18789: (Chamberlain) UN council leaves Haiti crisis to regional groups (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Irwin Arieff

     UNITED NATIONS, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council expressed
deep concern on Wednesday over increasing violence and instability in Haiti
but left it to regional groups to lead the search for a solution to the
crisis.
     The 15-nation council strongly supported initiatives put forward by
the Caribbean Community CARICOM and the Organization of American States,
said Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya, the council president for February.
     A statement Wang read to reporters following a closed-door meeting on
the crisis called on President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and opposition groups
"to restore confidence and dialogue and overcome their differences
peacefully and democratically through constitutional means."
     "What council members agreed is to let the regional organizations,
CARICOM and the OAS, play the leading role. But of course, if the situation
deteriorates, then council members can see what the council can do," Wang
said.
     Haiti, the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation, has a long history of
coups, political unrest and violence, and the United Nations has a long
history of involvement in the Caribbean nation, but with mixed results.
     The United Nations sent a peacekeeping mission to the Caribbean nation
in March 1995 but shut it down in February 2001, saying it was underfunded
and could not function properly in a climate of constant political turmoil.
     The U.N. mission was sent in after a U.S.-led invasion force restored
Aristide to power in 1994. Aristide, Haiti's first freely elected
president, had been ousted by a military coup in 1991.
     The council issued its statement as a rebellion gripped Haiti that
targeted Aristide, who once was viewed as the champion of Haitian democracy
but now faces accusations of corruption and political violence.
     Up to 50 people have been killed in the rebellion, which capped months
of anti-government demonstrations and years of political tensions dating
from contested parliamentary elections in 2000. Aristide, mid-way through a
second term that began in 2001, says he intends to stay in office until
2006.
     The 15-nation Caricom, which has been trying to broker a solution to
the crisis, has left open the possibility of sending in peacekeepers if
asked to do so by the authorities, and France has also discussed a possible
intervention force.
    But top U.S. and Canadian officials have all but ruled out foreign
police or military forces at this time.