18893: Globe and Mail: Ottawa set to deliver ultimatum to Aristide (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: thor burnham <thorald_mb@hotmail.com>

By JEFF SALLOT and PAUL KNOX
>From Friday's Globe and Mail

Canada, the United States and other Western countries are sending a
high-level delegation to Haiti to demand that President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide replace his prime minister, release political prisoners, reform the
police and begin dealing with other opposition demands.

Mr. Aristide has already promised to do these things, but he doesn't seem to
be following through, Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham said yesterday.

"We've agreed, all of us, to a joint démarche to say, 'Look, you've got to
live up to your obligations,'." Mr. Graham told reporters as pro-Aristide
gangs tried to gain control in parts of Haiti.

Mr. Graham said that one of the key demands is a new prime minister who will
exercise constitutional restraints on the presidency.

The team of emissaries is to arrive in Port-au-Prince tomorrow. It will
include Canadian Privy Council President Denis Coderre, who is also the
minister responsible for relations with francophone countries; Cesar
Gaviria, secretary-general of the Organization of American States; and Roger
Noriega, the U.S. government's highest-ranking official for Western
Hemisphere affairs. They will be joined by French and Caribbean community
diplomats already in the country.

"Obviously, we can't allow this to continue to develop the way it is
developing," Mr. Graham said, referring to the violence that has killed an
estimated 55 Haitians in the past two weeks.

The minister said Mr. Aristide will be given a time limit to meet the
demands and carry out "confidence-building measures" that will convince the
opposition that he will live up to his democratic obligations.

The deadline for action is still being worked out, Mr. Graham said. "It
takes two parties to come to the table in Haiti, to have the political
solution that is so desperately needed."

Meeting in Washington, delegates to the OAS passed a resolution backing Mr.
Aristide and calling on him to respect the Kingston accords. But in a
pointed message to the opposition, the resolution urged it to "act
responsibly, denounce the use of violence ..... and engage in the democratic
process."

Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas, and international aid agencies
fear starvation and an outbreak of disease if continuing civil disorder
prevents them from delivering food and medicine. Caribbean neighbours worry
about being flooded by refugees if the situation worsens.

In Port-au-Prince, government spokesman Mario Dupuy said the government will
respect the Kingston accords, but will not negotiate with opponents unless
they make a clean break with the rebels.

"The political opposition has to say clearly that they are going to combat
terrorism," he said.

Mr. Dupuy said he hopes the visitors will offer Haiti support against the
insurgents. "We need the solidarity of the countries of the region and the
peoples of the region," he said.

Meanwhile, in the western city of Gonaïves, an armed gang of rebels who had
seized control of the city declared themselves an independent state and
named a president yesterday, Reuters news agency reported.

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