18352: Esser: Caricom must warn (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

The Jamaica Observer
Editorial
Caricom must warn

Monday, February 09, 2004

A week ago, after Caribbean Community leaders had wrung concessions
out of Haiti's president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, about the future
conduct of his government to political reform and democracy, this
newspaper argued that the route to the return to stability in that
country could not be a one-way street.
We still hold that view.

Indeed, Caricom's leaders must exert pressure on the Haitian
opposition to act responsibly and warn that should they persist in a
process that undermines the regional peace initiatives and the
process towards democracy in Haiti, any emergent government will not
be easily welcomed into the councils of Caricom.

For while we agree that there appears to be some worrying aspects to
some quality of governance offered by President Aristide and his
Lavalas movement, the problem is not unique to Mr Aristide and his
political party.

The truth be told, Haiti has long suffered from a serious deficit of
the democratic ideal and the main beneficiaries of the weakness in
the country's political process have, in the past, been mostly from
the socio-economic and socio-ethnic grouping who form the leadership
of those who are now Mr Aristide's main opponents.

Indeed, after the circumstances of his overthrow of the mid-1990s, it
would be understandable that President Aristide would be sceptical of
the legitimacy of those who now demand his resignation, two years
ahead of the end of the second term and after an election, to which
it is widely held, reflected the will of the Haitian people.

Nonetheless, President Aristide in the Kingston Accord agreed to
several confidence-building measures, aimed at setting the stage for
the return of the opposition to the electoral commission so that it
can draft new rules to allow for the holding of legislative
elections. Most of these measures were to have been implemented
within six weeks.

Unfortunately, in the week since Prime Minister P J Patterson, on
behalf of Caricom, outlined the undertakings, the Haitian opposition
have maintained their daily demonstrations, many of which have turned
violent.

We believe that the action of the opposition created the atmosphere
in which armed thugs have seized the city of Gonaives, after killing
several policemen.
The official opposition have sought to distance themselves from the
Gonaives thugs and the developments in the city. That is not good
enough.

They need to retreat from the streets, enter serious negotiations
with Mr Aristide on Haiti's future and halt the country's headlong
rush into total anarchy.
Caricom made a good start in talking tough to Aristide, warning him
that he could face sanctions if he failed to observe the spirit of a
code of conduct to which Haiti implied it would adhere when it became
a late member of the community.
The Haitian opposition must be reminded of Caricom's principles. They
must also be told that it is in the community's interest that one of
its member states does not tear itself apart.
They must know, too, that if their actions lead to the further
bleeding of Haiti and they emerge in a new government, they will not
be welcomed in our club.6