19345: (Craig) UN Wire: Aristide Vows To Stay In Power As Haitian Showdown Looms (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dan Craig <hoosier@att.net>

Aristide Vows To Stay In Power As Haitian Showdown Looms
Friday, February 27, 2004

A showdown between rebel forces and supporters loyal to Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide loomed in the capital today, with the
country's third-largest city, Les Cayes, falling to a group allied with
the opposition Democratic Platform but not tied to the rebels,
Associated Press
<http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&ncid=535&e=1&u=/ap/20040227/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/haiti_uprising>
reports.

A rebel leader, Guy Philippe, said forces under his control were
converging on Port-au-Prince and would wait to see if Aristide resigns.
"We're just going to take our positions and wait for the right time (to
attack)," Philippe said.

Rebel forces also overran Mireblais, a city 25 miles southeast of
Port-au-Prince, and freed 67 prisoners there.

Aristide vowed he would not quit, despite international pressure to do
so. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Aristide should "examine
carefully" whether "he is able to effectively continue as president,"
while French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, who yesterday
implied that France no longer supported Aristide, was holding talks in
Paris today with Haitian government leaders, led by Foreign Minister
Joseph Antonio.

But Aristide told CNN a swift resolution to the crisis could be achieved
through international intervention.

"From my point of view, if we have a couple of dozen international
soldiers, police, together right now, it could be enough to send a
positive signal to those terrorists," he said. "Once they realize the
international community refuses (to allow) the terrorists to keep
killing people, we can prevent them to kill more people."

The AP report said an exodus by the international community was under
way in Port-au-Prince, with U.S. soldiers guarding a convoy of U.N.
workers and their families on their way to the airport, leaving behind a
city of deserted streets and shuttered businesses.

Hundreds of Aristide supporters were on guard at the National Palace,
which Philippe said yesterday would be his first target in
Port-au-Prince, while barricades of wrecked cars, telephone poles,
burning tires and garbage were strewn throughout the city (Michael
Norton, AP/Yahoo! News, Feb. 27).

CARICOM Asks Security Council For "Urgent" Intervention

Leaders of Caribbean governments yesterday asked the Security Council to
urgently intervene in Haiti to help impose the Caribbean Community
<http://www.caricom.org/>'s plan of action, but the council statement
issued after the debate suggested any deployment would have to follow a
political settlement.

Jamaican Foreign Minister Keith D. Knight, speaking on behalf of
CARICOM, said the regional group "seeks the direct and immediate
intervention of the United Nations. … The need for decisive action is
paramount."

"The immediate need now is for the Security Council to authorize the
urgent deployment of a multinational force to assist in the restoration
of law and order, to facilitate a return to stability and to create an
environment in which the continuing efforts to find a solution to the
political crisis can be pursued," Knight said.

Frederick Mitchell, the foreign minister of the Bahamas, told the
council, "We urge quick and decisive United Nations action so that
countries who can help, including our own, can move with legal authority
to provide the immediate assistance for security and then to contribute
to the longer peacekeeping and humanitarian effort."

Haitian Ambassador Jean Alexandre said a force was necessary to signal
the council's "refusal to accept any form of government resulting from
an antidemocratic and anticonstitutional process and to demand that the
opposition accept a political compromise to resolve the crisis."
Aristide has accepted the CARICOM plan, but opposition leaders have
rejected it, saying any settlement must include Aristide's removal from
office.

Council members, however, implied that the political settlement had to
precede any force deployment.

French Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere said council members "are
ready to support a civilian force in support of a political solution."
Speaking to reporters after the council meeting, he said, "It is for the
international community to find a solution to the Haitian crisis, it is
for the authority in Haiti and the opposition to find a solution and for
the international community to support what CARICOM is doing."

U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said, "If a sustainable political
agreement in Haiti is reached, the United States would support efforts
to deploy an international force to support implementation."

The council statement it "will consider urgently options for
international engagement, including that of an international force in
support of a political settlement" and repeated its support for the
CARICOM plan of action, calling it "an important basis for a solution to
the crisis."

While the delegates placed most of the blame for the violence on the
opposition, they framed their support as more for the constitutional
order rather than for Aristide himself. "CARICOM's stand on this issue
is not driven by any desire to promote the political interests of any
particular personality," said Knight, "It is based on the need to remain
faithful to democratic principles." Asked after the council meeting if
he thought Aristide should resign, de la Sabliere said, "It is up to
President Aristide to take a decision, it is up to him to show
responsibility."

Annan Appoints Dumas As Haitian Envoy

Secretary General Kofi Annan yesterday named John Reginald Dumas of
Trinidad and Tobago as his special adviser on Haiti. According to a
statement from Annan's office, Dumas will "liaise with all relevant
actors, in particular the regional organizations that have been
undertaking vital efforts to find a solution to the country's persistent
political impasse." Dumas has served as Trinidad and Tobago's ambassador
to the United States and ambassador to the Organization of American
States (Jim Wurst, U.N. Wire, Feb. 27).