21063: sajousp: A fitful start on Haiti's future (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: sajousp@aol.com

This story was sent to you by: Sajous

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A fitful start on Haiti's future
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April 3, 2004

Just as quickly as it rose, Haiti has fallen from the radar of national attention in the weeks after the exit of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. But the nation's troubles continue. So do the potential headaches they pose for the United States.

For the second time in 10 years, U. S. troops are back in Haiti. Some 2,000 U.S. Marines are working as part of "Operation Secure Tomorrow" with about 1,000 troops from France, Canada, Chile and other nations, with the authorization of the United Nations.

Their short-term mission is to stabilize conditions in the wake of Aristide's hasty Feb. 29 departure until a United Nations peacekeeping force takes over in May. In the long term, Haitians need an opportunity to develop the institutions necessary to support a democratic system and prevent the need for yet another foreign intervention.

There was hope that Haiti's new prime minister, Gerard Latortue, chosen by a council of prominent Haitians to run the government until new elections are held, would restore some semblance of order and start to heal the deep divisions. Unfortunately, he has made things worse.

He swore in a Cabinet that did not include any Aristide allies. Three days later, on March 17, he angered human-rights groups by praising rebel leaders--a lot that includes a convicted death squad leader and other unsavory thugs--as "freedom fighters."

He also angered neighbors in the 15-member regional Caribbean Community called CARICOM by threatening to suspend relations with Jamaica because it has provided temporary sanctuary for Aristide.

Meanwhile, CARICOM is wrestling with its own divide between those who want to recognize the interim regime and those who denounce it as a "puppet" of the United States and France. Officials said last week that CARICOM does not intend to have formal relations with the interim Haitian government. Some are demanding that the UN investigate the circumstances of Aristide's departure.

That's a waste of valuable time. The nations of CARICOM should be focused on their announced plans to assist the Haitian people with humanitarian aid and additional troops when the new UN peacekeeping force takes over.

As Haiti's neighbors, they have the most to lose from the presence of another failed state in their midst.

If democracy is to be restored, Haitians will need to gain something they have never had: trust in their police. History shows that Haitians will have little reason to take the peacekeeping effort seriously unless it includes the disarming of criminal gangs and anti-government rebels. That effort has only begun, against the wishes of heel-dragging rebel leaders.

The world has a habit of turning to the U.S. when it needs help with a hot spot. But there is an opportunity here for another nation to step up: France. The Bush administration wisely reached out to France, despite recently frosty relations between the two countries, and to the UN Security Council for help with Haiti.

France participated in the 1994 intervention and has powerful diplomatic and historical attachments to the island nation, which was one of France's wealthiest colonies before a slave rebellion led to its independence in 1804. Haiti offers France an excellent opportunity to show it can carry more of the world's weight.


Copyright (c) 2004, Chicago Tribune

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