18762: (Hermantin) Miami-Herald-France, U.S. split on Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Wed, Feb. 18, 2004

CRISIS IN HAITI

France, U.S. split on Haiti

France wants the U.N. to send peacekeepers immediately, but Secretary of
State Colin Powell says the U.S. won't be involved without a political
settlement.

BY STEWART STOGEL AND FRANK DAVIES

fdavies@herald.com


NEW YORK - Saying the crisis in Haiti has ''moved beyond the discussion
phase,'' France on Tuesday launched a determined lobbying effort to rush
foreign peacekeepers to its former colony despite U.S. objections.

''We have to reflect on what we can do, for example, in the framework of the
[U.N.] Security Council,'' Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said in
Paris after a lengthy meeting with his Haiti experts.

But U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said earlier Tuesday that a
political settlement to the 2-week-old strife in the Caribbean nation is
necessary before Washington considers sending any peacekeepers.

''There is frankly no enthusiasm right now for sending in military or police
forces to put down the violence,'' Powell said of the strife that has left
60 dead as armed gangs push to topple President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

De Villepin, nevertheless, decided after his staff meeting to call Powell
and the other foreign ministers from Security Council member nations within
the next day to lobby for a peacekeeping mission to Haiti, a senior advisor
to de Villepin told The Herald.

ACTION ADVISED

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said the world body was ''extremely
concerned'' about Haiti and has been in touch with the Organization of
American States and the Caribbean Community, both are trying to mediate an
end to the crisis. But he made no mention of any specific U.N. plans.

''Can we deploy a peacekeeping force? We are in contact with all our
partners within the framework of the United Nations,'' de Villepin said
before the staff meeting.

Later, his advisor said the options agreed on include an initial deployment
of about 5,000 troops, which could grow later to 10,000, under formal
mandates from the Security Council, the OAS or the Caribbean Community,
known as CARICOM, he said.

France would be willing to send its own armed forces and would accept U.S.
financial and logistical support for the deployment but is not insisting on
a U.S. troop presence, the advisor added.

The French proposal runs counter to Powell's position. He said U.S.
officials have had discussions with France, the OAS and CARICOM about
``sending in police to sustain a political settlement, not to go in and put
down the current violence.''

''What we want to do right now is find a political solution, and then there
are willing nations that would come forward with a police presence to
implement the political agreement that the sides come to,'' Powell said.

Powell also called on Aristide and his political opponents to open a
dialogue and try to reduce tensions, which spring from disputed legislative
elections in 2000, as the OAS has sought for three years and CARICOM for the
past month. But the French believe that the OAS and CARICOM initiatives have
stalled and need new teeth, the de Villepin advisor said.

''An intervention force . . . implies a stop to the violence, a restart of
the dialogue,'' de Villepin told reporters in Paris. ``Nothing will be
possible in Haiti if there's isn't a jolt.''

In the Bush administration's strongest language yet, Powell said the United
States does not support opposition demands that Aristide resign before they
call off protest marches or the armed revolt in northern Haiti by gangs and
former soldiers opposed to the president.

''We cannot buy into a proposition that says the elected president must be
forced out of office by thugs and those who do not respect law and are
bringing terrible violence to the Haitian people,'' he said.

SOME UNDESIRABLES

''We also have some individuals coming back into the country who had
formerly been excluded from civil life in Haiti for very good reasons --
they're murderers and thugs, and we can't expect anyone to deal with these
kinds of individuals,'' Powell said.

He was referring to members and paramilitary supporters of the brutal
military dictatorship that toppled Aristide from 1991 to 1994, when U.S.
troops invaded the Caribbean country, who are backing the anti-Aristide
gangs in the current revolt.

U.S. officials in Washington also said the Bush administration soon would
begin a campaign to warn Haitians against a mass exodus by boat. The U.S.
Embassy in Haiti said it had already sent messages for broadcast by radio
stations in the north, a traditional launching point for smugglers' boats.

As the humanitarian crisis deepened in Haiti because of road barricades
manned by the anti-Aristide gunmen, U.S. AID officials said they were
preparing to send a mission there to assess its needs.

Sen. Bob Graham, D-Florida, meanwhile urged the Bush administration to
cooperate ''with an international military or police force to restore
order'' in Haiti.

''If we can send military forces to Liberia -- 3,000 miles away -- we
certainly can act to protect our interests in our own backyard,'' Graham
said. ``Inaction can no longer be our policy.''

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