18185: (Chamberlain) Caribbean leaders, Aristide, agree on Haiti steps (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Horace Helps

    KINGSTON, Jamaica, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Caribbean leaders mediating in
Haiti's political crisis have pressed the country's president,
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to end the impasse with his opponents and set a
timetable of four to six weeks for him to take some conciliatory steps.
     The Haitian leader accepted a series of proposals, Jamaican Prime
Minister P.J. Patterson said late on Saturday after a day of talks with
Aristide in the Jamaican capital.
     The measures include setting up a broad-based advisory council to the
government, appointing a new prime minister and disarming gangs aligned
with political parties.
    "We are committed to support those measures outlined," Aristide told
reporters. "I vow to keep my word and to deliver my end of the bargain," he
said.
     Armed gangs have been behind much of the political violence in Haiti.
Aristide's opponents charge the president has turned a blind eye to thugs
who support his ruling Lavalas Family and intimidate and attack critics of
the government.
     Several people have died in recent weeks in almost daily
demonstrations against and in support of Aristide.
     The agreed measures "can be done within the next four to six weeks,"
Patterson told a news conference after he and three other leaders from the
Caribbean Community spent the day with Aristide.
     "President Aristide has expressed his desire to comply. We believe
that he will act resolutely and in good faith," he said.
     Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has been mired in
political crisis since tainted parliamentary elections in 2000. Opposition
groups accuse Aristide of mismanagement and corruption and are demanding he
step down. They say they would not take part in fresh parliamentary
elections because conditions are not right for a fair vote.
     Aristide, a once wildly popular former Roman Catholic priest, has said
he will not step down until his second term ends, in 2006. He says he wants
to hold parliamentary elections within six months because he is without a
functioning parliament since the terms of some members expired last month.
     Saturday's agreement included a move to disarm all gangs, by urging
political parties to encourage gangs aligned to them to give up their
weapons in exchange for jobs.
     Patterson said the meeting agreed that an election commission should
be established, but it needed the opposition's support. He said Aristide
had agreed to the setting up of a broad-based advisory council, which would
have a role in picking a new prime minister.
     Patterson was accompanied at the talks by the prime ministers of St
Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Bahamas: Kenny Anthony, Patrick Manning
and Perry Christie. The group met with Haitian opposition representatives
last month.