18920: (Chamberlain) US-Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By GEORGE GEDDA

   WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (AP) -- The United States and a host of other
countries urged Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and opposition
leaders on Friday to form a broad-based government as a move toward ending
weeks of bloody conflict.
   "We see a body politic that's broken," State Department spokesman Adam
Ereli said.
   The international appeal was in a peace plan presented to the rival
factions by officials of the United States, France, Canada, the
Organization of American States, the Caribbean Community and the European
Union.
   After meeting with Aristide in the morning, the delegation talked with
opposition leaders in the afternoon.
   The same countries will be represented on Saturday at separate meetings
with Aristide and his opponents. Roger Noriega, the top State Department
official for the Western Hemisphere, will represent the United States.
   They will discuss how to implement the proposal.
   The initiative reflected heightened international pressure to break the
stalemate in the impoverished Caribbean nation after more than three weeks
of increasing unrest.
   With no end to the violence in sight, the State Department recommended
on Thursday that all private Americans leave Haiti while regular commercial
air service is available.
   One State Department official, speaking privately, said a potential
drawback of the peace plan is that it offers rewards for those who
cooperate but no punishment for those who don't.
   Spokesman Ereli said the plan builds on a Caribbean Community initiative
that was concluded a month ago. Aristide said in late January he supported
the plan, but U.S. officials have said he has shown little interest in
carrying it out.
   Officials said the plan presented Friday also largely reflects a
resolution approved Thursday night by the 34-nation OAS.
   Among other actions, the resolution recommends appointment of a new
government "through the identification of a neutral and independent prime
minister who enjoys the public trust."
   It also suggests creation of an advisory council to discuss the makeup
of a new government.
   Ereli, speaking to reporters on Friday, said Haitians must "build a
broad-based and participatory government that responds to the wishes of the
people."
   The OAS resolution expresses support for constitutional order in Haiti
and demands the "disarmament of armed gangs."
   There was only one direct reference to Aristide in the 1,000-word
resolution. It expressed "firm support for the government of the president
of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in its efforts to restore public order by
constitutional means."
   The countries with the most at stake in the Haitian crisis are Haiti's
closest Caribbean neighbors and the United States.
   At the time of the last political upheaval in Haiti, during the early
1990s, tens of thousands tried to escape to the United States because of
widespread poverty and oppression by a military government then in power.
   The administration strongly opposes the forced removal of Aristide on
grounds any such act would risk bloodshed on a much wider scale as rival
political groups struggled for power. It would also increase the
possibility of a repeat refugee crisis.