18871: Esser: Dominique de Villepin on France Inter (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com


Interview given by Dominique de Villepin, Minister of Foreign
Affairs, to the "France Inter" "Questions directes" programme
(excerpts)

Paris, February 17, 2004

(...)

Q. – An urgent question (...), that of Haiti. A humanitarian tragedy
is unfolding there. What is France doing? What is Europe doing? What
sort of reaction can there be to what is happening today in Haiti?

THE MINISTER – (...) First of all who can be relied on in Haiti? The
question arises because it's a country on the verge of chaos. There
are various forces – the Catholic and Protestant churches which must
come together if things are to be organized; the regional forces:
initiatives have been taken by the Organization of American States
and especially CARICOM, the Caribbean Community; the international
community, i.e. basically, the friends of Haiti, who include us. I
have had the opportunity to talk about this in Latin America, to
Brazil and Mexico who are ready to act, to Canada, the United States
and South Africa: a lot of countries are ready to act in support of
Haiti, but, of course, that presupposes the Haiti political class
actually doing something and doing it fast. It presupposes President
Aristide committing himself to ensuring law and order, that's his
first responsibility. The opposition groups can't confine themselves
to a simple strategy of rejection.

So what can France specifically do? First of all, we want to think
about what could be done as a matter of urgency. Can a peacekeeping
force be deployed? We are in contact with all our partners in the
framework of the United Nations, which has sent a humanitarian
mission to Haiti to take stock of what is in fact possible. Then
today I called an urgent crisis cell meeting at the Quai d'Orsay to
bring together all the French government departments and see what we
might be able to provide in the way of an immediate contribution.
(...) We have very important assets near Haiti, with our [overseas]
departments of the French West Indies and French Guiana. There we
have a pool of skills in the spheres of education, health,
humanitarian action. We want to be able to make all this available at
the appropriate moment and if circumstances allow. Once again, we
must try to make dialogue prevail over violence. This requires
President Aristide, who has let his country drift over the years,
being able to find the strength to make progress towards dialogue.
This requires, in this phase, all the Haitian leaders having a single
thought in mind: Haiti and the Haitian people who have been suffering
for too many years. (...)./.

Embassy of France in the United States - February 18, 2004
.