21055: (Chamberlain) Powell to visit Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By GEORGE GEDDA

   WASHINGTON, April 2 (AP) -- Secretary of State Colin Powell will meet
with leaders of Haiti's interim government Monday for a review of the
situation there five weeks after the departure of President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide.
   Powell will make a day trip to the country, the first secretary of state
to travel there since Madeleine Albright in 1998.
   State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Powell will meet with Prime
Minister Gerard Latortue and other officials to discuss U.S. and
international efforts to bring stability to the country and provide
humanitarian relief.
   A key U.S. concern is the status of leaders of armed groups that helped
force Aristide from office. The United States opposes the integration of
any leaders into the government who are known to be criminals and human
rights violators.
   American officials have expressed concern about Latortue's efforts to
reach out to some of these leaders in recent days.
   Aristide and others have charged that the Bush administration coerced
him into leaving. U.S. officials have denied the charge. Other Caribbean
countries, suspicious about possible American pressure on Aristide, have
declined to recognize the interim government.
   The former president flew to the Central African Republic after
resigning but went to Jamaica in mid-March for what was described as family
reasons.
   He has kept a low profile there since then.
   With expensive nation-building projects under way already in Afghanistan
and Iraq, the administration is unwilling to take on another in Haiti
despite great needs.
   Powell has said the administration will not seek a supplemental
appropriation for Haiti during the current fiscal year. A State Department
official said the administration will seek funds for Haiti by drawing on
money appropriated for other foreign programs.
   The official, asking not to be identified, said an international donors
conference may be held for Haiti in June.
   There are some 2,000 American troops in Haiti along with a combined
total of about 1,600 French, Canadian and Chilean forces. They are to be
replaced by U.N. peacekeepers in early June.