destabilize and economically strangle Haiti in an effort to
undermine this "climate of security." However, the country remains
remarkably calm despite such ongoing campaigns and the opposition's
intransigence.

Powell said that Washington would ante up another $1 million to sustain
Lee'
s meddling operation and proposed that the Special Mission creep into other
realms such as helping to "improve the security climate for what we hope
will be free and fair elections in Haiti." He also proposed a fig leaf $70
million in humanitarian aid, which goes directly to U.S.-linked missionary
groups and NGOs, not the Haitian government.

At the OAS summit, the Bush administration also wanted to rally nations to
apply sanctions against Cuba, but OAS members objected that they could not
discuss a country which was not present at the debate. Cuba is not an OAS
member.

Members of the Washington-backed Democratic Convergence opposition front
were heartened by Powell's threats. "It is good pressure from the
international community," said Convergence spokesman Micha Gaillard,
erroneously attributing Powell's remarks to the entire body. "The U.S.,
judging that the OAS should reevaluate the situation in Haiti, has given
the
Special Mission other responsibilities now. On the other hand, the national
community will also have to show that it is not fooled by the government's
sham moves like replacing the police chief."

All of Aristide's concessions seem only to embolden the opposition, which
is
intent on removing him from the political chessboard. Clearly, the
government sees the cliff off which Washington wants to drive the
situation.
"If by the term end of the 47th Legislature [in January 2004], elections
have not been organized, that will result in an institutional crisis," said
Anthony Dessources, a member of the President's cabinet, in a Jun. 4 press
conference at the National Palace naively appealing to the OAS. "To avoid
this crisis, we must organize these elections, however, despite government
appeals, the opposition has not agreed to to take part in the formation of
the CEP [electoral council]. So during its General Assembly, the OAS should
find a new formula which would allow Haitian authorities to put a CEP in
place." Such a reworking by the Washington-dominated OAS is highly
unlikely.

Nonetheless, the request prompted the Convergence to write to the OAS's
Permanent Council. It  wanted to appear "flexible" and laid down its
conditions for joining any CEP. "Every measure [Aristide] takes will have
to
be submitted for our evaluation," said Gérard Pierre-Charles, another
Convergence leader. If they approve (as they never have), then Convergence
leaders would "fulfill our engagements" by "delegating a representative" to
the CEP, Pierre-Charles said.

Meanwhile disillusioned liberal James Morrell's Washington-based Haiti
Democracy Project (HDP), whose board is studded with U.S. government hacks
and spooks, wrote a letter to the OAS calling for the body to apply the
Democratic Charter against Haiti. "The General Assembly should invoke
Article 21 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, suspending the Haitian
state from 'the exercise of its right to participate in the OAS,'" the HDP
wrote.

Speaking on Radio Solidarité on Jun. 10, Ben Dupuy, secretary general of
the
National Popular Party (PPN) said that Powell and the Bush administration
"are encouraging the traitors [in the opposition] to continue their
maximalist policy, their 'zero option' [code for Aristide's overthrow]. We
should expect the attacks and destabilization campaign waged from the
Dominican Republic to continue. We think they are going to paralyze the
situation until the parliament expires and then they can cry 'dictatorship.
'"

In the face of such a campaign, the government must stop giving fruitless
concessions, Dupuy said. "The government must stand up, as we've been
saying
for a long time," he said. "Form the CEP and hold elections. If the
opposition doesn't take part, that's their problem. Because the policy of
trying to please those people is going nowhere."


THE GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO SHED LIGHT ON ITS ELECTRIFICATION PLANS

In the government's weekly Tuesday press conference on May 27, Jules André
Joseph, general director of the state electric utility Electricité d'Haïti
(EDH), was wildly optimistic about the government's plans to provide around
the clock electrical power in the coming year. "Thanks to the policies of
the government and the measures taken by the President, we are 100% sure
that the problem of electricity shortages will be resolved," Joseph said.

However, he did not explain to the public how and with what means he might
accomplish this ambitious project.

Joseph said that work is already underway throughout the country in order
to
meet the president's goal of providing power 24 hours a day and that it is
costing the state a fortune. But he gave no information about how the
projects were being financed and implemented, who was in charge, or whether
such improvements would be maintained in the medium and long term. It would
be to the government's advantage to furnish such details thereby disproving
its critics' frequent charge that it lacks transparency in its dealings.

Take, for example, the electrification of the northern city of Cap Haïtien,
the contract for which the government has given to a private firm, the
General Corporation of Energy (SOGENER).  The government has not made
public
the content of its contract with SOGENER, nor the amount involved, nor the
length of the deal.

All these details would allow citizens to demand accountability, if need
be.
There are already grounds to demand explanations, if not accountability,
for
the frequent power outages which again plague the city. Is this due to
problems with installing new equipment? This would be understandable. We
have learned that two of the seven generators installed by the SOGENER are
not functional.

But it might be a problem with the quality of equipment used by this firm.
As for the government, is there a commission charged with verifying, on a
technical level, that SOGENER is meeting its obligations in accordance with
the contract?  Presently, it is impossible to know since the terms of this
contract have not been made public.

Also, what happens when the term of the contract expires, since it cannot
be
a contract for life? Clearly, the government does not have the wherewithal
to autonomously sustain such infrastructure. All the more reason not to
launch headlong into deals with private firms which, once the deal is
concluded and payment safely stashed, have no moral responsibility other
than some completely unreliable legal constraints.

Sooner or later, the consequences may be felt. In the present political
situation, the government authorities should explore other avenues, such as
contracting with friendly nations with expertise in this domain, in the
framework of bilateral cooperation.

Jules André Joseph urged the Haitian people to support the government's
electrification program and indicated that EDH, although financially
strapped, is planning medium and long-range projects that will cost more
than $500 million. Clearly, that EDH does not have the means to carry out
such plans.

And after 2004, given its meager revenues, will the government be able to
continue to sustain power, or will this be a "flourish" of electricity
entailing even more shortages and deficits in the future?

All articles copyrighted Haïti Progrès, Inc. REPRINTS ENCOURAGED.
Please credit Haïti Progrès.

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