20380: Lemieux: BBC: US warning over Haiti stability (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

BBC
3/14/2004


US warning over Haiti stability
Top US general Richard Myers has warned it will take time
to restore stability in Haiti after the departure of
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Speaking during a brief visit, General Myers said violence
would not be tolerated and would be "dealt with".

General Myers' visit came shortly after US troops leading
Haiti's international peacekeeping force shot and killed
two people in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

US troops said they were gunmen but locals said the men
were bystanders.

The deaths bring to six the number of Haitians killed by US
troops since their arrival.

There are more than 1,000 US marines in Port-au-Prince as
part of an international peacekeeping mission.

'Not taking sides'

General Myers said that it was not the mission of the
peacekeepers to take sides, adding that the troops will
only fire when fired upon, the BBC's Stephen Gibbs in Haiti
says.


Reports say the mission of the peacekeepers has expanded
from securing key installations to disarming the local
population, particularly in areas where support for the
former president is strong.
General Myers, who is chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of
Staff, said that efforts to calm the situation in the
country were "progressing" but said the process "would take
time".

"Security and stability are important for the Haitian
people as well as this entire hemisphere," the French news
agency AFP quoted him as saying.

On Saturday, Haiti's new prime minister criticised Jamaican
plans to allow Mr Aristide to visit the country next week.

'Unfriendly act'

Gerard Latortue said he had told Jamaican Prime Minister PJ
Patterson the move was "an unfriendly act" which would
increase tension in Haiti.

He had also planned to visit Jamaica personally over the
weekend for talks on Mr Aristide's planned visit.


However his aides later told the Associated Press news
agency that he would instead stay in Haiti and focus on
setting up a new cabinet for the country.
The BBC's Orin Gordon in Jamaica says that Haiti feels the
proposed visit is too soon after the bloody uprising that
caused Mr Aristide to flee and that - in the view of the
interim government - Jamaica is too close for comfort.

It is only about 150km (93 miles) from Haiti and there is
fear is that Mr Aristide's presence in the neighbouring
Caribbean country could embolden his loyalists and lead to
more violence, our correspondent says.

The Jamaican government is conscious of the sensitivity of
the planned visit; they say they have made it clear to Mr
Aristide he cannot use it as a launching pad for a campaign
to be reinstated as president and that he has agreed to
this condition, our correspondent adds.

Mr Aristide has spent the last two weeks in exile in the
Central African Republic after being forced to flee Haiti.

He reportedly wishes to visit his two daughters - who were
sent to the US as the political situation in Haiti
deteriorated - for about eight to 10 weeks in Jamaica, the
Associated Press reported.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/3509454.stm

Published: 2004/03/14 03:28:13 GMT

© BBC MMIV


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