19207: Slavin: CNN on Paris Declarations (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: PSlavin@unicefusa.org

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/02/25/haiti.revolt.intl

France calls for Haiti peace forc

PARIS, France --French officials have called for the "immediate" creation
of an international civilian peace force to restore order to Haiti.

A statement Wednesday by French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin also
blamed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide for the violence sweeping
the country.

A rebellion in Haiti threatens to topple Aristide from power.

Under the French plan, the civilian force would provide international
assistance for presidential elections under a transitional government of
national unity.

"The international force will be in charge of ensuring the return of public
order and ... it would support a government of national unity," Reuters
quoted de Villepin as saying in the statement.

"Today in Haiti, the threat of a deterioration in the violence is real.
There is nothing predestined about this ... we must stop this vicious
circle," the ministry said.

France also said it wants human rights observers to be sent to the troubled
Caribbean nation and a "long term" engagement of international aid aimed at
reconstructing Haiti's economy, The Associated Press reported.

Also Wednesday, the United Nations called for an immediate halt to the
violence and to human rights abuses on both sides.

The Security Council "deplores the decision by the Democratic Opposition to
reject" an international peace plan that would allow Aristide to remain in
power, a U.N. spokesman said.

Aristide has refused to depart until his term ends in 2006.

Haitian opposition leaders -- as well as the rebels who have been sweeping
across the northern part of the country -- have demanded Aristide's
immediate ouster.

The coalition of opposition groups rejected the latest international peace
plan because it failed to call for the president's departure.

The United Nations is calling on both sides to "accept and implement the
existing peace plan," which outlines a power-sharing arrangement with
Aristide.

At the White House, President George W. Bush said the United States is
talking with other nations about maintaining a "security presence" in Haiti
but provided no details.

He said the first priority is to work toward a political settlement to end
the bloodshed in Haiti, which has taken dozens of lives in recent weeks.

Bush urged Haitians to stay in their country, and warned that those who try
to escape to the United States by boat will be turned back by the U.S.
Coast Guard.

Haiti opposition spokesman Charles Baker said at a news conference
Wednesday that criminal behavior and corruption by Aristide's regime
justifies his ouster.

Baker said Aristide militants are attacking people in the streets of
Port-au-Prince, the nation's capital.

He praised international peace efforts but laid out additional demands,
including what he calls "an urgent political solution" to "a situation that
is worsening" in the streets.

He insists the "source of the problem" is Aristide and called for
discussion of the physical means of effecting Aristide's quick departure
from Haiti.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke Tuesday evening with opposition
leader Andre Apaid, their second conversation of the day, a senior State
Department official said.

Apaid voiced opposition rejection of the U.S-backed plan for a political
settlement in Haiti, the official said, while Powell urged Apaid to accept
a French offer for talks in Paris.

"We are continuing to talk to the opposition," the official said, adding
that while the international partners on Haiti are "fiddling with the
aspects" of the plan, "we can't agree to getting rid of Aristide as a
condition for a agreement."

Copyright 2004 CNN. All rights reserved. T. Associated Press contributed to
this report.