19825: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Aristide's Letter (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By PAISLEY DODDS
 and
 MICHELLE FAUL

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 4 (AP) -- Supporters of ousted Haitian President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide are questioning whether Aristide's resignation was
voluntary or forced.
   Aristide said he was forced to sign the letter as he fled Haiti on
Sunday, and he refused to confirm in a subsequent interview that he had
resigned. His comments, broadcast by radio stations in Haiti, have won
sympathy at home where some expressed doubt about whether the resignation
was genuine.
   "Aristide was elected and now there is some question whether he even
resigned," said Taillaser Evans, a 40-year-old teacher in the Aristide
stronghold of La Salines. "The majority voted for Aristide. The majority
are still willing to die for him."
   For Jacques Louise, an unemployed 35-year-old, "He didn't resign is what
we're hearing. He's still my president."
   Translations of Aristide's resignation, which was written in Creole,
also differed in wording.
   According to a U.S. Embassy translation, Aristide wrote that he resigned
to prevent bloodshed. "For that reason, tonight I am resigning in order to
avoid a bloodbath."
   An independent translation of Aristide's signed statement, done at the
request of The Associated Press, suggested the wording was conditional, and
it does not contain the phrase "I am resigning."
   "For that reason, if tonight it is my resignation that will avoid a
bloodbath, I accept to leave...."
   Albert Valdman, a linguistics professor and specialist in Haitian Creole
at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., provided AP with the
independent translation. He said the U.S. translation "captures the
essential meaning" of the statement but failed to bring out two important
elements.
   "They (the missing elements) reinforce on the one hand that Aristide
states that circumstances force him to resign and, on the other hand, that
he strongly wishes to avoid a bloodbath," said Valdman, director of the
Creole Institute at Indiana University.4
   In Washington, National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack
maintained that Aristide resigned without being coerced. "The fact remains
that Mr. Aristide resigned for the best interests of Haiti and the Haitian
people, and he did so freely and of his own accord," he said.
   Michael Ratner, a lawyer of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New
York City, told AP "a forced resignation is not a valid resignation, and
when it is conditional it is even less of a resignation."
   "I think there could be a struggle at the U.N. about who has the seat
(of Haiti)," Ratner said.
   Aristide, who flew to exile in the Central African Republic, said he
felt forced to sign the letter as he waited in a car on the airport tarmac
to leave Haiti.
   In a telephone interview with CNN on Monday, he was asked if he had
signed a letter of resignation.
   "Well, I should see what they give to you, because these people lie,"
Aristide responded.
   "And when they lie, I need to see the paper before saying this is
exactly what I wrote. And in what I wrote, I explained that if I am forced
to leave to avoid bloodshed, of course I will leave to avoid bloodshed. But
as I said, I should see the kind of paper they give to you, because they
lied to me, and they may lie to you, too."
   Questioned further, Aristide refused to say he had resigned, concluding,
"no one should force an elected president to move in order to avoid
bloodshed."
   --------
   Associated Press writer Michelle Faul reported from San Juan, Puerto
Rico.