20347: Lewis: Various news on plans for Aristide to go to Jamaica (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: David E. Lewis <DavidLewis@manchestertrade.com>

Various news on plans for Aristide to go to Jamaica

Jamaica: No 'Launching Pad' for Aristide
STEVENSON JACOBS
Associated Press
http://www.herald.com - March 12, 2004

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
won't be allowed to use Jamaica as a "launching pad" to reclaim his
nation, Jamaica's government said Friday.

The statement came a day after Jamaica announced that Aristide will
travel here early next week, returning to the Caribbean less than three
weeks after fleeing the region for Central African Republic. Aristide
has insisted he is still the legitimate president of Haiti, and has
called on his supporters to offer a "peaceful resistance" to the
U.S.-led peacekeepers' "occupation."

Jamaican officials have said Aristide and his wife requested the trip to
Jamaica to be reunited with their two young daughters, who were sent to
New York City for their safety days before their father fled Haiti on
Feb. 29.

Haiti's interim prime minister, Gerard Latortue, said Friday that news
of Aristide's planned return to the region had caused "an increase in
the tensions in Port-au-Prince." He said he told Jamaican Prime Minister
P.J. Patterson that having Aristide so close was viewed as "an
unfriendly act."

Latortue said he was considering an invitation to visit Jamaica on
Saturday or Sunday to meet with Patterson, chairman of the 15-member
Caribbean Community. His trip, if confirmed, was not expected to overlap
with that of Aristide.

Opposition politicians in Haiti and Jamaica have criticized the decision
to allow Aristide to return to the region, saying it will only further
destabilize Haiti. The U.S. Embassy in Kingston said it hoped the trip
wouldn't interfere with Haiti's battered democracy.

Seeking to allay such concerns, Jamaican Foreign Minister K.D. Knight
insisted Aristide was only coming to see his daughters and has agreed
not to mettle in Haiti's political affairs.

"It has been made very clear to former President Aristide that Jamaica
is not to be used as a launching pad to further any desire for
reinstatement in Haiti," Knight told reporters.

"Mr. Aristide is not likely to do anything that disturbs the operations
of the interim regime."

If Aristide breaks that rule, Knight hinted he would be kicked out of
Jamaica, saying there are "other countries in the hemisphere" that would
accept him.

Jamaica discussed Aristide's planned trip with U.S. and Canadian
officials, who expressed some "apprehensions," Knight said, without
giving details.

Patterson has asked for an investigation into Aristide's departure from
office, calling it a "dangerous precedent" for the region. Aristide has
insisted he was forced out by U.S. and French officials, something both
countries deny.

Latortue brushed aside Aristide's claims that he never formally stepped
down as president.

"Otherwise, what am I doing here?" Latortue asked reporters.

Knight said Latortue's possible trip to Jamaica would not be
"recognition of the new regime." He said a decision on that matter will
be made at a Caribbean summit later this month in St. Kitts.

However, Knight stressed that Jamaica recognized Aristide as Haiti's
"former" president.

Aristide and his wife, Mildred, are scheduled to stay up to 10 weeks in
Jamaica, although they won't seek asylum. Knight reiterated that
Aristide won't seek asylum in Jamaica, saying the former leader is
making plans for permanent residence outside the Caribbean.

Latortue said Chile has offered to give Aristide political asylum.
However, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry, who asked not to be
identified, told The Associated Press that "no such offer has been
made."

Many have speculated Aristide will seek asylum in South Africa following
that country's elections next month. Knight declined to confirm the
reports, but said "South Africa is intimately involved in the whole
process."

Asked how Aristide will spend his time, Knight said, "enjoying the
countryside" and "doing some shopping."

Jamaican officials won't restrict Aristide's movement or "muzzle" him
from speaking to the media, Knight said, so long as he agrees not to
stir up political turmoil in Haiti, just 100 miles (160 kilometers) to
the east.

This is not the first time Jamaica has hosted an ousted Haitian
president. The country has given temporary exile to 13 past Haitian
leaders, the most recent in 1956 to Gen. Paul Magloire, Knight said.

Aristide told to watch his mouth: Jamaica won't be launch pad for power
grab, gov't says
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com - Saturday, March 13, 2004

ARISTIDE. to arrive in Jamaica next week
Jamaica has warned ousted Haitian president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide,
that he won't be allowed to use Jamaica as a "launching pad" to regain
power in his country.

But the government's decision to host Aristide for up to 10 weeks has
raised concerns in Port-au-Prince and appeared yesterday to place in the
balance a visit to Kingston by Haiti's interim prime minister, Gerard
Latortue, to lobby for his government's recognition by the Caribbean
Community (Caricom).

PATTERSON. expected to meet with interim Haitian prime minister this
weekend
Latortue said in Port-au-Prince yesterday that Aristide's return to the
Caribbean and to Jamaica so soon after his February 29 ostensible
resignation and exile in the Central African Republic could be
destabilising to Haiti and he branded Jamaica's decision unfriendly.

"Having former President Aristide in Jamaica, so close, is in our view.
an unfriendly act," Latortue, a former United Nations official, said.

 KNIGHT. Aristide will be able to communicate freely, so long as this is
not an attempt to use Jamaica as a launching pad for his desired
reinstatement
He suggested he was weighing whether to come to Jamaica for a weekend
meeting with Prime Minister P J Patterson, Caricom's chairman, and up to
last night Jamaican officials could give no definitive date for the
conference. They said that Latortue would come either today or tomorrow.

But at a press conference yesterday, Jamaica's foreign minister, K D
Knight, said that Jamaica had set out to Aristide clear parameters for
his stay in Jamaica - a point he repeated in a radio interview later in
the day.

Haiti's prime minister, Gerard Latortue, greets reporters during a news
conference in a hotel in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, yesterday. (Photo: AP)
"It has been made very clear to the former president that Jamaica is not
to be used as a launching pad to further any desire to be reinstated in
Haiti and there is a clear understanding that has been arrived at that
this position will be honoured," Knight said at his press conference.

Aristide would be able to communicate freely, Knight said, "so long as
this is not an attempt to use Jamaica as a launching pad for his desired
reinstatement".

In any event, Knight made clear that the weekend meeting between
Latortue and Patterson - if it happens - is "not to be interpreted as a
recognition of a new regime".

This decision is to be made by Caricom leaders at the summit in St Kitts
later this month, but it is expected that the Community will set a
series of tests for Haiti to meet before it can resume its place as a
member of the group.

Aristide has accused the United States of all but kidnapping him and
bundling him out of the country after the US, Canada and France had
jettisoned a Caricom power-sharing compromise under which Aristide would
have to cohabit with the Opposition during the final two years of his
term. The US has denied the charges and said that Aristide asked for
help to leave Haiti in the face of advancing rebels.

Nonetheless, Caricom felt itself betrayed by the behaviour of the
Western troika, and has said that the manner of Aristide's ouster set a
dangerous precedent for the removal of elected leaders everywhere. The
15-member group has called for an international investigation of
Aristide's claim and has won support from the 53-nation African Union.

On Thursday, Patterson announced that Jamaica would allow Aristide and
his wife, Mildred, to stay on the island temporarily, ahead of permanent
asylum outside the region, likely in South Africa. The Jamaican stay
would allow the Aristides to reunite with their infant daughters who are
now in the United States.

At the same time, Patterson signalled Jamaica's and Caricom's acceptance
of the changed situation on the ground in Haiti, referring to Aristide
as the former president, acknowledging that a new president had been
sworn-in and that Latortue was a man who commanded respect.

In Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, where Aristide
has been since his overthrow, officials said that Patterson would arrive
there on Sunday to escort Aristide to Jamaica. But last night Jamaica
House, the prime minister's office, denied this.

Members of the US Congressional Black Caucus would also travel with
Aristide, Central African Republic Foreign Minister Guy Moskit said.

Knight has rejected suggestions that Aristide's return to the region and
his proximity to Haiti would, of itself, be destabilising and dismissed
suggestions that hosting the ousted president was an unfriendly act.

The foreign minister told his radio interviewers: "What has to be
understood very clearly is that Jamaica and Caricom have shown very
clearly that what is needed is peace and stability in Haiti and that is
why the prime minister of Jamaica, as chairman of Caricom, took such
huge steps to put in place the Caricom Action Plan (the power-sharing
initiative).

"Therefore, it is not really necessary for either the prime minister of
Jamaica or Caricom to really be given a lecture on security because had
it not been for that commitment to Haiti, commitment to democracy,
commitment to peace and stability, to the socio-economic development of
Haiti and good neighbourliness, Caricom and Jamaica would not have acted
as they both did."

Jamaica had briefed the United States, Canada and France about its
intention to have Aristide here ahead of the public announcement of the
decision.

Yesterday, US Embassy spokesperson, Orna Blum, echoing the State
Department's position, said that the United States hoped that the visit
would not disrupt efforts to consolidate a transitional government in
Haiti.

Noting that P J Patterson has underscored Caricom's commitment to the
democratic process in Haiti, Blum said: "I hope that his (Aristide's)
visit will be consistent with this process."

Editorial: Mr Aristide's visit
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com - Friday, March 12, 2004

Prime Minister P J Patterson should not in the least be bothered about
the Government's decision to allow Mr Aristide, the ousted Haitian
president, to come to Jamaica and to accommodate him for up to two
months.

Indeed, during the entire period of the Haiti crisis, Mr Patterson and
his Government have behaved honourably and with a decency and respect
that are sometimes missing in international diplomacy.

The prime minister has maintained that quality by keeping his Caribbean
Community (Caricom) partners abreast of Jamaica's decision to allow
President Aristide to stay in the island. No one can claim to be taken
by surprise by Mr Aristide's visit when it happens.

It seems though, that despite Jamaica's and Caricom's entirely
principled position on Haiti, Mr Patterson and the community have begun
to prepare the region to adopt a pragmatic position on the issue.

Clearly, a new dispensation is being created in Haiti after Mr
Aristide's ostensible resignation. So in yesterday's statement
announcing Mr Aristide's visit, Mr Patterson referred to him as "former
president" Aristide.

Additionally, Mr Patterson pointedly noted that Mr Aristide will not be
in Jamaica for the long term. And despite the deposed leader's
insistence on his legitimate claim to the Haitian presidency, it was
made clear that arrangements are being made for Mr Aristide's "permanent
residence outside the region".

The prime minister has also signalled that he will entertain the newly
installed prime minister of Haiti, Gerard LaTortue, who has asked for a
meeting ahead of the Caricom summit in St Kitts later this month.

Jamaica and Caricom are apparently setting the foundation of the next
phase of the Haitian project. A phase without Mr Aristide.

Which, of course, is entirely pragmatic, given the forces arrayed
against the compelling logic and diplomacy, and the case for democratic
governance that was articulated by regional leaders.

But while the region must embrace pragmatism, it must not be devoid of
principle. Anything less would be to shame the Caribbean people and to
diminish a leadership that has recently displayed courage and character.

We would advise both Mr Patterson and Caricom to be exceedingly
circumspect about how they engage the newly installed administration, no
matter how "highly respected" Mr LaTortue may be. For his presence does
not lessen Caricom's fundamentally sound position that the manner of the
removal of Mr Aristide set a dangerous precedent for the removal of
elected leaders everywhere.

The region made the error in 1979 of embracing coup leaders in Grenada,
a decision that ultimately led to that country's fratricidal horror
nearly four years later.

We have argued before that Haiti should not be allowed back to the
regional table unless, and until, it fulfills a series of strenuous
tests to verify a clear return to democracy. The Haitian Opposition,
legitimate and otherwise, must be clear that this region will not reward
violence and coups.

Indeed, those who encouraged the putsch against Mr Aristide should not
be easily let off the hook by the region. It is a hard lesson, this
matter of democratic compromise.

Announcement of Aristide Plan to Visit Jamaica Draws Complaints
By MICHAEL WINES
http://www.nytimes.com - March 13, 2004

BANGUI, Central African Republic, March 12 — Jean-Bertrand Aristide,
Haiti's exiled president, said Friday that he would leave his temporary
refuge here on Sunday and fly to Jamaica, which agreed on Thursday to
allow him to visit for up to 10 weeks, a decision that drew protests
from Haitian leaders.

Mr. Aristide said that he was not certain how long he would remain in
Jamaica, and that a return to Bangui, the capital of the impoverished
Central African Republic, was not out of the question.

"I will spend the next couple of weeks in Jamaica," Mr. Aristide said in
a telephone interview. "That will be a good opportunity for me to seek
my peace and to continue to heal with my Caribbean family."

"But it is clear that I don't intend to stay forever there. Let me go to
Jamaica, see the situation and then see what the next step will be."

Haiti's new prime minister, Gérard Latortue, said in Port-au-Prince,
Haiti's capital, that Mr. Aristide's plan to return to the Caribbean
could jeopardize efforts to stabilize the country, radio reports said.

In Jamaica, 100 miles to Haiti's west, the leader of the opposition
Jamaica Labor Party, Edward Seaga, said Mr. Aristide should not be
allowed to stay longer than three weeks, a much shorter visit than the
10 weeks government officials had announced.

Mr. Aristide has accused the United States of forcing him from Haiti's
presidency and spiriting him out of the country to Africa against his
will. Jamaica, along with many other Caribbean nations, has objected to
the way in which Mr. Aristide's elected government collapsed.

Agence France-Presse reported Friday that Jamaica's prime minister would
fly to Bangui on Sunday to meet Mr. Aristide and return him to the
Caribbean.

Officials of the Central African Republic, who took in Mr. Aristide 12
days ago at France's request, have made no secret of their desire to see
Haiti's exiled leader leave. Mr. Aristide caused a stir here shortly
after his arrival when he told CNN in a telephone interview that he was
being held prisoner in the palace of the country's self-declared
president, Gen. François Bozize in Bangui. Mr. Bozize seized power in a
coup almost exactly a year ago.

The Central African Republic's deputy foreign minister, Guy Moskit, said
in an interview on Friday that General Bozize had accepted Mr. Aristide
"as a gesture of hospitality" and respect for Haiti, the world's first
independent black-ruled nation.

"We have not appreciated his presence," Mr. Moskit said. "But we have
accommodated him without pressure."

In his interview on Friday, Mr. Aristide said that he hoped to return to
Haiti, an unlikely prospect for the foreseeable future. His eventual
home remains unclear: the deputy foreign minister of South Africa, which
has expressed willingness to give Mr. Aristide permanent refuge, visited
Bangui this week for a courtesy call on Mr. Aristide and on the
Republic's officials.

Mr. Moskit said, however, that South Africa was unlikely to make any
decision on offering a home to Mr. Aristide until after national
elections there in April. South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki, is a
strong supporter of Mr. Aristide, and South Africa's position on his
exile has been an issue in campaigns for the national Parliament.



--
Dr. David E. Lewis
Vice President
Manchester Trade Ltd.
International Business Advisors
1710 Rhode Island Avenue, NW - Suite 300
Washington, DC 20036
Tel 202-331-9464
Fax 202-785-0376
Email: DavidLewis@ManchesterTrade.com
http://www.ManchesterTrade.com