18724: (Chamberlain) France-Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By JOHN LEICESTER

   PARIS, Feb 17 (AP) -- France's government gathered an emergency team
Tuesday to deal with the increasingly dangerous situation in former colony
Haiti and was weighing whether peacekeepers could intervene to calm the
impoverished island's bloody uprising.
   Logistics including a possible U.N. role must be resolved before any
French venture in the Caribbean could get under way. But France could in
the meantime offer aid and other emergency services from its territories in
the region, said Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin.
   "What can France do specifically? First, we want to reflect on what
could be done urgently. Can we deploy a peacekeeping force? We are in
contact with all of our partners in the framework of the United Nations,
which has sent a humanitarian mission to Haiti to see what is possible," he
told France Inter radio.
   He cautioned that deploying peacekeepers "is very difficult" when a
nation is in the throes of violence. Still, he said he called an urgent
meeting at his ministry Tuesday of a "crisis group" of French officials "to
see what immediate contribution we can make."
   He noted that France has territories in the region and expertise in the
fields of education, health and humanitarian aid.
   "We have some very important assets close to Haiti, with our departments
in the Antilles and Guiana," he said. "It is all that that we want to make
available when the time comes and if the circumstances permit," he said.
   The French Defense Ministry said it has 4,000 military personnel at two
bases in the area, in Martinique and Guadeloupe.
   Asked whether an intervention could be quickly organized to stop a
worsening of violence, De Villepin replied: "Absolutely. We have the means
and many friendly countries are mobilized."
   "They are ready to act. We must find ways to do that in liaison with the
Haitian parties so that a process of dialogue can resume," he said.
   Among France's top concerns is the welfare of about 2,000 French
citizens who live in Haiti, mostly the capital, officials in Paris said.
   Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has appealed for international
help to quell the uprising that has killed more than 50 people and
destabilized the Caribbean country. Rebels have taken control of parts of
the north and center of Haiti.
   De Villepin said "many countries are ready to mobilize in support of
Haiti."
   "But, of course, that supposes a spurt of effort by Haiti's political
class, that President Aristide commits himself to a respect of civil peace.
That's his first responsibility."
   He called for talks.
   "This implies that President Aristide, who over the years has let things
degenerate, can find the strength to move toward dialogue, and that all
Haitian officials think only of one thing: Haiti and the Haitian people who
have suffered for too many years," the French minister said.
   Discontent has grown in Haiti since Aristide's party swept flawed
legislative elections in 2000. Opposition politicians refuse to participate
in new elections unless the president steps down -- but Aristide insists he
will stay until his term ends in February 2006.
   "It's a country in a catastrophic situation, with 90 percent of the
population that lives on less than $1 a day, life expectancy that is around
52 years," said De Villepin. "It's a country that today is on the edge of
chaos."