18713: Esser: France ready to help violence-hit Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

Reuters
France ready to help violence-hit Haiti
Tue February 17, 2004 06:28 AM ET

PARIS (Reuters) - Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin says France
is ready to offer humanitarian assistance to Haiti after the eruption
of an armed rebellion in the impoverished former French colony.

But he was non-committal about whether France would send a
peacekeeping force to the Caribbean nation, answering a question on
the issue by saying Paris was in contact with its partners in the
framework of the United Nations, which has set up a humanitarian
mission.

Villepin told France Inter radio he had asked a crisis group to meet
at the Foreign Ministry later in the day to consider what immediate
help could be offered to Haiti, where up to 50 people have been
killed in the revolt against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

"We have the means -- and many friendly countries are mobilised and
ready to act. We have to find a way to do this in liaison with the
different Haitian parties," Villepin said.

He said France could use its overseas territories of Antilles and
Guyana as platforms for its efforts to help Haiti.

"We have a reservoir of expertise in education, health and
humanitarian assistance there," he said. "We want to be able to make
all this available when the time comes and if circumstances allow."

U.N. officials said last week that hundreds of thousands of Haitians
could go hungry if the violence continued.

Tensions exploded into open revolt this month after gunmen who once
backed Aristide took control of the city of Gonaives, where Haiti's
slaves declared independence from France in 1804.

Aristide became Haiti's first elected leader in 1991 but now faces
accusations of corruption and political violence. Ousted in a
military coup soon after he was elected, he was restored to power in
a U.S. invasion in 1994 and re-elected in 2000.

Villepin called on Haitians to let "dialogue prevail over violence"
and said he hoped Aristide would promote such dialogue.

© Reuters 2004. All rights reserved.
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