20891: radtimes: U.N. Urged to Probe U.S. Role in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: radtimes <resist@best.com>

U.N. Urged to Probe U.S. Role in Haiti

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3906147,00.html

Friday March 26, 2004
By BERT WILKINSON
Associated Press Writer

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (AP) - Caribbean leaders said the U.N. General
Assembly should investigate Jean-Bertrand Aristide's claims that the United
States staged a coup in Haiti and forced the ouster of the country's first
democratically elected president.

The 15-nation Caribbean Community also said it was considering rejecting the
U.S.-backed government of Haiti.

At the first day of a two-day summit Thursday, Caribbean leaders said they
were focusing on whether to recognize a government that praises the rebels
who helped oust Aristide.

Jamaican officials said Aristide will take permanent asylum in South Africa,
but not until it holds general elections next month. Aristide has been in
temporary exile in Jamaica since March 15, despite protests from U.S. and
Haitian officials.

Caribbean leaders are ``still upset and uncomfortable'' about Aristide's
departure, and made that clear to U.N. special envoy Reginald Dumas when he
listened to their debate, St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Denzil Douglas
told The Associated Press.

``We are prepared to discuss the possibility of identifying exactly what
were the circumstances,'' Douglas said. ``We are taking this matter to the
U.N. General Assembly for clarification.''

Conference officials said the 15-nation regional bloc wants the General
Assembly to investigate rather than the Security Council, where the United
States or France could veto the proposal.

The Caribbean can expect support from the 53-member African Union, which
last month echoed its demand.

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.

Caribbean leaders are angry that the Security Council refused their urgent
plea to send international troops to save Aristide, Haiti's first
democratically elected leader, but speedily sanctioned a U.S.-led
intervention after he fled.

The Caribbean bloc refused to join that peacekeeping force, but on Thursday
considered sending troops with a separate U.N. humanitarian force to help
rebuild Haiti, Douglas said. It would deploy within three months.

Douglas also said Caribbean leaders remain angry with interim Haitian Prime
Minister Gerard Latortue, who was not invited to the summit after he
criticized the group for allowing Aristide to return to the region from
Africa.

The leaders Wednesday night canceled a meeting with Latortue because he
refused to sign and distribute a statement of apology that they prepared for
him, Douglas said.

He said leaders also were angry at Latortue for hailing as ``freedom
fighters'' the 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'' without the community's ``collective
support.''

In Haiti, interim Cabinet Minister Robert Ulysse said Aristide's departure
would help. ``Haiti wants to have good neighbor relations with Caricom,''
Ulysse told the AP. ``We want to put (Aristide) behind us and allow Haiti to
move forward.''

Douglas said community was divided over suspending Haiti's membership. He
said several countries asked to remain engaged, including the Bahamas, which
regularly sees arrivals of Haitian boat people.

.