20832: (Chamberlain) Caricom discusses Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By BERT WILKINSON

   BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, March 26 (AP) -- Caribbean leaders demanded a
U.N. probe Thursday into allegations that the United States forced
Jean-Bertrand Aristide from Haiti's presidency, even as debate swirled over
where the ousted leader would take permanent asylum.
   Aristide is now in Jamaica, and Jamaican officials said Thursday he will
settle in South Africa but not until it holds general elections next month,
Jamaican officials said Thursday.
   But a spokesman for Aristide said it was too soon to say for sure where
he would go. "A final decision has not been made," Huntley Medley said by
telephone from Jamaica. "The discussions are continuing with several places
and people."
   Caribbean leaders are "still upset and uncomfortable" about the manner
of Aristide's departure, St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Denzil Douglas
told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview at the end of a two-day
summit of the 15-nation body.
   "We are taking this matter to the U.N. General Assembly for
clarification," he said.
   U.N. special envoy Reginald Dumas, who spent two hours listening to the
debate on Haiti, aid he would return to New York on Friday and probably
brief Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the weekend and the Security Council
early in the week.
   Conference officials said the 15-nation regional bloc wants the General
Assembly to investigate rather than the Security Council, where the United
States could veto the proposal, or France, which Aristide has accused of
complicity in the alleged plot.
   The Caribbean can expect support from the 53-member African Union, which
last month echoed its alarm at the "dangerous precedent" and also demanded
a U.N. investigation. The two groups make up nearly a third of U.N. member
states.
   The officials say Aristide has told Caribbean leaders that he was
abducted at gunpoint by U.S. agents and put on a U.S.-chartered aircraft
that carried him to the Central African Republic.
   U.S. officials say they organized the Feb. 29 departure at Aristide's
request and probably saved his life as rebels who had overrun half the
country threatened to attack Haiti's capital.
   In Haiti, interim Cabinet Minister Robert Ulysse said Aristide's
departure from Jamaica would help stabilize Haiti and mend tattered
relations with the Caribbean Community.
   "We want to put (Aristide) behind us and allow Haiti to move forward,"
Ulysse told The Associated Press.
   In the meantime, Aristide would remain in Jamaica, two high-ranking
government officials said.
   Jamaican officials said Aristide refused asylum offers from Venezuela
and Nigeria. The officials spoke on the sidelines of a two-day summit of
Caribbean leaders that opened Thursday.
   At the summit, Caribbean leaders angry about claims of U.S. meddling in
Haiti considered rejecting the country's U.S.-backed interim government but
also pledged to find ways to help its impoverished people, including
possibly sending troops.
   They also said they had won agreement from the United States that
Haiti's rebels would not participate in any government nor any
reconstituted Haitian army.
   Several Caribbean leaders have criticized interim Prime Minister Gerard
Latortue for hailing as "freedom fighters" rebels who include assassins
convicted of murdering Aristide supporters.
   Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson warned Haiti's crisis cannot
reach a "lasting and permanent solution" unless the 15-nation Caribbean
Community is involved.
   Caribbean leaders have refused to join Haiti's U.S.-led peacekeeping
force, but on Thursday considered sending troops with a separate
humanitarian force to help rebuild Haiti, St. Kitts Prime Minister Douglas
said.
   Aristide arrived in Jamaica on March 15 over protests from the United
States and Haiti's new interim government, both of which said his presence
on the neighboring island would increase tension as a multinational
peacekeeping force sought to stabilize Haiti.
   Aristide fled his country Feb. 29 as rebels waging a three-week uprising
threatened to attack Port-au-Prince, the capital.
   He was flown on a U.S.-chartered jet to the Central African Republic,
where the ousted president claimed he was forced from power at gunpoint by
the Americans.