21226: Esser: Dumas: Haitians still have hope (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

Trinidad & Tobago Express
http://www.trinidadexpress.com

April 11th 2004

Dumas: Haitians still have hope
By RICHARD LORD

United Nations (UN) special adviser on Haiti, Reginald Dumas, has
described his job as "very hard work".

Dumas was appointed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan after the
departure of Jean-Bertrand Aristide as Haiti's president on February
29. Aristide later claimed he was forced out in a coup.

Dumas, a former Trinidad and Tobago ambassador and head of the Public
Service, told the Sunday Express yesterday that his job was to seek
the welfare of the Haitian people.

"That is what I have to keep focused on. The basic issue that we have
to deal with is the welfare of the people of Haiti and how we assist
the people of Haiti to achieve a position of economic, social and
political viability," he said, adding that it was the duty of the
international community, including Caricom, to help Haiti towards
that goal.

Dumas said the task was "not easy because the institutions in Haiti
have essentially collapsed. So, it is a question now of creating a
State which, of course, is not an easy task".

He said institutions in the health and education sectors, judiciary,
police, army, public service and in the electoral machinery "have
virtually disappeared".

But Dumas said despite "all the battering they have received", the
Haitian people still had hope that their country would see a better
day in the future.

He said the Haitians "do not want to feel, because they are proud
people, that they are under occupation of any kind from abroad,
whether military or civilian".

Dumas said any assistance to Haiti must be sustained and coordinated
over the long-term.

Asked if he felt Caricom had failed Haiti, Dumas said initially he
did not want to comment on that matter, but later stated: "I don't
think it would be correct to say that Caricom has failed Haiti, I
don't think so. It would be wrong to say Caricom has failed Haiti. I
think Caricom has done a great deal to assist in the development of
Haiti."

He stressed, however, that Haiti's problems could noy be solved by
any one agency and must include the Haitian people at all stages.

"It's not a question of sitting in the United Nations and proposing
programmes for Haiti. The programmes must be discussed with and
approved by the people of Haiti," he explained.
.