18807: (Craig) Article: Florida Senators Urge Action on Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dan Craig <hoosier@att.net>

Florida Senators Urge Action on Haiti, Fearing Tide of Refugees
February 19, 2004
By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS

WASHINGTON, Feb. 18 - Florida's two Democratic senators
said Wednesday that the Bush administration was resisting
their appeals to take stronger action to avert an exodus of
refugees from Haiti, who they fear could end up on the
shores of their state.

The senators, Bob Graham and Bill Nelson, say they have
warned administration officials several times in recent
days of the potential for a flood of Haitians trying to
flee an intensifying two-week rebellion, as has happened
during past conflicts in the Caribbean country.

"I would characterize the position the administration is
taking as being one of indifference and a strong desire of
not wanting to get involved," Mr. Graham said. Both
senators said the administration should not shy away from a
show of force.

In addition to the potential for a vast human crisis, the
matter is especially sensitive politically. The state,
whose governor is Jeb Bush, the president's brother, is
seen as pivotal in the November elections.

This week the administration rejected the idea of sending
American police officers or troops to Haiti, saying it
prefers to help broker a political solution.

It has also directed considerable criticism at the Haitian
president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was reinstated 10
years ago with the help of 21,000 troops sent by the
Clinton administration after he was overthrown in a coup.

Today the ill will toward Mr. Aristide, who has overseen a
lasting political deadlock in Haiti, runs deep among some
policy makers.

"The course that we've chosen, the one that the
international community has chosen, is to get the parties
in Haiti to take up their responsibility," said Richard A.
Boucher, the State Department spokesman.

"Much of the violence that we see now is being created by
gangs that were once aligned with the Aristide government,"
he added. "Without that factor, Haiti would be much closer
to the rule of law and farther away from gang violence."

Senator Nelson said he favored sending in an armed force to
protect civilians and to force a political settlement. "If
you act now, you cut off all those problems at the source,"
he said.

Mr. Graham played an important role in coping with the
Haitian refugee crisis of the early 1990's, which led to
the interception at sea of tens of thousands of Haitians.

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

Administration officials say they have hardly been idle.
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell met with Canada's
foreign minister and the leaders of the Caribbean Community
last week, trying to find a way to put in place a
power-sharing agreement that Mr. Aristide has endorsed.

Canada and France have offered to send police officers to
Haiti, but only after the peace is restored.

So far, officials say, there is no sign of a gathering
exodus. During previous crises, surveillance photos have
spotted boat building and internal migrations of Haitians
to coastal villages.

The Coast Guard, which maintains a permanent presence off
Haiti with cutters and planes, is monitoring events, but
has been given no special orders to step up patrols, said
Luis Diaz, a spokesman in Miami.

He said the number of Haitians intercepted at sea - 149 in
February - was in line with previous years, when annual
totals have fluctuated between 1,000 and 2,000.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/19/politics/19HAIT.html?ex=1078171877&ei=1&en=97329154d560de7d
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company