19134: Lemieux: Canadian Press: Cdn assessment team arriving in Haiti; (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>


Cdn assessment team arriving in Haiti; Aristide appeals to
world for help


Canadian Press


Tuesday, February 24, 2004

President Jean-Bertrand Aristide shows photos of bodies
victims allegedly killed by soldiers during 1991-1994
military dictatorship, at a news conference on Tuesday.
(AP/Rodrigo Abd)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CP) - President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide appealed Tuesday for the world to come to Haiti's
aid, warning that thousands of deaths and a wave of boat
people could result from political chaos.

"Should those killers come to Port-au-Prince, you may have
thousands of people who may be killed," Aristide said at a
news conference. "We need the presence of the international
community as soon as possible."

Aristide made the appeal as rebels threatened the capital
and hours before opposition politicians were to give a
formal response to a U.S.-backed peace plan at 5 p.m.

A Canadian assessment team was arriving in Port-au-Prince
Tuesday afternoon, Reynald Doiron, a spokesman for Foreign
Affairs, said from Ottawa.

Maj. Mike Audette, a spokesman with operations in the
Department of Defence, confirmed that a small team from the
Canadian Armed Forces was assisting the Canadian Embassy at
the request of Foreign Affairs. He could not immediately
provide details of their itinerary due to security
concerns.

The purpose of the Canadian Planning Assistance Team, or
CPAT, is to study how to implement a contingency plan
developed by the Canadian Embassy for a possible evacuation
of Canadians from Haiti, Doiron said.

The team, which was scheduled to return to Canada on
Sunday, was to study how to get Canadians safely out of
Haiti if the situation worsens, such as what routes and
type of transportation to use, Doiron explained.

Foreign Affairs has advised Canadians not to travel to
Haiti and those who are there are being told to leave while
commercial means are available.

The government has also authorized the departure of
non-essential staff from the Canadian Embassy in
Port-au-Prince and all dependants of Canadian government
personnel. There are about 1,000 Canadians in Haiti who are
registered with Foreign Affairs.

The United States, Mexico, Australia, France and Britain
have advised their citizens to leave Haiti.

When asked if he was calling for a military intervention,
Aristide told reporters he wanted the international
community to strengthen Haiti's police force, under an old
agreement with the Organization of American States.

On Monday, Secretary of State Colin Powell telephoned
officials from the opposition coalition and persuaded them
to delay their response as the United States and others
appeared to be making last-ditch efforts to win a political
compromise.

The United States may seek a UN Security Council resolution
authorizing dispatch of international peacekeepers to Haiti
if a settlement between government and opposition forces is
reached, a U.S. official said Tuesday, speaking on
condition of anonymity.

U.S. officials said any peacekeepers will be sent to
enforce an agreement, not to restore order. They have not
said whether any Americans would participate.

In Ottawa, Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham said
Tuesday it was still "impossible to say" what role Canada
would take in any intervention in Haiti.

"We're prepared to collaborate. We're prepared to perhaps
send in police to support a political solution," he said.
"However, if the situation deteriorates to the point where
there is bloodshed, we don't know exactly what form that
intervention would be.

"But it would have to be in collaboration with the
international community, with the United States and other
members of the Caribbean family."

The rebels have set up a base in Gonaives, Haiti's
fourth-largest city 110 kilometres northwest of
Port-au-Prince, and rebel leader Guy Philippe said he was
setting up a second one in Cap-Haitien, the northern port
and second-largest city that was seized Sunday.

But Philippe told The Associated Press that he has been
using a strategy of seizing towns, systematically driving
out enemies, winning over the population and moving to the
next target. The rebels effectively control the north now
and the central Artibonite District where more than one
million people live.

He also said in an interview with the AP that he does not
want to install a military dictatorship but is seeking to
re-establish the army that was disbanded after ousting
Aristide in 1991.

An attack on Port-au-Prince was unlikely Tuesday, as
Philippe said his fighters had spent the night searching in
vain for government forces.

Aristide agreed to the peace plan Saturday, but his
political opponents have stalled, insisting that only his
resignation can guarantee peace. The plan would allow him
to remain president with diminished powers, sharing with
political rivals a government that would organize
elections.

Western diplomats in Port-au-Prince confirmed Tuesday that
Aristide had asked France for military intervention last
week, when he publicly was asking only for more
international assistance to strengthen his demoralized
police force.

French President Jacques Chirac said Tuesday his country is
ready to consider contributing to any eventual peacekeeping
force, but only one approved by the United Nations.

"France does not exclude contributing to a civilian force
for peace," he said, adding however that such a deployment
"depends on a decision of the Security Council."

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin is to meet
later this week in Paris with representatives of the
Haitian government and opposition to try to resolve the
crisis, the ministry said.

"New efforts are being pursued today to persuade the legal
opposition to adopt a constructive attitude," said ministry
spokesman Herve Ladsous.

The United States sent 50 marines to Port-au-Prince on
Monday, but western diplomats and a Defence Department
official insisted their mission was only to protect the
U.S. Embassy and staff.

At his news conference, Aristide made an emotional call for
Haitians to stay in the country, instead of fleeing to
Florida, so that they can vote in new elections.

"The criminals and terrorists went to the north, to
Port-de-Paix, and burned private and public buses, killing
people," Aristide said.

"Unfortunately many brothers and sisters in Port-de-Paix
will not come down to Port-au-Prince; they will take to the
sea, they will become boat people," he said.

Most boat people seeking to go to the United States are
picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard and returned home. Others
land in the Bahamas and Cuba. On Monday, 32 Haitian boat
people landed in Jamaica, bringing to 62 the number who
have arrived there in three boatloads in the past 10 days.

Jamaica has not seen numbers like that since the flood of
boat people that fled a brutal military dictatorship in
Haiti in 1991-94. Then, tens of thousands of refugees
reached Florida's shores.

Ten years ago, Washington sent 20,000 troops in 1994 to end
the dictatorship, restore Aristide and halt the exodus to
Florida. But the Bush administration has made clear it
won't commit a large number of troops this time.

Philippe, still in Cap-Haitien, told the AP that his
movement wants to re-establish the army but said a military
dictatorship is "not good for the country."

"The military should stay in the barracks," said Philippe,
formerly Aristide's assistant police chief for northern
Haiti.

Even if the opposition coalition accepts the U.S. peace
plan, the rebels insist they will disarm only when Aristide
is out of power.

Asked if he was in contact with opposition politicians,
Philippe smiled and said "not officially." He refused to
elaborate.

Opposition leaders disputed that.

"We refuse to have contacts with the rebels, as well as
with Aristide," said Mischa Gaillard, a spokesman for the
opposition coalition. "We don't want to be tainted with any
suspicion of condoning violence."

The opposition has said it is a nonviolent movement that
supports the rebel goal of getting Aristide to step down.
Aristide maintains that opposition factions are supporting
the rebellion and the rebels are an armed wing of the
political opposition.

Philippe said he was on his way to an office of Western
Union, which handles money orders, to pick up donations
being sent by Haitians in the United States and Canada. He
said his rebellion also was being funded by businessmen in
Haiti.

Cap-Haitien is just 145 kilometres north of Port-au-Prince,
but is a seven-hour drive over potholed roads sometimes
reduced to bedrock.

Aristide, hugely popular when he was elected especially
among the destitute in the Western Hemisphere's poorest
country, has since lost a lot of support. Opponents accuse
the former priest of failing to help those in need,
condoning corruption and masterminding attacks on opponents
by armed gangs. Aristide denies the charges. Flawed
legislative elections in 2000 led international donors to
freeze millions of dollars in aid.

At least 70 people have died in the unrest since the revolt
began.

Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs insists that all
Canadian missions in countries that are prone to natural
disasters and political instability must draft contingency
plans, which include evacuation measures, to be used
depending on the level of alert in an evolving situation.

In the first, or apprehensive, phase, the mission follows
developments closely, advises officials at headquarters in
Ottawa and prepares to implement the next level, Doiron
said.

In the warning phase, the mission advises Canadians,
including mission dependents and non-essential staff, to
leave while commercial transportation is available and
prepares for a possible evacuation of remaining Canadians
residing in the country. "That's exactly where we are" now
in Haiti, Doiron said.

In the third, or protective, phase, the Canadian community
is evacuated.

The final phase is withdrawal. The Canadian mission is shut
down.

© The Canadian Press 2004


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