18968: sajous: NYTimes.com Article: Lacking Accord, Diplomats Leave a Divided Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: sajousp@aol.com

Lacking Accord, Diplomats Leave a Divided Haiti

February 22, 2004
 By TONY SMITH


PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb. 21 - Despite political
arm-twisting, the top American diplomat for the Western
Hemisphere left Haiti without reaching a deal for the
political opposition to share power with President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

A diplomat involved in the talks, which lasted several
hours, said the results were unclear but that the political
opposition would respond on Monday. The situation is
fraught because armed groups are also seizing ground to
challenge Mr. Aristide.

Assistant Secretary of State Roger F. Noriega and other top
diplomats from the Americas and Europe spent the day here
pushing an urgent proposal to replace the current
government with a multiparty cabinet, while allowing Mr.
Aristide to complete his term in office.

Despite hours of hard negotiating, the opposition refused
to budge, insisting that Mr. Aristide must resign
immediately. At one point during talks with a group of
opposition leaders, one diplomat could be seen hammering
the table with his fist. But the visiting diplomats
evidently had few inducements to offer the opposition.

"The plan calls for us to build a government with Mr.
Aristide, but that is not acceptable," said Rosemond
Pradel, leader of one opposition group, who briefly left
the talks in a luxury, hillside hotel.

The president, while backing the plan, again insisted that
he would complete his term that ends February 2006.

Mounting political tensions have turned into violent
rebellion over the past two weeks as armed groups opposing
Mr. Aristide have clashed with the government's outnumbered
and outgunned police force and brutal, armed gangs used by
the president to impose his political will on the
long-suffering populace. The violence has compounded a
longstanding rift between the pro-Aristide parties and his
mainstream political opposition.

More than 60 people have died in the clashes and a swath of
territory - from the coastal city of Gonäives across the
Central Plateau to the border with the Dominican Republic -
has been wrested away by rebel troops, virtually cutting
the country in two.

The State Department this week advised Americans to leave
the country, and long lines of anxious missionaries and aid
workers have formed at Port-au-Prince's international
airport in recent days.

Diplomats are anxious to hammer out a political deal
because the alternatives are unpalatable. Either Haiti
would slide into civil war, setting off a humanitarian
crisis and a wave of refugees to the United States, or
external military action would be needed to stabilize the
country.

A diplomat on the sidelines of the talks said he feared the
impasse would continue, despite the fact that "both sides
have had the riot act read to them." But even if an
agreement were reached, he warned, it would not take into
account the the armed groups that have gained control over
a good part of the country.

On the ground, many ordinary Haitians said they would
welcome international intervention.

"We need America's help," said Augustin Francique, a
resident of Hinche, a central town occupied by rebels last
week. "If God has failed to protect us against Aristide's
gangs, then only the Americans can do it."

That, for now, however, does not appear to be on the
American agenda.

As the hours ticked away, the diplomats came close to
missing a deadline to leave Haiti on board a Canadian
government plane that, because of Canadian government
regulations could not stay unguarded on the ground in a
hostile environment overnight.

At the root of the problem is the abyss of mistrust between
Mr. Aristide and his political opponents.

After meeting the visiting diplomats on Saturday, the
president said "we are ready to work with our brothers in
the opposition to protect the constitutional order," but he
also called rebel forces "terrorists and murderers" and
indicated he would like to have international support to
disarm their forces.

On the other hand, opposition forces are adamant that they
will only accept what they call "option zero" - the
immediate resignations and, preferably, exile of the former
parish priest.

Mr. Aristide was viewed as a hero when first elected in
1990 on a platform of succoring Haiti's downtrodden, who
had suffered not only poverty but also daily terror at the
hands of previous dictators. After being ousted in a coup
in 1991, he was returned to power by the threat of an
American-led invasion in 1994 and enjoyed massive popular
support across the country.

But that popularity has soured as the president failed to
deliver on promises to improve the lives of the poor and,
instead, began to govern with the methods of his despotic
predecessors.

Today, 70 percent of Haitians are jobless and more than
half thought to be undernourished.

Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, once a fervent Aristide supporter
who turned against his former ally in 1997, said the
president was "sick for power."

Now an influential opposition leader - his peasant movement
counts 200,000 members across the country - Mr.
Jean-Baptiste says the opposition cannot trust the
president.

"Even if God were to organize elections here, Jean-Bertrand
Aristide would somehow steal the ballot," he said.

In Washington, the State Department ordered the withdrawal
of all nonessential American personnel and family members
from the embassy in Haiti. The department also repeated a
warning that American citizens who are not on government
business in Haiti should leave while commercial air service
continues to operate on a regular basis.

According to The Associated Press, the department said the
warning was based on a determination that "the security
situation in Haiti has deteriorated to unsafe levels."

"Americans are reminded of the potential for spontaneous
demonstrations and violent confrontations," the statement
said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/22/international/americas/22ARIS.html?ex=1078417561&ei=1&en=c90477e2f3eaa2a4


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