18489: Esser: Jamaica won't recognise unconstitutional gov't (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

The Jamaica Observer
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com

Jamaica warns it won't recognise unconstitutional gov't in Haiti

Observer Reporter
Thursday, February 12, 2004


Jamaica yesterday signalled that it would not recognise a Haitian
government that did not emerge from a constitutional and democratic
process - a position that foreign minister K D Knight is likely to
urge on the United States when he travels to Washington today at the
head of a Caribbean Community delegation to discuss Haiti's political
crisis.

Caricom will also seek support from the US and the Organisation of
American States (OAS) for a series of confidence-building initiatives
which Haiti's president, Jean Bertrand Aristide, agreed to in
Kingston a fortnight ago, but which have apparently been ignored by
his opponents who continue to insist that he should resign.

In a statement last night announcing today's trip to Washington, the
foreign ministry left no doubt that Jamaica, and apparently Caricom -
an economic and political grouping of Caribbean nations - would not
countenance the overthrow of Aristide in the months of violence that
has gripped Haiti.

"Mr Knight emphasised that any unconstitutional removal of the
government would result in a non-recognition of that which replaces
it, which has serious implications for the people of Haiti," the
foreign ministry said.

Knight is being accompanied to Washington by his Bahamian
counterpart, Fred Mitchell, Jamaica's non-resident ambassador to
Haiti, Peter Black, and Caricom's assistant general secretary, Colin
Granderson.

The regional delegation is expected to talk to the State Department's
assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere region, Roger
Noriega, as well as the secretary-general of the Organisation of
American States (OAS) Cesar Gavaria, who has long attempted to
mediate in what was a simmering crisis.

They will also meet members of the Congressional Black Caucus on Capitol Hill.

Haiti for a long time was treated with a sense of aloof distance by
the mostly English-speaking members of Caricom, but the relationship
changed after Haiti in 1997 became a member of the community and
signed up for participation in the Caribbean Single Market and
Economy (CSME), a seamless economic space among Caricom's 14 members,
except The Bahamas.

Additionally, Caricom has increasingly taken on a political role
rather than concentrating only on its trade and functional
cooperation arrangements - leading to the latest efforts to mediate
in Haiti's current crisis.

The Haitian opposition has claimed that legislative elections two
years ago were rigged and that Aristide's own re-election to the
presidency in November 2002 was also flawed, although most people
accept that the vote largely reflected the will of the Haitian people.

The opposition used the imminent end of the mandate of two-thirds of
the Senate to launch daily demonstrations since November, calling not
only for better elections but also the resignation of Aristide.

Caricom leaders thought that they had found a way out of the crisis
when they got Aristide to agree to a series of reforms on civil
liberties and to the establishment of a broad-based advisory body and
national government rather than ruling solely by decree in the period
of hiatus until legislative elections.

But the demonstrations and clashes between government and opposition
supporters that have claimed over 50 lives have continued, and this
week armed gangs took over several Haitian towns, including the
country's fourth largest, Gonaives.

"A democratically elected government can only be removed through
constitutionally accepted means," said Knight yesterday. "At the same
time we want to make it clear that President Aristide has a
significant role to play in restoring law and order in Haiti, and
they will have to honour any agreement arrived, in ensuring that this
happens."

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20040212T010000-0500_55668_OBS_JAMAICA_WARNS_IT_WON_T_RECOGNISE_UNCONSTITUTIONAL_GOV_T_IN_HAITI.asp