21057: Esser: Seattle activists call for Aristide's return (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

Seattle Post-Intelligencer
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/

Friday, April 2, 2004

Seattle activists call for Aristide's return
By MELANTHIA MITCHELL
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

SEATTLE -- A coalition of civil rights, labor and religious leaders
met Friday with representatives of Washington's U.S. senators,
demanding an investigation into the U.S. government's role in the
removal of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

The group is asking Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell to
introduce a resolution "calling for the immediate restoration of
democracy in Haiti," including Aristide's return to office.

"We seem to have this wildly vacillating foreign policy. It does not
seem to be based on principles of human rights, democracy and
legitimate government," Steve Williamson, executive secretary for the
King County Labor Council, said after the meeting.

Neither senator's office immediately returned calls for comment Friday.

Aristide remains in temporary asylum in Jamaica after fleeing Feb. 29
as rebels were reaching the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.

Jamaica officials say Aristide will move to permanent asylum in South
Africa after that country's general elections in two weeks.

Aristide has claimed he was kidnapped at gunpoint by U.S. agents. The
United States denies the allegation, saying it acted at his request.

On Thursday, Haiti's U.S.-backed interim government said it will seek
the extradition of Aristide on charges of corruption and rights
abuses.

Justice Minister Bernard Gousse said in coming weeks Haitian
authorities will appoint an independent body to investigate
allegations of embezzlement and assassinations under Aristide.

On Friday, Seattle activists called for the "disarmament of
paramilitary forces that have committed human rights violations," and
for the United States to provide protection to Haitian refugees.

The demonstration was coordinated by the Western Washington
Fellowship of Reconciliation, a nonprofit, interfaith agency.
Participants included representatives from the labor council, the
Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, the NAACP and church leaders
from throughout the King County area.

Foreign aid to Haiti has been meager, with the United Nations raising
just over a quarter of the $35 million in emergency relief needed to
help stabilize the country.

Most of the $9 million in cash and pledges have come from Canada,
France, Norway and the United States.

---

On the Net:

Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation
http://www.scn.org/wwfor/
..