18844: (Chamberlain) Powell says open to Haiti's Aristide quitting (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

    WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - The United States said on Thursday it
was open to Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide stepping down, the
first time it has publicly acknowledged his departure could be a way out of
crisis.
     Reluctant to quell a rebellion by sending police to the small
Caribbean nation, but apparently ineffectual in mediating an end to the
chaos, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Aristide could go if his
quitting was part of a political settlement among Haitians.
     Previously, senior U.S. officials had only hinted that "major changes"
in the government could break the impasse between an elected leader, who
has vowed to stay until his term ends in 2006, and an increasingly violent
opposition.
     The United States has been criticized for failing to act while armed
rebel gangs battle a hapless police force for control of some towns in the
poorest nation in the Americas.
     Asked if a U.S.-backed plan to hammer out a political settlement would
include Aristide leaving office, Powell said: "That's not an element of the
plan because under the constitution, he is the president for some time to
come yet."
     But he added in a radio interview with ABC, "You know, if an agreement
is reached that moves that in another direction, that's fine."
     The United States, which a decade ago restored Aristide to power after
a coup, has warned the opposition against trying to oust the former Roman
Catholic priest.
     Washington has also been critical of Aristide, pressuring him to make
good on pledges to mediators that include disarming violent gangs, and it
has rejected the government's pleas for police help to staunch the
violence.
     Nations such as Canada and France have offered to send police to
Haiti, but Powell said the plan was for such reinforcements to go only
after a political settlement.
     "In many cases, it's just a few thugs that are dominating a particular
town or city, and so what we have to try to do now is stand with President
Aristide -- he is the elected President of Haiti -- and do what we can to
help him," Powell said.