20527: (Chamberlain) Haiti's Aristide promises no politics in Jamaica (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Jane Sutton

     KINGSTON, Jamaica, March 17 (Reuters) - Former Haitian President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Wednesday promised his Jamaican host he would not
abuse his hospitality by engaging in political activity that might disrupt
attempts to stabilize Haiti.
     Jamaica Prime Minister P.J. Patterson met with Aristide at a secluded
guest house to discuss arrangements for Aristide's permanent relocation,
according to Aristide spokesman Huntley Medley, who said he did not know
where the exiled leader might seek permanent asylum.
     "Mr. Aristide assured the prime minister and asked him to assure all
concerned that while he is in Jamaica he will not be involved in any
political activities," Medley said. "He will not be involved in any action
that could in any way threaten the peace that is emerging in Haiti."
     Patterson, who chairs the Caribbean Community regional group, defended
Jamaica's decision to admit Aristide in a speech to lawmakers late on
Tuesday.
     "We, and here I speak on behalf of the other Caricom heads, are
convinced that our decision to receive Mr. Aristide, our former colleague,
on humanitarian grounds was a just and right one, and that he will not
abuse the terms on which our hospitality was granted to him," according to
a transcript released by Patterson's office on Wednesday.
     Aristide left Haiti for the Central African Republic on Feb. 29 in the
face of an armed revolt and U.S. pressure to quit. He later said he had
been kidnapped by U.S. soldiers and forced to sign a resignation letter.
     Washington called the allegations nonsense and criticized Jamaica's
decision to receive Aristide as unhelpful. Haiti's new government called it
"an unfriendly act" and said it feared Aristide's proximity in neighboring
Jamaica would stir dissent among the former president's supporters.
     Aristide and his U.S.-born wife Mildred arrived in Jamaica on Monday
and were staying at a government-owned guest house awaiting the arrival of
their two young daughters.
     Patterson said Aristide had not asked for permanent asylum in Jamaica
and that he expected him to use his time in Jamaica to arrange long-term
residence elsewhere.
     In the weeks leading up to Aristide's exit, Caricom had sought to
broker a power-sharing deal between Aristide and his foes that would have
kept him as president for the remaining two years of his term. Aristide
accepted the deal, but his political opponents insisted Aristide resign.
     After the armed rebellion against Aristide erupted in February, the
United States, France and Canada pushed the Caricom plan. But Washington
and Paris changed course and started to urge Aristide to resign.
     Jamaican and Caricom leaders called for an investigation into the
circumstances of Aristide's departure from Haiti and were clearly rankled
by the U.S. criticism over his visit.
     Robert Crawford, a lecturer at the University of the West Indies in
Mona, Jamaica, said he expected the United States and Jamaica could patch
up their differences.
     Jamaica has abandoned its insistence that Aristide serve out his term
and is not attempting to restore him to power, he said. But the United
States must reconsider its approach to "compelling compliance" in smaller
countries, he added.
     "(U.S. Secretary of State) Colin Powell in part has been at pains to
justify the removal of Aristide from power on grounds that he was a poor
administrator," he said. "If we were to extend that argument, President
Bush could be at great risk."