18802: Lemieux: Financial Times: EU rules out mission to Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

EU rules out mission to Haiti
By Judy Dempsey in Brussels
Published: February 18 2004 20:32 | Last Updated: February
18 2004 20:32


The European Union does not intend for the moment to
support any military or peacekeeping mission to Haiti,
saying it wants to give the action plan proposed by the
15-nation Caribbean Community (Caricom) a chance.


Javier Solana, EU foreign policy chief, criticised the
serious violations of human rights and democratic rules.

Diplomats said that even if the French were to lead a
peacekeeping mission to Haiti, the EU had neither been
asked, nor was it considering the idea.

Last summer, the EU sent peace-keeping troops outside
Europe for the first time to the Democratic Republic of
Congo. The 1,300 troops, under French command, were
deployed within three weeks. "That operation showed we
could act quickly. But as for going to Haiti, that is not
on the agenda," said a diplomat. The EU is any case
preoccupied with taking over the large Nato-led mission in
Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Balkans, later this year.

More than 7,000 soldiers, to be led by Britain, will be
under a EU flag backed by Nato assets.

Fighting in Haiti this month has claimed dozens of lives,
as opponents of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide have
sparked a rebellion, seizing cities and towns in the face
of resistance from troops, police, and supporters of Mr
Aristide, who was elected to a second term as president in
2000.



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