18542: (Chamberlain) US says foreign police may help in Haiti crisis (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 (Reuters) - The United States said on Thursday it
was discussing the possibility of foreign police being sent to Haiti but
that it was not pushing for President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to step down
to defuse an armed revolt.
     U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said he would discuss at a crisis
meeting on Friday in Washington whether Canada and Caribbean nations could
bolster Haiti's police, which have been battling rebels for control of some
towns this month.
     Powell said he has been disappointed in Aristide's performance since a
U.S. invasion a decade ago restored him to power following a coup. But he
stressed the former Roman Catholic priest, whose term ends in 2006, was
elected democratically and that Caribbean mediators were focusing on a
negotiated solution in the Hemisphere's poorest nation.
     "The policy of the administration is not regime change. President
Aristide is the elected president of Haiti," Powell told the Senate's
Foreign Relations Committee.
     "We will be discussing with the Canadians and CARICOM (the Caribbean
Community bloc) nations whether or not they are in a position to provide
police support to the government in order to bring these disturbing
situations under control," Powell added.
     A senior State Department official said the idea, already discussed
between Powell and Canada's Foreign Minister Bill Graham, was for Aristide
and Haiti's opposition to move to calm the violence before police
reinforcements would be sent.
     "Step one is for Haitians to at least start to contribute to a
situation of calm," said the official, who asked not to be named. "There
might be a role in that context for foreign police to go down to maintain
order."